Constant watering eyes (outside winter)

[Okaaaay]

Posting for my DM who isn’t on here but in desperate need of some advice. In short, for the last 5 years she’s had terribly watering eyes the whole way through winter whenever she goes outside. She’s spoken to her GP and optician who said she has dry eyes and blepharitis. They suggested / prescribed tea tree foam / face wash, Aqueous eye drops of varying forms but nothing at all has worked. She doesn’t suffer from any other eye related issues - no gritty sore eyes in a morning, or even dry-feeling eyes. But she’s an avid walker and this is making her life miserable. Anyone with similar experience and anything that helped you please?

Could be dry eyes I know it’s weird but it actually makes your eyes water more. The only drops that work for me are

https://www.boots.com/hycosan-extra-preservative-free-eye-drops-7-5ml-10172236?cm_mmc=bmm-buk-google-ppc--LIAs---_-PMax:+UK_Smart_Shopping_LIAs_Health&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADrIajWKRMqxgZkjfX3U-3d1E6aeM&gclid=CjwKCAiA_aGuBhACEiwAly57MSA-fDUim9kgSKK6DWRQ9bXyPHWydFwYv0RkMDF20iiyYpgZYCOdZxoCASYQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I had the same. I run and it was so annoying my eyes were constantly running!! Told dry eyes too. I had a prescription eye drops. Though mine got to the point I could hardly see. I felt stupid but found it was actually a face oil I was using. It wasn’t going near my eyes, but made my eye sight terrible and same symptoms as dry eyes. Had used before no issue now can’t use any type of oil and some creams.

yes- I went to a walk-in eye clinic and they explained that our eyes produce not just watery tears, but oil, the function of the oil is to slow down the evaporation of the tears. The duct producing the oil can get blocked, meaning the tears evaporate quickly, so the tear ducts have to produce more to compensate.
The solution is the dry eye drops, though they also recommended a hot compress on the eye to help unblock the oil duct.

Thanks so much - reading with interest, will look up these prescriptions and will send this through to DM. Any more experiences to compare are really appreciated!

Yep, dry eye! I have had it fairly severely for the last 12 months and really have to keep on top of it with a strict routine, including heat pads, massage, cleansing and lubricating drops. Every blinkin day! Oh and no make up. Wear wrap around sunglasses.

It's a pain and I empathise

Hycosan dual are the best drops

I had exactly the same thing and had tear duct procedure 5 years ago and it's fixed it! It was so frustrating as my eye was red underneath, always running and watery in winter especially. It was blocked tear ducts in my case.

I get it but fairly mild, hot compresses
and massage (I use an unfragranced balm so not to drag the skin) work best for me.

I suffered with this for YEARS until I found these

Moist heat eye mask

Viscotears

@rainingoutsideagain please could you tell me a bit more about the procedure? Was it NHS or private and can you remember the name?

Thank you for all the replies - this is so helpful.

I have dry eyes and it doesn't take much to make them start weeping. Laughing, coughing, wind, lying in the dentist chair anything.

I use carbomer eye drops, but not all carbomer eye drops are equal, i find some brands are thicker than others and work better/longer.

A friend had treatment at her opticians to unblock her tear ducts - I think it’s called Lipiflow or similar? It was done privately and took a course of 2 or 3 treatments to completely unblock them.

She said it’s made quite a difference - eyes are no longer dry and colours are much brighter.

Ooh, this is interesting.
Just place marking for any further replies, whilst going to warm a flannel.

I've had this for years and, sadly, none of the products mentioned above work for me. So, just in case mum needs other options I recommend Xaillin: there is a day and night version (get the version that's in a small tube) and it works brilliantly. Larger Boots sometimes stock it but its most reliably available on Amazon.

I get the same if I don't use a warm wheat bag on my eyes every morning and evening and massage my eyelids. I also use Optase gel to wash my kids with which helps but it's the compresses which do the trick.

Sure I had months and months on an annual basis of everytime I went in and out of the office, car etc my eyes would stream one more so than the other. I went to the GPs a couple of times and they said dry eye, but was palmed off. So I went private and they confirmed I had blocked tear ducts and they were very small opening. I had a procedure where they put a little slit in the tear duct and it was half a day in total, arrived for 7am had the procedure at 10am home by 1pm. Although you can't drive etc for a day or so afterwards, I really can't remember it being painful but since then I have never had a watery eye again.

www.circlehealthgroup.co.uk/treatments/watering-eye-surgery

It was done on my health insurance so can't give costs for it. My eyes were swollen but it's completely worth it rather than having drip eye!

It's actually blocked tear duct procedure

www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/blocked-tear-duct/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20351375#

They put saline through the tear duct which felt so weird as cold water flushes through your cheek and into your nose, they then do the tiny little cuts in the ducts, then flush the saline back through and straight away it was faster and perfect! Put two patches over your eyes and then you're off home! It really was that simple and painless.

I am the same in the winter. Go out into the cold and my eyes just tear up. I often get people commenting they say me the other day and I ignored them - my eyes are so teary I don't recognises a face. It is quite annoying, and sometimes people think I am wandering around crying. 🙄

@Okaaaay your DM can’t have blocked tear ducts as they’d be constantly watery rather than just outside.

it is dryness which causes your mum’s symptoms. She needs to treat the blepharitis and use drops.
the system and brand of drops are very good.

having said that, if she’s still having issues after doing what the optician advised, just make an appointment to go back to have it looked at again, as there are other ways of managing blepharitis - but it depends on the type and has.

@rainingoutsideagain really appreciate that, thank you. Did it only happen outside in the cold?