Why dry eyes water
It is one of the more confusing complaints a woman over 60 brings to her doctor. Her eyes feel gritty and tired, and yet they are wet half the day. How can that be dry eye? On this episode Dr. Martin answered exactly that, in a question and answer session with his listeners.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1510Your eyes are watering all the time. Why do you call it dry eyes? Well, your body's compensating, but today we look at our phones and we're on our computers and we're watching tv, and there's a lot of issues there, eyes.
His point is that the watering is not the problem. It is the body's response to the problem. When the surface of the eye dries out, the body floods it to make up the difference. So a woman who says her eyes are always running may well have dry eyes, and treating the tears alone misses what is driving them.
Screens and long days
The second half of that answer is the part most of us can see in our own day. Phones, computers and television all ask the eyes to stay fixed on a screen for hours. He lists all three. He does not put a number on how many hours is too many, and he does not say screens are the whole story. He says there are a lot of issues there for the eyes, and he leaves it at that.
For many women over 60 the screen time has gone up, not down. Video calls with family, reading on a tablet, the news on a phone first thing in the morning. If your eyes are worse at the end of the day than the start of it, that pattern fits what he is describing.
The root cause he looks for
Earlier in the same episode a listener asked him about eye pressure numbers for glaucoma. His answer tells you how he thinks about the eye in general, dry eyes included. He leaves the pressure readings to the optometrist and the ophthalmologist. What he wants to know about is something there is no number for.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1510The pressure, I leave that up to your optometrist and your ophthalmologist, but I get to the root cause of eye problems, and that is your circulation behind the eye.
He lists glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and floaters in the same breath, and later in that answer he names dry eyes as well. The eye, as he describes it, is fed by a mesh of very small blood vessels.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1510And when you look behind the eye, it's all circulation microcirculation.
If those tiny vessels are not doing their job, he expects the eye to show it. That is why he reads eye complaints as circulation complaints first. His wider view on blood flow, and what helps it, is in how to improve circulation after 60.
"Nothing better for your eyes, in my opinion."
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1510What sugar does behind the eye
Ask him what damages that circulation and the answer comes quickly.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1510Get off the sugars because there's nothing that kills circulation more than sugar does.
His shorthand for this is "ask a diabetic." Diabetes is the clearest picture of what sugar does to small blood vessels, and the eye is full of them. You do not need a diabetes diagnosis for it to matter, in his view. Sugar and the processed carbohydrates that turn to sugar quickly are where he starts with anyone whose eyes are giving trouble.
Why he reaches for high DHA oil
DHA is the long chain omega-3 fat. Of everything he could recommend for the eyes, this is the one he comes back to.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1510And that's why I love high DHA oil because that oil really protects your blood vessels.
He goes on to say it regenerates the blood vessels behind the eye, and that it helps dry eyes in particular. In the clinic he paired it with Navitol, a pine bark extract he uses because it raises nitric oxide and opens up blood vessels. He calls that pairing the best thing he knows for the eyes, and says he saw it work across thousands of patients over the years. The nitric oxide side of that is covered in nitric oxide for women over 60, and his general case for omega-3 is in omega-3 for women over 60.
He does not give a dose on this episode, so this article does not either. Follow the label, and talk to your eye doctor if your symptoms are new or getting worse.
When the eyelids get a rash
Right after the dry eye answer, another listener asked about a rash on her eyelid. He tied the two together loosely, saying dry eyes can come with a rash on top of the eyes, but his main answer was about the gut.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1510If you have a rash on top of your eyes, you usually have a yeast or a fungus that can be from your gut.
That is a theme he returns to constantly: what happens in the gut shows up elsewhere. For him, a rash around the eyes is a reason to look at the gut and at sugar, which feeds yeast, rather than only at the skin.
What to do about it
Put his answers together and the plan for dry eyes after 60 is short. Recognise that watering eyes can be dry eyes. Give your eyes breaks from the phone, the computer and the television. Get off the sugars, because nothing hurts the circulation behind the eye more. Feed those small blood vessels with high DHA oil. And if the eyelids are red or rashy, look at the gut as well.
He is clear that the pressure readings and the eye exams belong with your optometrist and ophthalmologist. What he adds is the question underneath them: how is the circulation behind your eyes, and what are you doing to help it?
Common questions
Why are my eyes watering if they are dry?
Dr. Martin says the body is compensating. When the eye dries out, the body produces more tears to make up for it, so constant watering can be a sign of dry eyes.
What causes dry eyes after 60?
On this episode he points to long hours on phones, computers and television, and to the circulation behind the eye, which he says sugar damages more than anything else.
Does DHA help dry eyes?
It is his first choice. He says high DHA oil protects and regenerates the blood vessels behind the eye and helps dry eyes, and he paired it with Navitol in the clinic.
Should I still see my eye doctor?
Yes. He leaves eye pressure and eye exams to the optometrist and ophthalmologist. His focus is the circulation underneath.
Feed the vessels behind the eye
He says high DHA oil really protects your blood vessels, and he names it for dry eyes. Martin Clinic's DHA is the oil he means.
60-day money-back guarantee. Formulated in clinic.These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult your healthcare practitioner before starting a new supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition.
