Watery Eyes

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  • Watery eyes

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    Nov 21, 2016

    I've noticed as I've aged (now 61) that my eyes water a lot. At my annual eye exams I've been told to try a daily warm compress to unclog tear ducts (didn't work) and to take Thera Tears (a fish oil supplement), which seemed to help. I've been taking the Costco Kirkland fish oil capsules, but notice that after several months, it doesn't seem as effective as it did in the beginning. I'm wondering if others have the same condition and have found a treatment that works. And if fish oil is the answer, is there a downside to taking more than the recommended dose and how important is it to take the Thera Tears brand rather than say a less expensive Costco brand. And is it better to take one capsule 3x a day or 3 all at once. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    Nov 21, 2016

    Hi there - you may have already been tested for this, but in case not I thought I'd throw out there that it might be a herpetic virus.  For me only one eye was watering all the time and that's what it turned out to be (who knew you could get the virus on your eyeball???).  Anyway, Valacyclovir cleared it up, and now I take it prophylactically once a day.  That's done the trick.  Not a great diagnosis, but could be worse, and at least the medication stops the eyes watering!

    Nov 24, 2016

    Restasis is what made a huge difference for me. Your eyes are watering because your tear production is compromised. It seems counterintuitive, but you probably have dry eyes. Restasis has a bigger co-payment than most RX, but you should be able to get a sample to try. 

    Nov 30, 2016

Archived Q&A and Reviews

Questions

3-year-old's eyes water like CRAZY sometimes

Jan 2011

OK, no lectures about letting our child watch TV please, but here's my question: Sometimes when my 3-year-old boy watches TV, his eyes tear up and water like CRAZY. It seems to only happen sometimes, not all the time, when watching TV. I'm working on a theory that it's when it's something he really likes (Wild Kratts on PBS, Toy Story movies) and he forgets to blink or something. But I don't know. Has anyone ever experienced this? It just seems so weird. I'm not overly concerned about it because he's not camped out in front of the TV constantly anyway, but it is just so strange and I've never heard of this happening and it doesn't seem to have been asked in this forum before. --TV is not evil, though it has its lacrimal challenges

Everyone's blink reflex goes down when doing a visually demanding task like working on a computer, playing a video game, or watching TV. If the eyes get dry enough, they can 'reflex tear'' meaning that the lacrimal gland will overproduce tears for a while to compensate for the dry eye. It should be easy to convince yourself that this is what is going on with your child--just count the number of times he blinks during one of the shows you mention usually brings it on. kids usually blink fewer times per minute than adults anyway. However, a ''normal'' blink rate should be somewhere around 15 blinks per minute (in an adult) and reduces to about 5 if doing something visually demanding.

Now, what can you do to get your kid to blink more--ha! tell me if you come up with something. Here's a better question--does it hurt his eyes somehow to blink less and then reflex tear? No. Only other thing to point out is that it is somewhat unusual for a child to get such dry eyes from non-blinking that they reflex tear. You may want to look at the environment too--is he sitting right under a vent of some sort which is causing the eye to dry out even more. Also, some people have drier eyes than others and sometimes for reasons that can be fixable--may want to get your child a routine eye exam. optometrist

My 2-year-old does the same. I often wonder if maybe her sight is bad? It's worth getting an eye test just to be sure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blepharitis Could be blepharitis. It's due to waxy oils blocking the outlets that normally drain ones normally constantly flowing tears. Sometimes washing the eyelids (with them closed) with baby shampoo can cure it. Also warm compresses are good. sean

My eyes pour water at random times

Nov 2005

My eyes will pour out water at seemingly random times, as though I'm crying, but it often seems unrelated to anything-not even because my eyes are stinging. It can be a bit much, and I'll need to dab my eyes constantly for 30 minutes or more, otherwise I'll look like I've been sobbing nonstop. Does anybody have any ideas of how to stop this? or is this something I should be worried about? The optometrist I went to (who was not very attentive) dismissed it. Thanks!

I think you need a new eye doctor. Check out these sites for more information.
http://www.goodhope.org.uk/departments/eyedept/watery.htm http://www.allaboutvision.com/askdoc/dry-eyes.htm http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/sym/watery_eyes.htm