Headaches and dry eyes are two common and often unwelcome health concerns that can significantly impact your daily life. While it might not seem like they’d be connected, research suggests there may be a link between the conditions.
Yes, dry eyes can contribute to headaches, and addressing the root cause of your dry eyes may help reduce these discomforts.
Whether you’ve noticed your eyes feeling gritty while battling a tension headache or experienced a throbbing migraine after a long day staring at a screen, your optometrist is ready to help.
What Is Dry Eye?
Dry eye occurs when your tear film—an essential barrier that protects and hydrates your eyes—doesn’t function properly. Think of your tear film as a shield that keeps your eyes safe and moisturized, ensuring comfort and clear vision. Without a healthy tear film, your eyes are left vulnerable to irritation and dryness.
There are 2 primary types of dry eye:
- Evaporative dry eye: This is the most common type of dry eye and occurs when the meibomian glands along your eyelids are unable to produce enough oil to prevent tears from evaporating too quickly.
- Aqueous deficiency dry eye: This happens when your lacrimal glands don’t produce sufficient amounts of the watery layer of your tear film to keep your eyes hydrated.
While anyone can develop dry eye, several factors can increase your risk, including:
- Age: Tear production can naturally decrease with age.
- Biological sex: Hormonal changes may increase susceptibility to dry eye.
- Environmental factors: Wind, dry climates, and exposure to sunlight can lead to dryness.
- Medications: Certain medications, like antihistamines and antidepressants, may reduce tear production.
- Medical conditions: Health issues like rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Sjögren’s syndrome are associated with dry eye.
- Allergies: Eye allergies can cause inflammation that can block the meibomian glands and lead to dryness.
Dry Eye Symptoms
Some people may only experience dry eye once in their lives, while for others it’s chronic—turning every day into a battle against dryness. Because it affects everyone differently, recognizing dry eye on your own can be difficult.
Dry eye symptoms can show up in a lot of ways, like:
- Redness
- Burning sensations
- Stinging or scratchy feelings
- A gritty sensation
- Feeling like something’s stuck in your eye
- Excessive tearing (yes, tears from irritation!)
Dry eyes can also play a role in headaches, even making migraines worse. By understanding this connection, you can take steps to tackle both problems more effectively!
How Can Dry Eyes Cause Headaches?
While the exact connection between dry eyes and headaches remains unclear, research reveals an overlap between the 2 conditions. Plus, studies have found that people who get migraines are more likely to have dry eyes too. It’s not clear if one directly causes the other, but they might share common triggers like inflammation. On top of that, dry eye symptoms—like strain and discomfort—can sometimes make headaches or migraines feel worse by adding more tension.
Researchers are still working to understand this connection better, but here’s what we know so far about how they might be linked:
- Triggering migraines: The irritation and inflammation caused by dry eye may trigger migraines in people already prone to headaches.
- Digital eye strain: Excessive screen time can lead to digital eye strain, which often includes symptoms of both headaches and dry eyes.
- Cluster headaches: Pain located behind the eyes caused by cluster headaches can sometimes be mistaken for dry eye discomfort.
- Shared root causes: Medical conditions like Sjögren’s syndrome have both dry eye and headaches as symptoms.
By treating the causes of your dry eyes, you may help alleviate headaches linked to these eye issues. However, a comprehensive eye exam is important to determine the best course of action.
How Optometrists Treat Dry Eye
If you frequently experience both dry eyes and headaches, seeking help from your optometrist is an excellent first step. Together, you can explore the underlying causes of your symptoms and develop a treatment plan tailored to your needs. After all, no 2 cases of dry eye are the same.
Common treatments for dry eye include:
- Eye drops: Artificial tears can help hydrate your eyes temporarily, while medicated drops may address inflammation in more severe cases.
- Lifestyle adjustments: Making simple changes, like limiting screen time or increasing indoor humidity, can reduce your symptoms over time.
- iLux treatment: iLux is an in-office treatment that targets the source of evaporative dry eye—your meibomian glands. iLux uses controlled heat and gentle pressure to unblock and clean these glands, allowing them to produce the oil needed to manage tear evaporation properly.
Refresh Your Vision & Restore Your Comfort
You don’t have to simply endure the discomfort of dry eyes and headaches. At Alaska Eye Care Centers, we’re here to help you regain control over your eye health and tackle linked concerns like dry eye and painful migraines. We’re dedicated to providing modern care, including specialized treatments like iLux, to help keep your eyes comfortable and your vision clear.Don’t wait for dry eyes and headaches to hold you back. Book an appointment today and rediscover the joy of seeing (and feeling) the world with clarity.
