eye feels drier even when shut? does that mean i'm not producing many tears?

[jenny2008]

can anybody help me with this? myleft eye is always the drier one. ive had cautery and have a lower plug in it--no matter what though it's always very dry-i noticed even when i took a nap-my right eye will sometimes spill out tears where the left eye even when shut is dry... Does this just mean I'm not producing as many tears in my left eye if it's ext dry even when shut?

does anyone else experience this?
thanks!

[dryasadesert]

i think you tear less when your eyes are shut....or at least you obviously dont blink as much so the tear film isnt as distributed. you also may have lagophthalmos.

my eyes get super dry in the middle of the night.

[Tankie]

My eyes always feel worse in the mornings. To counter this, before sleeping I put eye drops and ointment in. They still feel worse in the mornings than at any other occasion, but nevertheless, it helps.

When putting the ointment in my eyes I coat just above the lower lid from the outer corner to the inner corner with a thin layer of ointment. Essentially it looks like a really long piece of stringy mucus.

[jenny2008]

my question has more to do with if the puncta are closed shut would the eye still feel so dry even when shut??

[Colin P]

can anybody help me with this? myleft eye is always the drier one. ive had cautery and have a lower plug in it--no matter what though it's always very dry-i noticed even when i took a nap-my right eye will sometimes spill out tears where the left eye even when shut is dry... Does this just mean I'm not producing as many tears in my left eye if it's ext dry even when shut?

does anyone else experience this?
thanks!

Im sure i read somewhere Jenny, That we dont produce tears at night, simply because we dont need to? cast your mind back prior to dry-eye and we all woke up with an alarm clock and eyes never wanted to open, you had to rub them and had a wash first thing, normal working eyes would make a recovery quick time; we dont.

And i also get the imbalance of tear production, when 'resting' my eyes the left will produce tears first, and more in the way of tears also.

[littlemermaid]

That we dont produce tears at night, simply because we dont need to?

Yep, Colin P, I've read this while I was reading up about ocular immunology. That the immune system is supposed to prompt a bit of a takeover maintaining the tear film and protecting the eye surface during sleep while we're not blinking. Obviously a protective tear film is not just tear from the eyelids but is supposed to be replenished through the eye surface as well. I'll post a reference if I ever find it again.

Also read, Jenny, that prompts affect both eyes (eg where there is a vision problem in one eye, not your case), so maybe if one is suffering dry then it may be overprompting the other to tear. Just guessing.

[Colin P]

Jenny! i find, that if you fancy a nap in your break, or just a little shut-eye time? that lying on your back and propping your head/neck up with 2x cushions or pillows at maybe 45 degrees angle, is better than lying on your side, as any tears will then roll downwards over your closed eyes.
Give it a try....!