Causes for Dry Eyes
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Tears
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To understand dry eyes, you first need to look at what keeps your eyes moist, your tears. Tears are constantly formed in your eyes, and they're used to provide nutrients and wash away dust and particles. Contrary to popular belief, tears aren't just water. They're actually a three-layered combination of oil, water and mucus. All dry eye problems are, in one way or another, related to your tears.
The Layers
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The oil in your tears helps keep them from evaporating too quickly. If the meibomian glands that create this oil are clogged, then your tears will evaporate too quickly, causing dry eyes. The bulk of your tears are water. In cases where a shallow water layer exists, people may feel the oil and mucus stinging the eye, which is a feeling commonly associated with dry eyes.
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Age
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As we age, our ability to produce tears gets weaker (like everything else). Everyone experiences this, but because of hormonal changes, post-menopausal women, or women over 40, experience it more than men of the same age. This condition, called keratoconjunctivitis sicca, will cause a tear-making shortage that can cause one to experience dry eyes.
Autoimmune Disorders
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Although tears can be experienced through emotional stimuli (i.e., sadness, elation), they also contain properties of the immune system. Tears have organelles inside them called lysozomes, which fight bacterial infection. People with autoimmune disorders like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or Sjögren's syndrome can experience a shortage of the tears' components, which can cause the tears to produce less frequently, resulting in dry eyes.
Medications
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Your body produces histamines to fight off what it perceives to be foreign intruders. This is a function of the immune system, and since your tears are a part of the immune system, they act in conjunction with histamines. When you take any medication that's an antihistamine (i.e., Benadryl, Zyrtec, Claritin), you can cause your immune system to reduce the intensity of its reaction. This may cause dry eyes.
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