How to Avoid Eye Redness

Eye redness results when blood vessels in the sclera (the white of your eye) dilate and become visible. It can be caused by anything from too many hours in front of a computer screen to serious medical problems. Whatever the cause, using eye drops designed to reduce eye redness does nothing to cure the problem and may even make it worse.

Things You'll Need

• Artificial tears
• Washcloth
• Eyewash and cup

Instructions

1. Rest your eyes if they become red after spending a lot of time at your computer, reading, watching television or anything else that may have strained your eyes. You can avoid eyestrain by taking frequent breaks from these tasks. Focus on something else or just close your eyes for a few minutes.

2. Try some artificial tears. These will lubricate your eyes without adding medication that may result in a rebound hyperemia, in which the blood vessels in your eyes become dependent on the medication to stay small. When you stop using medicated eye drops, the redness will become worse.

3. Apply a cold, damp washcloth to your eyes if the redness is caused by allergies such as hay fever. You may also try taking an antihistamine.

4. Rinse your eyes with an eyewash or a sterile saline solution if you suspect that your eye redness is caused by a foreign particle in your eye.

5. Take out your contact lenses for a while. Make sure you've thoroughly cleaned them before reinserting them or try a new pair. It's a good idea to take out your contact lenses for a few hours a day, instead of removing them only when you go to bed.

6. Avoid environments that have pollutants in the air that can irritate your eyes such as smoke, smog, dust, pollen and wind-blown particles such as sand.

Tips & Warnings

• If a red patch appears on your eye but your vision isn't affected and you're not experiencing pain, you may have a subconjunctival hemorrhage, which can be caused by something as minor as vigorous coughing. It will probably disappear on its own in a few days; if it doesn't, see your eye doctor

• Try not to rub your eyes. Use artificial tears or cold compresses to relieve any itching accompanying eye redness.

• If your eyes are red and you're experiencing vision problems, light sensitivity, pain or discharge, see your eye doctor. You may have an infection in your eye.

• If your eyes are red and you're having pain in your eyes, headaches, dizziness, confusion or nausea or if you start seeing halos around objects, this is a medical emergency so you should seek medical help immediately.