Dry Eye is the worst houseguest ever for one very simple reason. It never comes by itself. It’s always dragging around countless other family members who want to stay for a long, long time.
Think you’re only hosting aqueous deficiency?
Think again.
There’s probably some meibomian gland dysfunction lurking around your eye lids.
Maybe even a bit of conjunctivochalasis — or chalasis for short — right on the eyes.
How about a few demodex mites? Have enough room and food to house them for a while? Sure you do. We all do. Especially as we get older.
What about that recurring pink eye? Why does that keep coming back? Didn’t you just give it $60 to go off with those antibiotic eye drops and give you some peace and quiet for a while?
Or that pain in the corner of your eye that sometimes feels like a knife and sometimes feels like an eye lash. What’s that all about? So rude to show up uninvited.
Still not Convinced that Dry Eye is the Worst Houseguest Ever?
There’s that feeling of soap and those frothy tears. How long have they overstayed their welcome? Wait, they never were welcome. Now it’s impossible to get them to leave… once and for all. Somehow they keep finding their way back. How?
Are your eyes red? Do they feel awful after you’ve been working or looking at a computer screen for a while? What about your eyelid margins? Are they white and shiny like porcelain, or does it look like someone’s been leaving their dirty dishes lying around. All of that debris. Endless, endless debris in the eyes and eyelashes. Don’t they know how to clean up after themselves?
And speaking of endless, what’s up with all those eye drops or warm compresses? At least the compresses are relatively cheap. But the eye drops… seriously? How much does it cost to keep one single drop happy?
Are your eyes watery? Do you blink all the time? Does it feel like something’s just stuck in there forever and won’t come out? Something gritty or perhaps even a sheet of tissue paper? Yep, that’s exactly what we’re talking about — the houseguests that never were invited and now just don’t know when to leave.
More Reasons Why Dry Eye is the Worst Houseguest Ever
And it’s not as if these houseguests aren’t cramping your style. You probably haven’t sat down with a good book in ages, or watched a TV show without interruption. Thank goodness for Netflix and the pause button.
Sometimes they even get in the way of going to work. But you have to work, because who else is going to support this unwelcome crowd.
And after all that work, you’d think they would at least let you have some time to yourself. But no. When was the last time you went to a movie theater? Ride that motorcycle lately? Sat in front of a fireplace? Even your choice of restaurants, if you can still go out to eat, is probably a lot smaller these days. If it’s any consolation, at least you have your favorite warm compress at home to keep you warm, because sometimes even your pets have to go to make room for these awful houseguests.
But in reality it’s no joke. Dry Eye, and its many relatives, can cause untold devastation. Truly heartbreaking devastation and immeasurable physical and emotional pain.
Good Riddance to Dry Eye, and Good Night
And as far as pain goes, the only good thing about it is, once it’s gone, at least you can’t remember it. You can remember that you had it. But you can’t actually feel it. Plus when the pain, or whatever you’re feeling, is gone, probably some relative of Dry Eye is gone too.
And to that we say good riddance, good bye, and good night!
And to everyone else Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and joyful holidays! May you all have many, many, many good eye days.
We’ll see you again next year.
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