• Question: Why do our eyes go dry if we keep them open for too long

    Asked by ledw to Christina, Colin, Jess, Samaneh, Steve on 24 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Jess Bean

      Jess Bean answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      Your eyes are normally kept nice and damp by blinking! Every time you blink a thin layer of tears is spread over the outside of your eye (your conjunctiva) which dampens them and remove dust and other irritants.

      When your eyes are open for too long the tears are not spread and so the eyes are not continuously dampened. Any tears left on your eye would evaporate after too long.

    • Photo: Christina Pagel

      Christina Pagel answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      also, just to add to Jess’ answer, staring at computer screens has the effect of making you blink less often (you don’t even notice!) which can result in dry eyes… both me and my husband get this and have to use to eye drops to put the moisture back in… sigh.

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