Dry and itchy eyes in perimenopause and menopause

Today's topic:

We know that the eyes can be impacted in quite a number of different ways during perimenopause and menopause. But the main symptoms seem to be dryness, itchiness, and irritation. So today, I'm going to be looking at what can cause these symptoms and what you can do to help yourself

What can dry eyes in perimenopause and menopause feel like

What exactly does it feel like? It can be a sort of stinging, burning, scratching sensation. It can almost feel like you've got grit in your eyes but nothing you do will take it away. It may well be that your eyes start to get red. They start to get puffy. You might find that they water a lot more. And it's quite interesting, because if your eyes get dry and irritated, your eyes will very often produce more tears to try and wash the dryness away. So watery eyes can be a result of dry eyes.

You may also find that you're much more sensitive to light, and also that your eyes get tired a lot quicker when you're doing any kind of close-up work.

What causes dry or itchy eyes in perimenopause and menopause

Some of the main causes of dry or itchy eyes in perimenopause and menopause include:

Hormonal changes

Hormone levels decreasing, especially in the case of oestrogen, can be a cause. Oestrogen helps your tissue to retain moisture. So, if your oestrogen falls, then a lot of the tissues in the body can start to become dry. This can affect the skin, as well as the membranes of the mouth, the nose, the eyes, and also, the vagina.

Due to these hormonal changes, you may get more discomfort with the eyes more regularly. You get the inflammation. You get the gritty feeling. For some people, their eyes get more watery; but others may actually end up producing fewer tears, and that can have a big effect on eye comfort as well.

Allergies developing for the first time or worsening

The other thing that can happen when going through perimenopause and menopause is that your immune system can be a little compromised, so you may find you're getting allergies.

A lot of women find, at some point, they may start getting hayfever which they've never had before. And again, with allergies, you get histamine production; you get itchy eyes; you get all the signs of hayfever symptoms. But these can happen ongoing as well, so they're not necessarily just at hayfever season - you can get irritation and allergies throughout the whole year.

Ageing

It can be just due to age. As we get older, we produce fewer tears so our eyes can dry. And dry eyes tend to be quite a common symptom in people over 50, regardless of where their hormones are at.

Medication

It could also be medication. So, if you just recently started a new medication and you suddenly find your eyes are drying, check the patient information leaflet and all the potential side effects, just in case it's something to do with that.

How to treat dry eyes in perimenopause and menopause

So, the best way to treat your eyes is, obviously, hydration, as usual. Make sure you're drinking plenty of water to keep all the tissues hydrated. There is a great supplement called Sea Buckthorn Oil which can really help with dry eyes. It's great for dry mouth as well, vaginal dryness, and the skin. It covers a huge number of dry issues, so it's certainly worth trying.

If you're in an environment like an office, or at home, and you've got the central heating up in the winter, then the atmosphere can be dry and that can affect your eyes too; so maybe try a humidifier or even just put a small bowl of water onto a radiator to keep a little bit of extra moisture in the atmosphere too.

You can look at eye drops. We have two eye drops that can be helpful. We've got Extra Moisturising Eye Drops for dry eyes; and, if you're getting allergic reactions, we've got the Pollinosan Hayfever Eye Drops.

A.Vogel Eye Drops Extra Moisturising

• For very dry, irritated or tired eyes
• Quick intensive moisturisation of the eye surface
• Helps soothe and maintain lubrication of the eye
• Contains twice the amount of hyaluronic acid than A.Vogel Eye Drops, for a more intensive effect
• Suitable for contact lens users

Read more customer reviews

Find Eye Drops Extra Moisturising in a store near you

If it's general allergies, you can look at nettle. That's a really super natural antioxidant. You can go for a liquid tincture, taken orally, or you could go for a couple of cups of nettle tea daily.

Remember to wear sunglasses in the summer as well if you find that bright light is affecting you.

And if you're doing a lot of computer work or screen work of any kind, or any kind of close-up work like reading, then give yourself eye breaks. Palming the eyes just for a few seconds can be really helpful for resting the eyes before you get back to your work.

What else to be aware of

Another really important thing to know when going through perimenopause and menopause is that falling oestrogen can affect your eyesight generally - your eyesight can start to deteriorate. So it's always really important to get your eyes checked every year, especially when you're over 50, just to make sure that the eye irritability or discomfort is not being caused by something else.

The other thing for those of you in perimenopause, you may find that the eye issues can start a week or so before your period, but then afterwards, they're okay. This is usually an indication that it has to do with falling oestrogen, as your oestrogen starts to fall before a period. But again, all these tips will help, so certainly try them.

I hope you found this one helpful. It's a really common symptom for a lot of people going through perimenopause and menopause.

If you have found this to be the case for yourself and you found things that have worked really well, then please share them. We love it when you share all your tips and everyone else loves to read these tips too. So, thank you to all of you who do that on a regular basis.

And I will see you next week for another edition of A.Vogel Talks Menopause.

You may also find these topics helpful:

5 eye problems to look out for during menopause
Dryness during menopause
How menopause affects your 5 senses