Why you shouldn't rub your eyes
If you’ve ever felt a fleck of dust in your eye, experienced allergies, or felt drowsy chances are likely you’ve rubbed your eyes. Though it might provide temporary relief, there are several reasons it’s better to restrain and turn to preservative free artificial tears or sterile saline solution. Rubbing your eyes may seem harmless, but there are plenty of reasons to rethink the move.
1. Rubbing your eyes can increase your chance of an eye infection
As you perform your daily tasks your hands are picking up germs everywhere and anywhere they can—one innocent rub of the eye and those germs are transferred to your eyes. These germs can cause infections like staphylococcus, streptococcus, salmonella, and E. coli. It’s best to keep your hands away from your face and away from causing an infection.
2. Rubbing your eyes can result in thinning of the cornea
Your cornea is a protective outer layer and an important refractive part of the eye. Based on its shape, curvature, and thickness it contributes greatly to the eye’s refractive status. The cornea relies on tiny collagen fibers to maintain its curved shape. When these fibers weaken or break, the cornea bulges outward until it forms a cone shape, resulting in a condition known as keratoconus. Frequent rubbing can cause trauma to the eye, and over time, that repeated trauma weakens the collagen fibers.
3. Rubbing your eyes may cause wrinkles to develop quicker
It’s true. The skin around your eyes is very thin and delicate—as we age the skin loses some of its elasticity. Rubbing your eyes isn’t the only culprit for causing wrinkles, but it can stretch the tissue prematurely resulting in an increase in wrinkle formation.
4. Rubbing your eyes may scratch your cornea
Rubbing your eyes is about the worst way attempt to remove debris from your eyes. Instead of relieving the pain, rubbing may push the particles further into your eyes, scratching your cornea. (No thank you, we’ll take a hard pass on eyeball scratches.) Small scratches can lead to redness and irritation while larger injuries may result in infections and scars. If you see or feel anything in your eyes flush your eyes with preservative free artificial tears, a contact lens rewetting drop, or sterile saline solution. Do not rub your eyes. We repeat, do not rub your eyes!
5. Rubbing your eyes can lead to more redness and irritation
Allergy season is notorious for causing your eyes to feel itchy and dry. As tempting as it can be to rub them this can lead to more redness, itching, and watering that can cause contacts to become uncomfortable, dirty, and less clear. If you suffer from intense allergy symptoms, consider switching to one-day disposable lenses as they don’t allow for much allergen buildup.
If you’re finding you’re rubbing your eyes because they’re dry it may be time to replace the contacts you’ve been wearing. Has it been over a month since you’ve been wearing your current pair? Click here to place an order and provide your eyes with some relief!