Watery eyes in adults

Every person in the world has cried at least once in his or her life and knows how normal tears look like. People should know that tears are made in a gland located under the skin right above the eye. When they occur, tears flow over the front surface of the eye and drain into tear ducts that are located in the eyelids, close to the nose.

Symptoms of tears

Most people already know that watery eyes do not occur without a reason and that something caused them to occur. There are some symptoms that will point to tears and they are constant watering of the eyes, gritty feeling followed by watering, the condition worseness by cold wind or bright light and sore eyelids.

Causes of watery eyes

Watery eyes are also known as epiphora. There are a lot of causes that lead to this condition but some occur more often than others. These causes also occur in combination. Too many tears, ingrown eyelashes, dry eye, irritation, blepharitis, partial blockage, naso-lacrimal duct blockage and eyelid laxity are known to be the most common causes of water eyes.

Too many tears

People need to know that in some cases the eyes make too many tears. There are some known conditions that lead to that. It is pretty common for a person who has watery eyes to have a combination of too many tears and blocked tear duct. Some of the other conditions that are the cause of water eyes are ingrown eyelashes, dry eyes, which make the eyes sore and cause reflex watering and some other causes of irritation.

In-grown eyelashes are a common cause of watery eyes and when a person has them, he or she needs to remove them. However, they may grow in again. If a person has dry eyes, that will only cause the eyes to make more tears. However, it is not uncommon for these tears to spread properly and when that happens dry patches may develop on the surface of the eyes. Doctors recommend people with this problem to use artificial tears because they will make the eye feel a lot more comfortable and may spread more evenly.

Some of the other causes of irritation are sand or grit that got under the eyelid, eye drops for glaucoma, an allergy and even thyroid eye disease. However, people should know that thyroid eye disease does not occur that often and it is considered to be an unusual cause. Apart from these, there are some other less common causes of watery eyes.