Medical Questions » Eyes Questions » Question No. 349
| Question: | I am 55 and suffer from watering eyes. It is worse when I walk or cycle, and the tears irritate the skin around the eyes, making it itchy, which annoys the eyes further. |
| Answer: | Tears are produced in the tear gland which is under the skin at the outer corner of the eye. They are produced constantly, and slowly wash across the eye to be drained into the tear duct at the inner corner of the eye. This duct leads into the back of the nose.
If you are emotionally upset, tears are produced in excessive quantities, and overflow the eyes so that you are seen to be crying. The extra tears washing down the tear duct into the nose give you the salty taste of tears at the same time. Tears are made of slightly salty water, which closely matches blood, but without the blood cells, proteins and enzymes.
In older people, the fold of skin along the lowet eyelid no longer contains the tears that are normally in the eye. The lower eyelid separates from the surface of the eye, folds out just a fraction, and allows tears to overflow onto the skin. The constant exposure to salty water irritates the skin.
When wind blows into the eyes, as it does with cycling or walking, more tears are produced to protect the eyes from drying out, and in your case more tears are available to overflow from the eyes.
At your relatively young age, a minor operation can be performed by an ophthalmologist (eye specialist) to tighten the lower eyelid and correct the problem.
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