Over 20 million Americans have dry eye disease, which means their eyes don’t produce enough tears, or their tears evaporate too quickly. Dry air, wind, certain autoimmune diseases, medications like antihistamines and decongestants, too much screen time, a Vitamin A deficiency, and contact lenses are often to blame. Dr. Ashley Brissette, a board-certified ophthalmologist, suggests that there’s a scarier, overlooked cause of dry eye: microscopic pests living in our eyelashes and eyebrows. These 8-legged freeloaders are known as “Demodex,” otherwise known as eyelash mites. While they’re typically harmless and almost everyone has them, an overgrowth of the mites — which feed off the bacteria that lives on our eyelashes — can lead to conditions like blepharitis, which causes eyelid inflammation, redness, dry eye, styes, itchy eyes and irritation. Before you get out the Raid, Dr. Brissette reveals how to combat these small intruders. She recommends washing your eyelids daily with an eyelid-formulated cleanser like Ocusoft, Optase, Heyedrate, or We Love Eyes. This gets rid of the mites, as well as the bacteria and debris that they feed off of, to prevent them from recurring. It’s a mite-y ask, but worth the effort says Brissette.
