Eye Blinking: When You Require Expert Care?

Introduction

Blinking of the eye is an involuntary act of the body. It means the body does it automatically. However,you can also blink your eyes whenever you want to. Eye blinking varies with the ages. A newborn only blinks two times in a minute while teen blinks 15 times in a minute. An adult blinks 14-17 times in a minute.

The rate of eye blinking can be either high or low. Increase in the rate of eye blinking may be caused by dust, smoke, bright light or a foreign particle in the eye. It results in eye irritation. Other conditions that cause increased blinking frequency are stress, fatigue or anxiety. Allergies, dry eyes and infections may also be the reasons for increased eye blinking.

What Is Eye Blinking?

Eye blinking is a process to refresh your eyes. It is a normal and physiologically important phenomenon of the body.Blinking provide lubrication to the eyes, protection from foreign particles and provide nutrition to the eyes. However, a condition in which an eye blinks more than its need is known as excessive eye blinking. Excessive eye blinking can be caused by several reasons like a problem on the eye surface. It might be irritating. Fortunately, most conditions causing excessive blinking are not threat to permanent loss of vision.

What Are The Causes Of Eye Blinking?

Blinking of the eye is a reflex. Excessive blinking occurs when the stimulation of reflex become increase due to interference of something. Eye blinking can cause by the following reasons

Ophthalmologic causes of excessive eye blinking

The causes may appear due to problem in the eyeball or other specific conditions. These are:

• Wearing contact lens can be a reason for blinking eyes.
• Dryness of eyes.
• Exposure to Smoke, dust, or smog like irritants.
• Hypersensitivities.
• Corneal ulcer.
• Blepharitis (It is a condition of inflammation of eyelids. It usually affects both eyes and the edged of the eyelids).
• Conjunctivitis (it is the condition of inflammation of the eye surface).

Neurologic causes of excessive eye blinking

These are some severe neurologic disorders that can also cause excessive eye blinking. These are:

• Blepharospasm (it is an abnormal condition of contraction in eyelid muscles).
• Tourette’s syndrome
• Parkinson syndrome
• Dyskinesia
• Multiple sclerosis
• Wilson’s disease

Eye irritation

The irritation of the conjunctiva and cornea is generally a cause for eye blinking. Irritation may be due to the following reasons:

• Dry eyes
• Pink eyes (conjunctivitis)
• Pollen, pollution, smoke and dust like eye irritants

Vision problems

There are various eye problems that may cause blinking of eyes. Some of these problems are myopia, presbyopia, and hyperopia.

Mental and physical health conditions

General health issues can cause excessive eye blinking. These are:

• Stress
• Anxiety
• fatigue

Is Eye Blinking A Serious Condition?

Excessive blinking can be a reason for irritation. However, the blinking of eyes can rarely cause any severe conditions. If it is a part of a neurological syndrome, it can cause other neurological symptoms. If excessive blinking becomes a routine, it can affect your quality of life. You can have trouble while driving. It sometimes takes a long time to recover from excessive blinking. The doctor usually determines and treat the underlying problem that causes blinking.

What Are The Options For Managing Eye Blinking?

The treatment of excessive blinking can be given according to the cause of eye blinking. Sometimes either eye blinking needs treatment or may go away without any treatment.

Eye irritation

Excessive blinking due to eye irritation can be resolve by avoiding pollution, dust and smoke. You can compress your eyes with a warm cloth. Over-the-counter eyes drops are also beneficial for allergies. Medicines such as antihistaminics can treat excessive blinking due to eye irritation.

General health

Blinking due to general health can be improved by the activities that make you feel calm and stress-free. Meditation can resolve most of the problems of the body. Regular therapies, enough sleep and eye exercises can help to treat this problem. Physical activity like yoga is also an effective method to resolve blinking problems.

Vision problems

A vision problem can be treated by wear prescribed glasses, vision therapy and eye surgeries.

Serious neurological disorders

To manage the problem due to neurological disorders, you need professional evaluation to create a proper treatment plan.

Home Remedies For Eye Blinking

Eye blinking is generally not a serious problem and may resolve itself by following certain precautions. You can prevent excessive eye blinking by:

• Taking sufficient sleep
• Applying a compress of warm cloth
• Giving a gentle massage to your eyelids
• Taking frequent breaks while working on computers or laptops

Conclusion

Generally, excessive blinking is not a serious issue. It can go away itself without any treatment. However, the symptoms caused by neurological disorders requires immediate medical intervention and may take time to resolve. It requires help of ophthalmologists to develop a proper treatment plan. You treat excessive blinking by avoiding stress, taking enough sleep and limit the intake of caffeine.