Watery Eyes: What Causes Them and When to See a Doctor

Producing tears helps keep your eyes lubricated as well as wash away any foreign dust and particles. In fact, they’re a component of your immune system that prevents infection, with tears containing water and salt to moisten your eyes as you blink.

Sometimes, the glands under your eyelids may produce too many tears. When it discharges through your tear ducts, they become overwhelmed, resulting in watery eyes. This usually gets resolved without treatment, but if this is a recurring problem, refrain from wearing any contact lenses and have your eyes checked at a trusted eye center.

Common Causes

Normally, you produce excess tears when you feel certain emotions, as well as when you laugh, vomit, cough, yawn, or experience strong taste sensations. However, in some cases, the cause for watery eyes can also be dry eye syndrome. With extremely dry eyes, you’re not able to receive proper lubrication and you’ll keep producing excess tears. This happens if your tears don’t contain the right balance of water, salt, and oils. Your eyes become irritated which causes the overproduction of tears to spill through your tear ducts.

Knowing When to See a Doctor

Normally, your watery eyes will clear up without any treatment. But if it keeps happening, you’ll have to see your trusted eye exam doctor for a check-up. They’ll be able to determine the cause of your dry eyes so they can administer the best treatment.

Sometimes, the causes can be as simple as an injured or scratched eye. It can also be as obvious as swollen or red eyes. But other symptoms can also be tenderness around your nose or sinuses, as well as a severe headache associated with your watery eyes.

When you need a reliable specialist for corneal reshaping or other vision concerns, Lumen Optometric is the name you can trust. Call us today at (626) 921-0199, or you can fill out our convenient online form.