r4pid
Loox is life
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Some people have prominent upper eyelid exposure because of ptosis or anatomy.
But a common modern day problem is excessive inflammation of the eyelids, which I want to talk about in this short guide.
This can be a very underestimated looksmax because the eye area is often times the first health indicator another person recognizes.
Puffy inflamed eyelids can cover the white of the eye and make your eye color less appearent.
I'll talk about different causes and simple therapeutic measures you can take to prevent eyelid inflammation.
Understanding eyelid function:
The eyelids contain so called Meibomian glands which secrete a fine oil that covers the tear and protects it from evaporating.
To secrete this oils the eyelids need to come in contact with each other, which is called complete blinking.
A complete blink applies pressure to the meibomian glands and expresses the oil of the meibomian gland.
Causes of inflammation and treatments:
These treatments seem very simplistic but are THE main needle movers if you adhere to a regular schedule.
Why prevention is important
Chronic inflammation of the eyelids can lead to meibomian gland dropout which is an irreversible atrophy of the glands with no cure available at the time.
Once you have this condition from contact lense overuse, high screen time, and bad lid hygiene you will never get back to 100% healthy looking eyes as the dryness will further cause inflammation of the cornea and cause redness and irritation. If you are at this point you can only try to reduce the symptoms of meibomian gland dysfunction.
Also symtoms often times only show after a significant degree of dropout so even if you were monthlies for multiple years now you could still already have a degree of meibomian gland dysfunction.
But a common modern day problem is excessive inflammation of the eyelids, which I want to talk about in this short guide.
This can be a very underestimated looksmax because the eye area is often times the first health indicator another person recognizes.
Puffy inflamed eyelids can cover the white of the eye and make your eye color less appearent.
I'll talk about different causes and simple therapeutic measures you can take to prevent eyelid inflammation.
Understanding eyelid function:
The eyelids contain so called Meibomian glands which secrete a fine oil that covers the tear and protects it from evaporating.
To secrete this oils the eyelids need to come in contact with each other, which is called complete blinking.
A complete blink applies pressure to the meibomian glands and expresses the oil of the meibomian gland.
Causes of inflammation and treatments:
Focusing on a task, especially when using screens reduces blinking rate to a significant degree.
A low blinking rate and especially incomplete blinks lead to a reduced expression of oil from the glands. This can lead to clogging and inflammation.
Check for incomplete blinks by using the slow mo feature of your phone and try to blink without thinking much about it.
Rewatch the footage and see if your lids close completely.
The best way to counteract is to actively remind yourself to blink COMPLETELY for about 10 times every hour.
This is also called eyelid training.
Close, hold for 2 seconds, apply some pressure (should not squint), hold another 2 seconds and then open.
This technique is often times recommended as a first and very important measure to prevent dry eyes.
A low blinking rate and especially incomplete blinks lead to a reduced expression of oil from the glands. This can lead to clogging and inflammation.
Check for incomplete blinks by using the slow mo feature of your phone and try to blink without thinking much about it.
Rewatch the footage and see if your lids close completely.
The best way to counteract is to actively remind yourself to blink COMPLETELY for about 10 times every hour.
This is also called eyelid training.
Close, hold for 2 seconds, apply some pressure (should not squint), hold another 2 seconds and then open.
This technique is often times recommended as a first and very important measure to prevent dry eyes.
Monthly contacts can build up protein which the body will detect as a foreign body in the eye.
Especially if you wear your contacts during sport activities the protein buildup can be significant.
This can never be fully prevented and many monthly lense wearers suffer to some degree of eyelid inflammation.
A good way to prevent this would be to switch to dailies if it is possible.
The protein buildup can also cause another issue called giant papillary conjunctivities GPC which is a chronic inflammatory condition that is difficult to get rid of and also gives an appearance of puffy eyelids.
Especially if you wear your contacts during sport activities the protein buildup can be significant.
This can never be fully prevented and many monthly lense wearers suffer to some degree of eyelid inflammation.
A good way to prevent this would be to switch to dailies if it is possible.
The protein buildup can also cause another issue called giant papillary conjunctivities GPC which is a chronic inflammatory condition that is difficult to get rid of and also gives an appearance of puffy eyelids.
Lid hygiene helps to remove old oil buildup to allow for new oil to be expressed.
There are cheap kits like BlephaClean which contain a gel and sterile wipes.
These are used to gently clean the lid margin.
The best way to go about this is to use red light or a heatable eyemask to warm up the eye area to liquify the oils in the glands.
Then massage the lids towards the margin to express old oil.
And then use the wipe to gently clean the lid margin.
This is the baseline treatment for Blepharitis and can reduce visible inflammation to a significant degree.
There are cheap kits like BlephaClean which contain a gel and sterile wipes.
These are used to gently clean the lid margin.
The best way to go about this is to use red light or a heatable eyemask to warm up the eye area to liquify the oils in the glands.
Then massage the lids towards the margin to express old oil.
And then use the wipe to gently clean the lid margin.
This is the baseline treatment for Blepharitis and can reduce visible inflammation to a significant degree.
These treatments seem very simplistic but are THE main needle movers if you adhere to a regular schedule.
Why prevention is important
Chronic inflammation of the eyelids can lead to meibomian gland dropout which is an irreversible atrophy of the glands with no cure available at the time.
Once you have this condition from contact lense overuse, high screen time, and bad lid hygiene you will never get back to 100% healthy looking eyes as the dryness will further cause inflammation of the cornea and cause redness and irritation. If you are at this point you can only try to reduce the symptoms of meibomian gland dysfunction.
Also symtoms often times only show after a significant degree of dropout so even if you were monthlies for multiple years now you could still already have a degree of meibomian gland dysfunction.
