Why does pressing your eyes

Call Us! Apr 13, Why is Rubbing Your Eyes Harmful? Continuous eye rubbing in susceptible individuals can cause the cornea to thin and weaken, leading it to bulge forward and become more cone-like. This is known as keratoconus — a serious condition that can lead to distorted vision and ultimately the need for a corneal transplant or specialized contact lenses, such as scleral lenses. If you have a foreign object in your eye, your natural instinct is likely to rub it in an attempt to remove the object.

However, this can potentially cause more damage as the object can scratch the cornea. Instead, try flushing it out with saline solution or artificial tears. Therefore, sticking a finger that hasn't been thoroughly washed with soap and water into your eyes can cause an infection, such as conjunctivitis, to flare up. Recent evidence shows that the coronavirus can also be transferred from the hands to the eyes. Rubbing is harmful to people with certain pre-existing eye conditions.

If you have progressive myopia short-sightedness caused by a lengthened eyeball or glaucoma a condition that damages the optic nerve , rubbing your eyes can exacerbate the condition and worsen eyesight. Eye rubbing is particularly bad for a glaucoma patient with already heightened eye pressure. It can engender nerve damage and permanent vision loss.

Retinal tear or detachment can occur due to the heightened eye pressure caused by the rubbing. So far, while the satisfaction of a good eye rub might reduce some strain or headaches, it has not been shown to combat myopia in any way. What might surprise you is that rubbing actually releases histamines that can make that itch even worse! The most basic issue that can arise from over-zealous rubbing is dirty hands and fingers, which can cause infections like pink eye. On the other end of the spectrum, the increased eye pressure created when you essentially squish the eye with your hands can actually make eyesight worse or, in severe cases, cause retinal detachment.

Faced with long periods of total sensory deprivation, people can see a "light show" of various colors that almost appear to be projected onto the pitch-dark walls around them. All of this is a great way to get you think about the senses, your perception, and how we interpret reality around us.

Just don't poke your eyes too much or you'll do yourself a mischief. This website uses cookies to improve user experience. Rather than relieving the pain, rubbing may push the particles deeper into your eyes, scratching your cornea. Small scratches and abrasions may lead to redness, irritation, and light sensitivity. Larger, more serious injuries may result in fungal infections and scars. In extreme cases, these abrasions may lead to long-term vision problems.

Should you feel or see any particles in your eyes, flush away the irritant with clean water or a sterile saline solution.

If the debris remains, seek emergency help from an eye doctor. To maintain its gently curved shape, the cornea relies on tiny collagen fibers.

When these fibers weaken or break, the cornea bulges outward until it forms a cone shape, resulting in a condition known as keratoconus. Keratoconus occurs for a number of reasons, such as genetics, eye disease, and oxidative stress. However, some researchers hypothesize that frequent rubbing causes trauma to the eye, and over time, that repeated trauma weakens the collagen fibers. Although you can manage early stages of keratoconus via rigid contact lenses, keep your hands away from your eyes as a preventative measure.