Eye excrement is the common name of eye secretions. I also don’t know which big fairy gave me such a down-to-earth name. I always feel that eye excrement is dirty and useless. You underestimate it.
In fact, it is some substances that are very important to the eyes that form eye excrement.
Eye droppings are caused by tears.
Tears are not unique when crying. They are continuously secreted to the surface of the eyeball and stored in the small gap between the eyelid and the eyeball.
With blinking again and again, the eyelids evenly coat tears on the surface of the eyeball, and the excess tears will be pushed to the inner canthus near the nose, from which they will flow into the tear discharge channel and enter the nose a little bit.
It is precisely because there is a [sewer entrance] at the inner canthus that some [garbage] often accumulates. You may wonder, aren’t tears water? Why is there any residue?
In fact, in addition to water, tears also contain many other components, including oil and protein secreted by normal glands of the human body, which play a vital role in maintaining the moisture and nutrition of the eye surface. In addition, due to long-term contact between eyes and the external environment, dust and other particles in the air are often mixed in tears.
These ingredients may accumulate in the canthus and form eye excrement after drying.
Eye droppings under normal circumstances
Under normal circumstances, eye excrement is generally relatively dry granular, mostly white or yellowish. However, if there are more particles such as dust exposed during the day, or if they are not removed after makeup, eye excrement may be a little gray or even black.
There is a little eye excrement at the corner of the eye, which is actually a quite normal physiological phenomenon.
Especially during sleep, the flow of tears will become very slow due to the obvious reduction of eyeball rotation and the fact that eyelids do not open and close as they do during the day.
The secreted grease will fill the gap between the upper and lower eyelids to protect the eyeballs. After a night of tearful evaporation, when you wake up, the eye excrement will become more obvious, and sometimes even there will be some eye excrement near the outer canthus of the ear.
Do you really know how to clean up eye excrement?
Eye droppings often bring embarrassment and perplexity to everyone and need to be cleaned up in time.
Correct cleaning method
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Use a clean cotton swab to wipe it off gently. Yawning first has a miraculous effect on cleaning up tightly glued eye excrement.
Incorrect cleaning methods include:
- Don’t pick nose excrement with your fingers before picking eye excrement. Of course, the other way around! Don’t use sharp things such as nails, be careful to scratch the surface of eyes; You can’t pick and pick at the corner of your eye! The fingers are not clean, nor is the paper towel in your hand! Don’t wipe with alcoholic wipes. Once the corneal epithelium is injured, you will realize how painful it is. Don’t wash it with water casually, not to mention what tap water, pure water, bath water and herbal soup. You know, doctors use strictly disinfected normal saline.
Do you need to see a doctor in what’s case?
1. Eye excrement suddenly increases in a short period of time.
The normal amount of eye excrement is generally very small.
Eye excrement increases obviously within a few days or even hours, which may often be acute inflammation of the eyes. At this time, eye excrement is not only grease or dust, but also contains a large number of necrotic inflammatory cells.
At this time, the color and properties of eye excrement may change, such as turning into thick yellow or green, or translucent mucus. The amount is so large that it is crowded with canthus and even sticks to eyelids and eyelashes.
When acute inflammation occurs, the eyes may have other discomfort, such as red eyes, tears, eye pain, feeling something in the eyes, etc., which also need to be paid attention to. Sometimes, these eye discomfort may not be related to eye excrement, so don’t make random judgments.
After the acute inflammation of the eyes is controlled, the amount of eye excrement will return to normal.
2. Long-term eye excrement is abundant, which may be more complicated.
If there is too much eye excrement for a long time and it does not improve or repeat after treatment, it is necessary to guard against the possibility of dacryocystitis.
The [sewer] of tears is called lacrimal passage. After wetting the surface of the eyeball, tears flow away through it.
In the process of [drainage], it will pass through a place where tears are temporarily stored-lacrimal sac. If the [drainage pipe] below the lacrimal sac is blocked, tears cannot be discharged smoothly.
At this time, the patient will have the symptom of tears overflowing. Over time, the [stagnant pool] in the lacrimal sac is prone to infection due to the happy reproduction of bacteria, resulting in inflammatory secretions, which may flow back to the eye surface and form more eye excrement.
Adults may cause lacrimal duct obstruction due to lacrimal duct stones, trauma and other reasons. If this situation is found, it is better to go to the hospital to see an ophthalmologist earlier.
Is the child’s eye excrement mostly irritated?
1. Congenital eye excrement?
If newborns or infants have too much eye excrement, it may be dacryocystitis caused by congenital lacrimal passage obstruction. Parents must not mistake it for [excessive internal heat]. Please see a doctor in time first and receive treatment if necessary.
2. Children have much eye excrement?
If older children have the above-mentioned excessive eye excrement, as parents, the following situations need to be clarified:
- Is eye excrement mostly recent or always present? Whether there are nasal congestion, cough, fever and other symptoms in the near future; Observe the amount and color of eye excrement; Timely find other discomfort of children, such as swollen eyelids, red eyes, tears, frequent blinking, like rubbing eyes, and even foreign bodies or white spots on black eyes.
Then, take the child to see a doctor in time to clarify the reason.
Finally, parents are reminded that children’s eyes need more meticulous care. Try not to let children wipe eye excrement by themselves. Parents should also pay more attention to hygiene and operate gently when wiping.
Editor: Fei Fei
Author: Luo Quan