Why Should You Avoid Rubbing Your Eyes?

Negative impact of rubbing your eyes

The following are more likely to occur:

• Corneal injuries. The pressure the eye experiences can cause injuries to the cornea, especially if there is a foreign body (sometimes so small it can be hard to detect) on the eye’s surface. This can lead to vision problems.
• Keratoconus. This continuous force can deform the cornea and lead to this disease, which can also significantly impair vision.
• Eye infections. The eyes are very sensitive and a gateway for pathogens to enter the entire body. By touching them with our hands, we expose ourselves to germs we may have on them, which can lead to local infections (conjunctivitis, keratitis, blepharitis) or systemic infections in the rest of the body.
• Redness, inflammation, and temporary blurred vision. If you have allergies, touching and rubbing your eyes with dirty hands can increase contact with the agents causing the irritation. The friction can also accelerate histamine production and, consequently, worsen these symptoms.
• Redness can also be caused by the breaking of one of the small capillaries in the conjunctiva, which could even cause a small hemorrhage in the eye.
• Increased risk of retinal detachment, especially in people with high myopia and other retinal diseases. A retinal detachment is serious and should be treated urgently to preserve vision.
• Increased intraocular pressure, which can accelerate vision loss in glaucoma patients or increasing the chances of suffering this disease.
• Increased wrinkles and bags under the eyes.