Why You Should Never Rub Your Eyes When They Itch ... It Can Even Lead to This Disease [Health Talk]

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\r\n[The Financial News] Rubbing your eyes unconsciously when they feel dry or itchy may seem like a common, harmless habit, but ophthalmologists warn that it can pose a serious threat to eye health.
According to the New York Post on the 2nd, ophthalmologist Taylor Starnes said in the academic outlet The Conversation that rubbing your eyes can cause a range of problems, from simple bacterial infections to serious eye diseases that may require surgery.
About half of itchy-eye cases are caused by allergic conjunctivitis, an inflammation of the clear membrane on the surface of the eye. Other causes include dermatitis or inflammation of the skin on the eyelids. But if you rub your eyes to relieve the itch, it can lead to redness, abrasions, infections, and even life-threatening eye diseases.
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The most serious risk from rubbing your eyes is keratoconus. A normal, healthy cornea is round and dome-shaped, but when keratoconus develops, the cornea, the transparent window at the front of the eye, becomes thinner and gradually deforms into a cone shape.
This condition causes astigmatism, which blurs vision. To stop the condition from progressing and strengthen the cornea, a procedure called corneal cross-linking is needed. Even after treatment, many patients must wear expensive specialty contact lenses to correct their vision. In severe cases, a corneal transplantation may be necessary.
Rubbing your eyes too hard can cause a corneal abrasion, which is an injury to the surface of the eye. If the eye is scratched by a fingernail during the process, antibiotic treatment is necessary to prevent a secondary infection.
Rubbing your eyes can also cause a blood vessel on the surface of the eye to burst, leading to a subconjunctival hemorrhage that turns the eye red. It may look alarming, but it is essentially a bruise on the surface of the eye. Fortunately, it does not cause permanent damage and usually disappears on its own within a few weeks.
Our hands come into contact with many objects, including doorknobs, smartphones, and laptops, and are exposed to countless bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus. When you touch your eyes with those hands, the bacteria are transferred directly to the eye.
This can trigger viral conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink eye, which causes severe redness, discharge, and eye crusting. Because there is often no clear treatment available for viral conjunctivitis, prevention is the best approach.
Dr. Starnes emphasized, "To prevent eye diseases, you must wash your hands thoroughly before touching your eyes," and added, "When the itching is severe, it is safer to use artificial tears or apply a cold compress rather than rubbing with your hands."\r\n
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moon@fnnews.com Moon Young-jin Reporter