Your body is telling you

Psychosomatics of dry eyes

Dry eyes happen when you make too few tears or they dry up quickly. Your eyes itch, feel gritty, go red, and sometimes water more instead. It is more common after 50, with lenses, at screens and in dry air. Usually it is not serious, and simple steps and drops help. The Ladder method adds questions about whether you let yourself cry, and it does not replace a doctor.

Aizhan LiAuthor of the Ladder method
Updated 4 November 2026

When to see a doctor

See a doctor urgently if your eye is painful and red, especially if you wear lenses. Go to emergency care straight away if your sight changes (wavy lines, flashes, loss of vision), it hurts to look at light, you have a red eye with a severe headache and feel sick, or your eye is very dark red.

An ophthalmologist looks at dry eyes. The doctor examines your eyes and eyelids, checks how many tears you make and how fast they dry, and looks for the cause: blepharitis, medicines, other conditions. Treatment is chosen to fit the cause.

In the Ladder method

In the Ladder method dry eyes are not explained as "you do not want to see the truth". You are not to blame. It is worth having your eyes checked by an ophthalmologist first and removing what dries them out. Questions to yourself belong next to treatment, not instead of it.

In the method tears fit the image of "the right to feelings": whether you let yourself cry, or heard "stop crying" as a child, and how many tears you hold in to stay strong. Many women do not cry in front of others for years. It is an image, not the cause, and it does not replace treatment.

On the ladder this shows up as the steps "I am not allowed to be weak" and "nobody needs my feelings". You can work through them at your own pace alongside drops and screen breaks.

These are questions for reflection, not an explanation of what causes the condition and not a treatment.

Quick check: what may be behind it

When did you last cry, and what did you feel then?
Who told you "don't cry" when you were a child?
Who can you be weak in front of?

Build your ladder Free · 10 minutes · on your phone

More: signs, medicine, sources, questions

How it shows up

Book a doctor’s appointment if you notice:

Eyes itch and feel gritty, like sand
Red eyes
Blurry vision that clears when you blink
Eyes sensitive to light
Eyes water more than usual
Hard to look at a screen for long

What medicine knows

The NHS says many people get dry eyes and it is not usually serious. It happens when your eyes do not make enough tears or the tears dry up quickly.

Your eyes may be itchy, sore, gritty, red and blurry, sensitive to light and more watery than normal.

It is more likely if you are over 50, wear contact lenses, look at screens for a long time without breaks, sit in air conditioning or near heating, smoke, or take some antidepressants or blood pressure medicines. Dry eyes also come with blepharitis, Sjögren's syndrome and lupus.

Daily eyelid hygiene with a warm compress, screen breaks, a monitor just below eye level, a humidifier and resting from lenses in glasses all help. A pharmacy has drops, gels and ointments. If things are not better after a few weeks, you need a doctor.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Why do my eyes get dry?

Eyes get dry when you make too few tears or they dry up quickly. It is more common after 50, with contact lenses, at screens without breaks, in dry air and with some medicines (NHS).

What do dry eyes mean in psychosomatics?

There is no proven "meaning". In the Ladder method dry eyes become a reason to ask yourself whether you let yourself cry and show your feelings. It is a question to yourself, not a diagnosis.

Why do dry eyes water?

It is a common sign of dryness: the eye is irritated and tears flow more than usual (NHS). Eyelid hygiene and screen breaks help, and if things are not better after a few weeks, see an ophthalmologist.

Psychosomatics of dry eyes: explained by Aizhan Li, author of the Ladder method