Do your eyes feel dry, red, sore, even scratchy all summer—or maybe all the time?  Do you wish you could go through a day without rubbing your eyes, blinking constantly or just feeling them ache?

If this is you, you are certainly not alone, says Dr. Heather Kern Golson of Texas Country Eye Care. She and her husband, Dr. Blake Golson, have owned Texas Country for a couple of years now and they have seen lots of dry eyes in this area. On some days, you might even say there’s not a dry eye in the house.

On that topic, it seems that just watching an emotional movie is not enough to fix dry eyes, because emotional tears are the wrong kind of tears—they’re mostly water. What you want is a mix of the three tear layers: aqueous (water) oil and mucus.

It seems that, normally, every time you blink, your eyelids bring those tears across your eyeball from ducts up under the eyelids. Around here, the air is so dry or thick with dust and/or allergens that the normal tear layer can dry up too much between blinks. There are also conditions that can cause inflammation of the tear ducts, which keeps them from producing tears, or at least the right kind. Dry eyes can affect your ability to wear contacts.

Sometimes dry eyes are caused or made worse by antihistamines, which is why allergies can seem to be related to dry eyes. One thing antihistamines do is to dry up mucus, which is great in your nose and not so great in your tears.

Is there anything you can do? Yes, says Dr. Kern. “Drink plenty of water—not tea or caffeinated soda,” she suggests. Sometimes dry eyes occur because your whole body is somewhat dehydrated.

You can also take an omega-3 supplement or eat plenty of oily fish like salmon or tuna.

Should this leave your eyes dry and still hurting, Dr. Kern or Dr. Golson will be happy to see you. In the office, they can determine what type of dry eyes you have and how best to help you. They can recommend environmental and lifestyle changes that can bring improvement. Artificial tears often help and occasionally a short span of an oral prescription can get things going again.

Whatever you do, the Drs. Golson recommend against over-the-counter eye drops that simply remove the red. This category of drops, called vasoconstrictors, simply shrink the capillaries in your eyes, reducing the blood flow, which is why they can only be used a few days at a time.

Dr. Kern warns that with mild-to-moderate dryness your eyes can actually become numbed to the pain so you don’t notice the dryness; but that doesn’t mean treatment is not necessary.

To improve your vision, whether because of dry eyes, the need for new lenses or other reasons, call Texas Country Eye Care today for an appointment.

Texas Country Eye Care, owned by Blake Golson, O. D. and Heather Kern Golson, O. D., is at 2200 West Wadley, Ste 22, in the Oak Ridge Square, across from La Bebe Boutique. Hours are 9-5:30 M-F. The phone num­ber is 684-7287. Same day appointments available in most cases. Look for them on Facebook. Their web address is