Gritty · burning · watering
Gritty, burning eyes that drops don’t fix
If your eyes feel like there’s sand in them, burn by four o’clock, water in the wind, and the drops work for ten minutes — that’s not a shortage of tears. It’s the oil glands along your eyelids, and they can be photographed and cleared.
Why the drops don’t fix it
Tears have an oil layer on top, made by glands inside your eyelids. When the glands block — slowly, over years, from screens, age, hormones, air conditioning — the oil layer goes, and the watery tears evaporate in seconds. Drops replace the water. They can’t replace the oil or unblock the gland, so ten minutes later you’re back where you started.
The check, then the scan
Six questions — the same ones our optometrists use — give you a score in a minute. Then the £15 gland scan photographs the glands, and you see whether they’re blocked, shortened or fine. From there: a home routine for mild cases, or clearing the glands in the chair for the rest. How we treat it, and every price →
When it’s something else
Gritty and red and painful, or in one eye only after something went in it: that’s urgent, not dry eye.
The three types of dry eye, and what we do for each
Most people are told “you’ve got dry eyes” and handed drops. But there are three different causes, and each needs something different. Most people have a mix.
Blocked oil glands: meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD)
About 8 in 10 people with dry eye have this. Along the edge of each eyelid are about 30 tiny glands that put a thin layer of oil on your tears. When they block, your tears dry up in seconds, however much water your eyes make. It feels gritty, burning and tired, often worse on screens or by evening. Drops help for an hour, because they don’t unblock the glands.
What we do: photograph your glands so you can see them, warm and clear them in clinic, clean the lid edge, and use IPL or light therapy where it helps. Then we give you a simple routine for home.
Not enough tears
Your eyes don’t make enough of the watery part of tears. This is more common with age, some medicines, the menopause, and conditions like Sjögren’s.
What we do: measure your tear level, choose the right drops for you, and use tiny plugs to keep your own tears in where they help. We’ll write to your GP if something needs checking.
Inflamed eyelids: blepharitis, often with tiny mites called Demodex
Crusty, itchy, red lid edges, often worse in the morning.
What we do: deep-clean the lid edge in clinic, treat the mites, and show you how to keep the lids clean at home.
Not sure which one you have? That’s what the assessment is for. We look at your glands, tears and lids, and tell you which type, or which mix.
Five clinics across Greater Manchester, Cheshire & West Yorkshire
Every Book button on this page comes here. Choose your practice — the number appears on the one you pick.
Book a Dry Eye Assessment — Cheadle 0161 428 3717
Book a Dry Eye Assessment — Middleton 0161 653 0771
Book a Dry Eye Assessment — Heald Green 0161 437 3400
Book a Dry Eye Assessment — Winsford 01606 599030
Book a Dry Eye Assessment — Heckmondwike 01924 403617
Gland Scan: £15 with any eye examination (included in our Gold eye examination).