Your tears

Did you know that you are constantly crying?!  Your eyes produce a very small amount of tears all the time from the lacrimal gland in the corner of your eye.  Every time your blink, a very thin layer of your tears is spread over your eyeball to keep it clean and moist.  Small ‘invaders’ like dust get washed into the corner of your eye, next to your nose, just like a windscreen wiper on the windscreen of your car.  If you look carefully, you will see the start of the tiny tube, the lacrimal duct.  Your lacrimal duct carries your tears back inside where they travel down to the back of your nose.  If you are hurt or sad or sometimes even if you are happy, the tears flood this little tube and they can run down your cheeks.  Some of the tears still make it down to the back of your nose, which is why your nose runs when you cry!

What do tears contain – are they just water?  Tears contain lots of different things – they have oils, salts, proteins and antibodies among other things!  These help to keep your eye moist, they wash away things like dust and dirt and they protect your eye by destroying invaders like microbes.

But why do you cry?  You can cry for all sorts of reasons, we are sad, afraid, angry or even happy!  You also cry if you have been hurt or if something gets into your eye like sand, an eyelash, smoke or fumes chemicals.  You can keep your eyes healthy by not touching them and making sure you stay away from smoke or opening a window if there are chemicals like kitchen cleaners being used.  This makes sure there is lots of fresh air and the room doesn’t get full of fume that could be very dangerous.

Your tears are an important part of your first line of defence.  Make sure that you keep your eyes healthy so your tears don’t have to work too hard!