Why do I have a lot of eye mucus when I wake up in the morning?

When you wake up in the morning, you find that there is a lot of eye mucus, and sometimes you can't even open your eyes. You should pay attention to whether it is caused by bacterial infection of the eyes. If you suffer from diseases such as trachoma or eye infection, this symptom will also appear.

1. There is a kind of gland called meibomian gland on our eyelids. They open on the eyelid margin and are arranged in a neat row. There are 30 to 40 glands on the upper eyelid and 20 to 30 glands on the lower eyelid. The oil secreted by the meibomian glands can moisturize the eyelid margins and prevent tears from overflowing and eroding the skin. When we sleep at night, these oils can make the eyelids close more tightly, preventing tears from evaporating and causing the cornea to dry out. When these oils mix with the dust that enters the eyes during the day and the residue left after the evaporation of tears, the so-called "eye boogers" are formed.

2. People with normal eye problems have very little or even no eye mucus. However, some people have eye mucus in the corners of their eyes after waking up. When there is too much eye mucus, it may even stick to the eyelids, making it difficult to open the eyelids. Sometimes there is also eye mucus during the day. It turns out that when the eyes are infected by bacteria, an inflammatory reaction will occur. On the one hand, the meibomian glands are stimulated, promoting the secretion of oil, causing the amount of oil on the eyelids and in the corners of the eyes to increase than usual. On the other hand, the blood vessels in the eyes dilate, and the white blood cells in the blood gather to kill foreign bacteria. The remains of these killed bacteria and the white blood cells that "gloriously died" in battle are mixed into the eye boogers. As a result, not only does the amount of eye boogers increase, but some of them are yellowish white.

3. Therefore, when you suffer from trachoma, conjunctivitis or other reasons that cause inflammation of the eyelid and conjunctiva, the amount of eye mucus will increase. It can be said that too much eye mucus is a sign of eye inflammation and should be checked and treated in time.