Why Jennifer Aniston, Mandy Moore and More Stars Are Speaking Out About a Condition Millions of Women Dismiss as Normal Aging

For years, Jennifer Aniston kept a small bottle of eye drops within easy reach at all times—on her nightstand, in her purse, in her trailer on set. She had convinced herself that the constant itching, burning and general discomfort in her eyes was simply something she had to endure. There was no point in complaining about it, no reason to seek help. It was just the way her eyes were.

“If I was reading a script, my eyes would start itching. It was so painful and irritating,” she told Glamour in a candid interview about her morning routine and overall health journey.

That moment of frustration, she explained, was part of a decade-long pattern of dismissing symptoms that she now knows had a clear medical explanation. What she didn’t realize at the time was that her discomfort had a name: dry eye syndrome, also known as dry eye disease. The realization that she didn’t have to live with this pain came as a revelation—the kind of “aha moment” that many women in their 40s and 50s will recognize all too well.

Dry eye disease is a common but frequently overlooked condition that occurs when your tears cannot provide adequate lubrication for your eyes. This can happen for a variety of reasons, including inadequate tear production, excessive tear evaporation, or an imbalance in the composition of your tears. The condition affects millions of people worldwide, and its prevalence increases significantly with age, particularly among women going through hormonal changes associated with menopause.

Yet despite how common it is, countless people—especially women who have learned to power through discomfort—dismiss their symptoms as a normal part of getting older. They blame their computer screens. They blame travel. They blame dry airplane air and desert climates. They blame allergies. They blame the natural aging process. And then they quietly accept their suffering until someone finally tells them they don’t have to.

Aniston is now part of a growing group of celebrities who have decided to speak openly about their experiences with dry eye disease, hoping that their stories will encourage others to seek the help they deserve. Alongside Aniston, stars including Mandy Moore, Erin Andrews, Julie Bowen and Ken Jeong have all shared how they finally got answers and found relief after years of unnecessary discomfort.

What Is Dry Eye Syndrome and What Causes It?

For Mandy Moore, the symptoms were so persistent that she assumed her environment was to blame. Living in Southern California with its arid climate, she reasoned that the dryness in her eyes was simply the price of calling the desert home.

“I assumed I was dehydrated. I live in a desert,” she told Parade. “And while both of these things are true, I also got a diagnosis a year ago of dry eye disease, which I’d never heard of. I just figured the discomfort I had with dry eyes was something that I was going have to live with.”

Moore’s story highlights a common misconception about dry eye disease. Many people believe the condition is solely about a lack of tears, but the reality is more complex. Dry eye can also result from tears that evaporate too quickly or tears that don’t have the right balance of water, oils and mucus to keep the eye properly lubricated. The condition is often categorized into two main types: aqueous-deficient dry eye, which means the eyes don’t produce enough tears, and evaporative dry eye, which means the tears that are produced evaporate too quickly. Many people actually have a combination of both types, making diagnosis and treatment more challenging.

Erin Andrews, the well-known sportscaster, learned that she was dealing with the evaporative form of the condition. She discovered this during a routine eye exam when her doctor explained that excessive tear evaporation was behind her symptoms, according to Flow Space. Andrews, who travels extensively for her work covering major sporting events, had been blaming her constant screen time, nonstop travel and exhaustion for years.

“I thought it was just being tired or the elements, but I was wrong,” she admitted.

Julie Bowen’s path to diagnosis came after she noticed troubling symptoms while filming her series Hysteria! She had been trying to manage her discomfort with over-the-counter eye drops, but something felt off. When she finally saw a doctor, she learned that inflammation was at the root of her problems.

“You can’t just wet the top of your eyeball and treat the inflammation, which is what I had been trying to do [with eye drops],” she told Fox News Digital.

Ken Jeong, who has the unique perspective of being both a physician and an actor, tied his symptoms to decades of various kinds of exposure. He told Yahoo Life that he had worn contact lenses for over 35 years, pulled on-call overnight hospital shifts during his time as a medical professional, and now spends his days on dusty sound stages and reading teleprompters in dry Los Angeles weather.

Jeong’s experience underscores another important point about dry eye disease: it’s not always a single cause. Often, it’s the cumulative effect of multiple risk factors combining over time. Contact lens wear is a significant risk factor for dry eye, as lenses can disrupt the natural tear film and reduce oxygen flow to the cornea. Extended screen time reduces blink rate, which means the eyes don’t get re-wetted as frequently as they should. Dry environments, whether from indoor heating, air conditioning or desert climates, can accelerate tear evaporation. And age and hormonal changes can further compromise tear production.

Dry Eye Symptoms People Often Mistake for Something Else

One of the most challenging aspects of dry eye disease is that its symptoms can be easily confused with other conditions. Jeong told People that patients often mistake their symptoms for allergies, and the clues can be subtle.

He described the feeling as “achiness, grittiness in the eyes and just itchy burn.” He emphasized that a key distinguishing feature is that dry eye typically affects both eyes simultaneously. “It’s happening in both eyes. It’s not just localized. It’s more bilateral,” he explained.

This bilateral nature is an important diagnostic clue. Allergies can also affect both eyes, but they often come with other symptoms like sneezing, runny nose and nasal congestion. Dry eye, on the other hand, tends to be more about the eyes themselves.

Other symptoms of dry eye disease include:

• A stinging, burning or scratchy sensation in your eyes
• Stringy mucus in or around your eyes
• Sensitivity to light
• Eye redness or discomfort
• A sensation of having something in your eyes
• Difficulty wearing contact lenses
• Difficulty with nighttime driving
• Blurred vision or eye fatigue, especially after reading or staring at a screen
• Watery eyes, which is the body’s response to the irritation of dry eyes
• Eye fatigue or heaviness

The symptoms can range from mild and occasional to severe and constant. For some people, the condition is merely annoying. For others, it can be genuinely debilitating, affecting their ability to work, read, drive or simply enjoy life.

Moore noticed that her symptoms were starting to interfere with her ability to do her job. As an actress, she needs to be fully present in her scenes, but her dry eyes kept pulling her out of the moment.

“I’d be in the middle of a scene and feel my eyes cloud over because they were so dry and I was immediately taken out of the moment. I could only think about my eyes and how uncomfortable I was. It was a vicious cycle,” she said.

Andrews experienced her own version of frustration: constantly rubbing her eyes and ruining her mascara. The irritation was so persistent that she couldn’t even enjoy a night out without being distracted by the discomfort.

Aniston, as she described to Glamour, had come to believe that the irritation was simply a feature of her face that she had to accept. She recalled the lengths she went to in order to manage her symptoms during high-profile events.

“I always thought, ‘Oh, it must be the environment, or I must have allergies, or someone said maybe because you have wide eyes you’re more sensitive,'” she said.

She described a particularly poignant moment: “I’d literally be going to a premiere and my eyes would be burning and I’d have to give myself a dose of eye drops before I went down the red carpet. But I just thought that was what my eyes were and I had to live with it.”

This resigned acceptance is something that resonates deeply with many women who visit their eye doctors only after years of suffering in silence. There’s a cultural tendency, especially among women, to downplay health concerns that don’t seem “serious” or “life-threatening.” But chronic pain and discomfort deserve attention and treatment, regardless of whether they pose a danger to your overall health.

How Celebrities Are Treating Dry Eye Syndrome

Once each of these celebrities received their diagnosis, they discovered there are multiple paths to relief. The right treatment depends on the underlying cause of an individual’s dry eye disease, which is why getting a proper diagnosis is so important.

Moore started a treatment called OptiLight, a light-based in-office procedure that uses intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy to address meibomian gland dysfunction, a common cause of evaporative dry eye. The treatment is typically given as a series of four sessions, and Moore found the experience remarkably easy.

“It just felt like warm, pulses of light on my skin. I could have a treatment and then go back to my day,” she said. The treatment works by using pulses of light to warm the eyelids and clear blockages in the meibomian glands, which produce the oil layer of the tear film that prevents evaporation.

Andrews was prescribed Miebo, a prescription eye drop designed specifically to reduce tear evaporation. The drop works by creating a protective layer on the surface of the eye that helps keep tears from evaporating too quickly.

“Honestly, instantly when I took it, I felt such a difference,” she said. “It was really nice to not have to worry about squinting, rubbing my eyes or wondering if something was wrong.” Her experience highlights the importance of finding a treatment that targets the specific mechanism of one’s dry eye disease rather than just masking symptoms temporarily.

Bowen began using the anti-inflammatory drop Xiidra twice a day for about nine months. This medication works by targeting inflammation on the surface of the eye, which is a key component of many cases of dry eye disease. She described the relief she felt as profound.

“I’m able to not feel my eyeballs,” she said, recalling that one of her doctors told her, “You’re not supposed to feel your eyeballs.” That simple statement was something of a revelation for her—a reminder that normal, healthy eyes shouldn’t be a constant source of awareness or discomfort.

Jeong was also prescribed Xiidra after being diagnosed with inflammation, and he partnered with the pharmaceutical company Novartis to encourage people to schedule annual eye exams. His dual perspective as a physician and patient gives him unique credibility when he talks about the importance of professional eye care.

Aniston’s path to relief was somewhat different. She worked with her doctor to wean off the over-the-counter drops she had been reaching for constantly. This is an important point, because while artificial tears can provide temporary relief, using them excessively can sometimes mask underlying problems that need different treatment. Aniston said what followed was “this wonderful relief,” suggesting that her approach involved addressing the root cause of her symptoms rather than just treating them superficially.

Why Seeing an Eye Doctor Matters

All five celebrities pointed back to the same critical first step: getting a proper evaluation from an eye care professional. Self-diagnosis and over-the-counter remedies can only go so far, and many cases of dry eye disease have underlying causes that require prescription treatment or in-office procedures to address effectively.

“At the end of the day, it does take talking to an eye doctor to help determine if you have dry eye disease or not,” Jeong told People.

Andrews echoed this sentiment based on her own experience. “I would suggest going to your eye doctor and asking questions. Talk about your symptoms and see what’s best for you. It’s important to listen to them,” she said.

Aniston’s message focused on the importance of proactive care, especially as we age. She framed eye care as a crucial part of the preventive health checklist, alongside other screenings and habits that women in midlife are encouraged to maintain.

“As I get older, if I hadn’t taken care of this, it just would have gotten worse,” she said. “And as my doctor said, eventually [your eyes] do start to give out on you if you’re not taking care of them.”

Her words carry a broader message about the importance of not dismissing persistent symptoms. The same cultural Training that led Aniston, Moore, Andrews, Bowen and Jeong to ignore their dry eye symptoms for years is the same Training that leads millions of other people to suffer in silence. They all thought their discomfort was normal because no one had told them otherwise. They all blamed their environment, their habits, their age. They all wished they had known sooner that relief was possible.

Their stories serve as an important reminder: if you’re experiencing chronic eye discomfort—itching, burning, grittiness, clouded vision, excessive tearing or any other symptom that interferes with your daily life—you don’t have to live with it. An eye doctor can help determine whether you have dry eye disease and work with you to find a treatment that addresses your specific needs.

The condition is real, it’s common, and it’s treatable. As these celebrities learned, the first step toward relief is simply asking for help.