Why Patients with Kidney Failure Have Swollen Eyes

Swelling in Kidney Failure is mainly attributed to the following two factors.
1. The kidneys' main job is to clean your blood by removing of excess fluid, minerals and wastes. However, in Kidney Failure, the kidneys are no longer functioning properly. As a result, excess fluid and potassium will build up in body, resulting in retention of fluid. For blood circulation and gravity, the patients will experience swollen eyes in the morning.
2. Hypoproteinemia is another major cause of swelling in Renal Failure and it is commonly seen Nephrotic Syndrome. Besides swelling, the patients are also companied by heavy protein in urine and hyperlipemia. The healthy kidneys are responsible filtering blood and discharging wastes from body. In normal condition, they can separate the useful substances from harmful substances in blood stream and excrete the harmful substances out of body by producing urine. Proteins are important nutrients in body and normally they remain in blood. However, in Renal Failure, the filtering system is damaged severely and lose the normal function, thus resulting in protein loss in urine.
When the protein concentration is lower than that in tissues, the fluid will filter into subcutaneous tissue, thus leading to swelling.
If left controlled, the swelling will become more and more serious. In severe case, the patients may experience lung fluid collection, hydrothorax and other life threatening conditions.
So, how to treat swollen eyes in Renal Failure?
1. The patients should limit the salt intake. Especially, when serious swelling occurs, they should reduce salt intake to 3g a day.
2. Some patients are usually prescribed with hormones to control their proteinuria. This can relieve swelling to some extent. However, the condition is susceptible to relapse if the hormone dosage is reduced.
3. Diuretic can help produce more urine and relieving fluid retention in body.
The above treatments can relieve swelling and delay the disease progression. However, the swollen eyes is caused by impaired kidneys and reduced renal function. Therefore, the treatment should focus on restoring the impaired kidney structure and recovering renal function. In this way, the kidneys will be able to recover the normal excretory and filtration function. Hence, the swollen eyes will disappear completely and fundamentally.