Ectropion

Your lower eyelid droops. It turns outward, exposing the inner surface that should be protected. The eye waters, burns, becomes red. It can no longer close properly — and that is precisely the message your body is giving you: you cannot switch off.

Medically, ectropion is a malposition of the lower eyelid in which the lid margin stands away from the eyeball. The conjunctiva lies exposed, the eye dries out, becomes inflamed, grows irritated. There are surgical treatment options, and they are sensible. But the psychosomatic perspective asks deeper: what is happening in you that even your eyes can no longer find a moment of rest? Why can even your lid not close — that paper-thin boundary created to shield you for moments from the world?

Ectropion is a body that has lost the ability to draw boundaries. An eye that stands permanently open — whether it wants to or not.