Why morning eye?

[Mawsky]

I don't know why I never asked this question before, or wondered about it more, but why, if my eyes are so darn dry (no tears) do my eyes crust up in the night? I think that I just figured it was from gel, or drops I'd put in, because they cause lots of issues like that during the days, but even when I don't put anything in before I retire for the night they are almost sealed shut in the corners in the morning. My eyes are really dry and red in the morning too, I hear a lot of people say their eyes are better in the morning, any help would be appreciated.

[MaryVa61]

Don't know the answer really. But once, yrs ago, when my eyes suddenly started pouring tears all over the place (dropping into my lap), the allergist later said my body was trying to compensate for dry eye. He said the problem was the quality of my tears was off, rather than quantity, but my eyes were trying to fix the problem with extra tears. My eyes don't produce tears like that anymore. Not just a quality problem now, but also quantity. That doctor may have been wrong though, since he also didn't think I had true allergies and it turns out that I do. But I also have dry mucus membranes in general, so maybe he was right.

Mary in VA

[liz56]

Hi, Mawsky.

You may want to look into taping your eyelids or wearing a mask or goggle at night to keep the air off of your eyes. Also, you may want to investigate the humidity of the room where you sleep and consider a humidifier or other kind of environmental control.

Best wishes,
Liz

[Sniffles]

I completely agree with liz! I am a hug fan of humidifiers with good filters in them, to increase the humidity and decrease the allergen load. A Furnace filter on the whole system is also an excellent way of reducing the allergen load. Some people who do not even have allergy symptoms, can have dry eyes due to allergens. Also, whatever you have to do to reduce the amount of air flowing over your eyes at night would probably help. Often times our eyes, as well as the rest of our body tries to compensate for what it is lacking. So, your eyes are probably producing a lot of tears at night to make up for what they do not produce. Again, as I remind a lot of people, do not hesitate to ask your doctor!