Surviving Air Travel

[Guest]

Well, all I can say is that my sunglasses Wiley X's make all the difference to surviving a day of air travel with my eyes still white and feeling ok.

Earlier this year, I flew to Boston using only my custom moisture chambers, which do not seal 100%, so some outside air still leaks through. I also admit to indulging in watching an inflight movie. When I arrived in Boston, my eyes were so sore I didn't even want to keep them open that evening - they were bloodshot as all hell too.

Contrast that to a recent trip for which my travel day was about 20 hours (much longer than that for the Boston trip) - I wore my sunglasses Wiley X's (even on the plane) - the only time I took them off was when asked to for security to verify it was indeed my picture on my passport plus I removed them just long enough to put in eyedrops whenever needed - I did not watch any inflight movies either - when I arrived at my destination, my eyes felt normal, and were still pretty white.

Sooooo, just posting this in case anyone else out there has trouble with their eyes while flying due to the dry air - your choice of eye protection could make a world of difference in how your eyes do!

[No tears in ATL]

Thanks, SAAG. My last bout of air travel (5 hour flight to California) ended badly. I don't think my eyes recovered my entire vacation--this was before I had my serum tears. I tried wrapping a scarf around my head and sleeping the whole way, but got tempted in to watching what was going on around me. Will never do that again! That, and avoid So-CA/Las Vegas until I'm sure my eyes have healed somewhat!

[sunshinelover]

I Will be flying to Thailand in the end of march tog get 2 weeks of nice humid air, and escape this dry winter climate. Butt I am worried about the flight. A year ago I had no trouble at all flying at all, did a lot of long distance travelling last year, but now.... even my one hour domestic flights are troublesome. Just came out of a plane in fact. And we dont have any moister chamber glasses to buy here. I have now ordererd some goggles from the dry eye shop called onyx or something since I Will have to start using something at night. May be I can use those? Italien would be awful is eyes are awful instead of better during the holiday.

[sunshinelover]

Well, today I am heading for Thailand, to get some refeif from this horrible winter, with soooooo dry air. It is exteremely stressful , with air humidity down below 30 even. But, in order to get my 2 weeks of releif in the tropical humidity I will need to survive 10 hours dry air in the plane first, and then another shorter flight. I got my onyx googles from the dry eye shop , so I will use them, and hope I can forget about people starring. The children might be worst.... I also ordered onion googles, a complete waist, they didnt fit, very uncomfortable, and did nothing for my eyes, just made me depressed. So - wish you all some good revovery time in the mean time!

[Guest]

I got my onyx googles from the dry eye shop , so I will use them, and hope I can forget about people starring. The children might be worst....

Tips re: possibility of people staring

a) Force yourself NOT to look for people who are staring... better still, don't look at people at all - look past them - that way you don't SEE anyone staring (even if they are) and it allows you time to get comfortable wearing them in public and forget about what other people may or may not be thinking

(interestingly, once you get to the point where you you no longer care if people stare, and hence feel strong enough to check if people ARE staring, you'll find that most people won't even give you a second glance... honestly... it's true!)

b) when interacting with people, you'll obviously not want to look past them, but it won't matter since people are SUPPOSED to look at you if you're talking to them, right? Pretend it's the most normal thing in the world to be wearing your onyx goggles - the more normal YOU act, the less uncomfortable others are and the more normally they interact with you back - this really works... try it and you'll see

c) if anyone DOES ask or comment, don't worry about it - say as much or as little as you want to - rehearse ahead of time how you'll respond if people ask about your goggles - in my experience with wearing my sunglasses Wiley's at work where I interact with the public constantly, people are very kind about it - as much as the human race can be very disappointing at times, this is one situation where the human race has not let me down

As for kids, I honestly haven't noticed anything with them in regards to staring - in my mind, I guess I never gave the kids much thought since if they DID stare, it's more than likely just innocent curiosity anyhow, so I don't care about that... I've never had a child point at me either. I think adults can be worse for staring then kids, particularly because adults ought to know better lol

Anyhow, good move on your part to try wearing the goggles in your travels - I hope they'll help you a TON like they did for me!

[spmcc]

I just wanted to pipe in that looking down is actually "soothing" to dry eyes. Looking down exposes less ocular surface... so look down a lot and don't pay attention to others who might be looking at you.

A little story... a few years ago, I was wearing my clear, reading Wiley Xs in an airport. I kept my head down (because I was reading), but when I looked up once, the man sitting across from me asked me about my glasses. It quickly came out that he asked because he thought he should get a pair for himself.

Have fun on your trip!

[farmgirl]

Safe travels, and I hope it goes well and you get the relief you are looking for. Word of advice, avoid overhead fans as much as possible while in Thailand...cheesr...F/G

[jenny2008]

good luck and let us know how it goes.. i think u will do well!!

[sunshinelover]

Hi!
Just want to update that I had a wonderful time in humid Thailand! I did not have to use any drops at all other then my Viscotears gel at night and in the early morning. And the last couple of days I didn't need the morning gel either! I stayed away from air con and fans of course, and I did have trouble with the wind by tge beach restaurnats at night at Koh Pha Ngan and while visting the outside roof top bar at the 60th floor - windy as well - and the name of the bar was Vertigo and yes, vetigo it was... but other then that --- wow, I could read books for the first time since this dry eye hell started a year ago. I read three books!! Oh, how I miss reading!! At one hotel it was necessary with air con due to 70% humidity and no vents, but I had no problems with that either since my bad was placed such as that nothing was blowing in my direction.

The flight was a totally different story though.... wow, worst ever! 27% humidity and a constant blowing right at me- I sat with my oynyx googles and since they fogged up anyway I took the dark eye"thing" over and just tried to sleep or listen to music. But---- after that I had really awful marks from the googles for two whole days!! I look like crap anyway since this dry eye hell started, but this... i looked like I hade aged 10 more years over night! Luckily, it did go away after a couple of days.
Anyhow, now back in the same condition as before. The first days actually felt better and I woke up without eyes being stuck shut, but now it is worse than ever, the the job stress is killing me and not making things better. I have got some releif from contacts though, so I will write about that in another thread.

Oh, how I wish to feel like in Thailand at all times!

[farmgirl]

Thanks for the update Dry Eye. Very happy to hear that the humidity helped but sorry to hear that you have lapsed back since being home. Maybe time to consider a career change - English as a second language perhaps...lol...cheers...F/G

[Guest]

Maybe time to consider a career change - English as a second language perhaps...lol...cheers...F/G

No doubt about it... and it's inexpensive to live there compared to here too - might be a fun adventure to take off for a year or more and the eyes would love it!