Onions ! Explanation anyone..

[Smithy K]

Hiya

The last two nights I have had onions in my Chilli and Curry (YUM)!
and like normal people (!) my eyes stream/go red whilst chopping them. However, 20 mins or so after this, I have been reaching for my visco tears and oh my god,, the stinging was horrendous for about 20 secs each time....anyone know why????? Is the acid from the onion coated onto my eye, then viscotears sticking straight onto that????? Strange!

Moral of the story is "Dont forget the real purpose of onion goggles!! " (I have some too !)

My eyes are feeling a lot better of late - eyelids stopped sticking onto eyeballs at night - so they must be improving slightly- although the heating at work is a real drag - air con pumping out dry heat. I HATE IT. :O(

Real test coming in two weeks - 9 hr flight to NC. I will report back afterwards!

Thanks
Karen

[calli66]

I think dry eyes are just extra-sensitive to volatile oils of any kind. The eye surface is dry, the irritant gets on there right where the nerves are---no barrier at all. The excess reactive tearing you experience makes your eyes feel worse. Those tears are watery and salty, upsetting the moisture balance even more.

Last year I did some woodwork painting in my house---using oil-based urethane. Even though I had windows and doors open, my eyes burned like fire, and ran with tears. I had never experienced this before when painting with urethane, but that was when my eyes weren't so dry.

C