Lid temperature whilst sleeping

[jlg_uk]

One of the things I've wondered contributed to my condition (which became impossible to ignore in the month of December a year ago), is lid temperature whilst sleeping.

I live in the UK, and like a fair number of places from October onwards it gets increasingly cold at night. I don't have the heating on during the night, and I've recently become aware how cold one's lids can become when it's only 5 degrees or so.

I'm trying to experiment with sleeping with a sleep mask to cover my eyes during the night, and keep them warm. This seems to work, although I'm not a big fan of masks - hopefully I'll get used to it. A warm compress after waking seems to be a good idea too.

Although it's cold during the day sometimes (esp talking a walk) - it doesn't seem to be as much of a problem as your lids are open much of the time and don't cool so much.

I wonder what the affect very cold lids for night after night is, and how much this may have contributed to my situation (maybe nothing). One obvious effect would be cooling/possible thickening of the meibum - not sure about the lids themselves.

Any comments?

[eva b]

hello jlg, we seem to be thinking along very similar lines these days

not surprising, really, with the dire sudden chill here in the UK

I'm with you on the chilly lids in the night idea. Since my problems started I've always turned off the radiator in the bedroom at night to avoid drying the air...these last few days, it's been so cold by eyelids have definitely felt worse in the morning and I have to do a warm compress first thing (even before breakfast) to get any degree of comfort, and even that is limited.

Like you, I find masks difficult to sleep with - tried the tranquileyes and just couldn't get on with it...

My optometrist (the one who regularly expresses the mebomians for me) can always tell the difference in the fluid consistency when the weather is cold, and tells me the fluid goes even more solid, so I think your theory holds up.

Perhaps we need to persevere with the masks...

[eva b]

p.s.

I meant to add that, in my case at least, the comfort (or lack of it) of my lids depends entirely on the liquidity of the meibum, your theory makes complete sense.