What happens to my eyes when it's cold???

[stephgurl1986]

Hey @ all!

Can anybody tell me what happens to my eyes when it's cold? I mean, we have winter here right now and when it's like -5C (don't know the number in Fahrenheit, it's just as cold as it is when it snows) my eyes feel almost healthy when I'm outside, the redness becomes less severe and I don't need drops for about 1-2 hours. I should stress that this happens when there is no wind at all. But once I come back inside my eyes turn horrible again and I need to use drops every 10mins.
Can anybody explain that to me? I mean, I think it's normal, that my eyes aren't that red due to the cold but why aren't they that dry then?

Thank you and I wish you all a merry Christmas!

[elaine]

cold

I don't know the answer, but my eyes love the feeling of cold, it takes some of the pain away. IF it's really cold they almost try to tear up. If there's wind though, that's brutal.
Elaine

[Rory]

central heating is a killer for dry eyes...so i presume your eyes are just recovering from that when they go outside? I actually find the cold to be much worse than the milder temperatures....but i believe you are now just experiencing the contrast from evil central heating to outside where there is some humidity.

[Francesco]

if you like cold like me ....i think could be evaporative dry eye ...since hot places make your tears evaporate quickly ...and cold well i think the contrary......just guessing....
also oxygen is good for eyes

[Rory]

if you like cold like me ....i think could be evaporative dry eye ...since hot places make your tears evaporate quickly ...and cold well i think the contrary......just guessing....
also oxygen is good for eyes

with evaporative dry eye.. i do not believe that it is an issue of temperature...more of humidity. I lived in asia for many years and outside in tropical conditions was HEAVEN. It is the drying conditions of central heating and aircon that are the most destructive to evaporative dry eye...also i presume hot dry conditions and indeed cold dry conditions.

[Lucy]

This seems to be a very individual situation for each person! Over the years, I've seen people post about their eyes feeling good in cold weather. I also think "cold" means different things to different people/areas.

My eyes feel the same in "regular cold" when the weather is about 20 degrees or above. When we have frigid weather, say from 15 degrees above zero and BELOW, this kills my eyes. A wicked wind is something that adds to the distress.

Oddly enough, we are having 70 mph winds where I live today with blowing snow. Lucy