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Why does cold weather make our eyes water?

Why does cold weather make our eyes water?
Why does cold weather make our eyes water? 02:52

MINNEAPOLIS — The brutal cold that settled in on Monday is enough to make you cry. All it takes is a few seconds outside before the tears start flowing.

Rather than focus on the cold, Dr. Sasha Strul, a pediatric ophthalmologist, said people should focus on the lack of moisture in the air. 

"Our eyes are really smart and try to keep your eyes as moist as possible, so they'll keep on tearing as long they sense that dryness," she said.

Minnesota's cold winter air tends to be dry, which is why our eyes water more now than during the humid summer months. Conversely, your eyes might water on a breezy July day in Arizona since the climate there is dry year-round.

"Our eyes really have two forms of tearing, one that's reflexive to when we feel our eyes are dry and one that's just our baseline tearing," Strul said.

Basal (baseline) tears constantly keep your eyes lubricated and protected using a mixture of water, oil and mucus. Reflex tears, the ones that flow to combat dry air, are mainly water, making them less viscous.

"Even though (reflex tears are) trying to moisturize our eyes, you can imagine if you put your hand into water, it's not going to moisturize your hands as much from the dry weather than if you put it in oil or lotion," Strul said.

One might think skiers, ice anglers and others who spend lots of time outside in the winter might build up a tolerance to dry air, but Strul said it doesn't work that way.

"The best thing you can do is actually improve your tear health so it's less of an impact on you," she said.

One way to do that has to do with our eyelids.

"The oil part of our tears comes from our eyelid glands, and so doing warm compresses for your eyelids, kind of giving yourself that spa treatment at night, can actually improve how we produce our oil and our tears can actually be healthier," Strul said.

Another fix is to use eye drops, specifically artificial tears since they will replicate healthy tears and better add moisture. There are also ointments you can apply to your eyes before going to bed.

Lastly, wear eye protection when outside in the cold, dry air. Glasses and goggles keep snow, wind, and cold air at bay, giving you a tear-free day on your next winter adventure.

Dry air isn't the only cause of reflex tears. Smoke, allergens and onions have the same effect.

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