Dry eye relief in Anderson, Indiana

Anderson’s dry-eye season runs on the furnace. NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the city’s own weather station put January’s normal low at 20.7°F and count 112.4 freezing nights a year, so heat runs for months and warm indoor air dries the eye. Spring wind and fall harvest dust add to it. Quell is a lubricating eye drop shipped to Anderson; an eye doctor handles what’s behind lasting dryness.

Anderson’s weather by the numbers

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information keeps climate normals for a cooperative station at Anderson’s wastewater plant. That makes these Anderson’s own figures rather than borrowed ones from Indianapolis:

• January is the coldest month, with a normal high of 34.9°F and a normal low of 20.7°F.
• About 112.4 nights a year fall to 32°F or below.
• Snowfall averages 20.8 inches a year. January brings the most, 8.3 inches, and December about 5.0.
• Precipitation totals 43.76 inches a year. June is the wettest month at 5.24 inches.
• July’s normal high is 83.8°F, and 14.1 days a year reach 90°F or more.

Why winter indoors is the hard part

Outdoors, central Indiana air is fairly moist in winter. NOAA’s humidity table has no Anderson row, so the nearest station, Indianapolis, stands in: December averages 83 percent in the morning and 71 percent in the afternoon, and January 81 and 70. The dryness comes once that cold air is warmed inside. Heating air without adding water lowers its relative humidity, so a living room on a January evening can feel far drier than the gray sky outside suggests.

• Keep forced-air registers from blowing straight at a recliner, bed or desk chair.
• A humidifier in the bedroom helps some people; clean it as the maker directs so it doesn’t become a problem of its own.
• Turn the car heater’s airflow to the floor and windshield on cold drives down I-69.
• Step away from the TV or tablet now and then on long winter evenings, and blink fully.

Spring afternoons and harvest dust

The air is driest in the afternoon in spring: Indianapolis averages 55 percent on April afternoons in NOAA’s table, one of the lowest readings of the year. Spring is also when wind sweeps across the open farm ground of Madison County before the crops come up. In the fall, combines working corn and soybean fields kick dust into the air along county roads. Anyone farming, driving a rural route or coaching outdoors feels both.

Sunglasses with wraparound frames keep wind and grit out from the sides. In a tractor or combine cab, keep the filter and vents clean and aimed away from your face. Wash dust off your hands and face before touching your eyes or the dropper bottle. Dry eyes for outdoor workers has more for long days outside.

Along the White River and at Mounds State Park

The trails at Mounds State Park and the river walk downtown are where many people in Anderson get outside. A cold, breezy walk along the water in March can bring on watery, then scratchy eyes; the watering is the eye reacting to irritation, not a sign it’s well supplied. A hat, sunglasses and a bottle tucked in a jacket pocket rather than left in the car make those walks easier.

Storing drops through an Indiana winter

Quell’s label reads: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A car parked through a January night in the driveway sits well below that range, so a bottle forgotten in the cup holder is out of range by morning. The garage is no better in winter, and an unshaded windshield in July can push the dashboard well above the top of the range. A kitchen drawer or medicine cabinet stays steady. How to store eye drops walks through the rest.

Where Quell fits

The tear film has an oily outer layer that slows evaporation of the watery layer beneath it. Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss. Its directions: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. Someone at Anderson University might space them around morning classes, an afternoon in the library and a late study session; a shift worker might start the count at the beginning of the shift. The label sets the number, so pick times you’ll actually keep.

Before using a bottle, check that it looks right. The eye drops have a naturally milky-brown appearance. This is normal and does not indicate a problem with the product. The label adds: If this product changes color.

Ordering eye drops to Anderson

Quell isn’t sold in Anderson stores; it ships from Brentwood, Tennessee, to any US address. Shipping is $10.00 on smaller orders and free from $89.00, or 3 bottles. There’s no promised delivery date, so reorder with a little time to spare. The Anderson page and the Indiana page have more about ordering from the area.

When to see an eye doctor

Seasonal dryness that fades when the furnace switches off is one thing. Dryness that stays into summer, keeps getting worse or comes with any change in your vision calls for an optometrist or ophthalmologist, who can find the reason and decide what to do about it. Quell’s label is specific: Stop use and ask a doctor if you feel eye pain or changes in your vision, if irritation or redness continues, or if the condition worsens or persists for 72 hours.