Dry eye relief in Columbia, South Carolina

In Columbia, dry eyes have two peak seasons. NOAA’s normals for Columbia Metropolitan Airport list about 81 days a year at 90°F or hotter, so air conditioning runs for months; and NOAA’s humidity table shows the driest afternoons in March and April, not summer. Redirecting vents, building blink breaks into screen time and using a lubricating drop exactly as labeled help. Anything persistent belongs with an eye doctor.

Columbia’s weather, by NOAA’s numbers

The region’s tourism slogan, “Famously Hot,” was registered as a trademark in 2010, and NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 normals for the airport in West Columbia back it up:

• About 81 days a year reach 90°F, and roughly six reach 100°F.
• July is the hottest month, with highs averaging 92.7°F and lows around 72°F.
• Normal yearly precipitation is 45.24 inches, and July is also the wettest month at 5.35 inches, mostly from afternoon storms.
• January highs average 56.8°F, and about 46 nights a year drop to freezing.
• Snowfall averages just over an inch a year.

Summer: long months of air conditioning

From late May through September, Columbia runs on AC. Homes, State House offices, classrooms at the University of South Carolina, Fort Jackson’s buildings and every car on I-26 keep cold air moving. Air conditioners pull water from the air as they cool, and a vent blowing on your face speeds evaporation from the tear film.

Outdoors, NOAA’s humidity table shows Columbia’s mornings at 86 to 89 percent humidity in summer, with afternoons in the low 50s. So the dryness people feel in July usually isn’t the outdoor air. It’s the many hours inside.

• Aim vents at your chest, not your face, in the car and at your desk.
• Set the thermostat a little higher so the system runs less often.
• Keep the bedroom fan on low, and don’t let it blow across the pillow.
• When you step outside, wear sunglasses; glare makes you squint rather than blink.

Spring’s surprisingly dry afternoons

Here’s the part many Columbians don’t expect. In NOAA’s Comparative Climatic Data, afternoon humidity at Columbia is lowest in April, averaging 43 percent, with March at 47 and February at 49. Breezy spring days, pollen season and the first warm weekends at Lake Murray or on the Riverwalk all fall in that window.

Drier, moving air pulls moisture from the eyes faster. On windy spring days, wraparound sunglasses help, and so does washing your face and hands when you come in from yard work. If itching, rather than dryness, is your main complaint, eye drops for itchy eyes explains what a lubricating drop’s label does and doesn’t cover.

Winter heat in the Midlands

Columbia winters are short but real, with dozens of freezing nights a year. Heat pumps and furnaces switch on in December, and warmed indoor air loses relative humidity. People notice it most in the morning, after a night with the heat running. Winter heating and dry eyes covers bedroom humidity and where to put a space heater.

Students, state workers and screens

A state capital and a large university mean a lot of people reading screens through the workday: legislative staff, agency workers, students in the library, and soldiers in training classrooms. Concentrating on a monitor cuts blinking, and incomplete blinks leave the eye’s surface exposed.

• Every 20 minutes, look away at something far off and blink slowly a few times.
• Keep the screen a bit below eye level.
• Use a desk lamp to cut glare instead of turning screen brightness all the way up.
• On game days at Williams-Brice Stadium, bring sunglasses for the heat and glare of an early-season afternoon.

Using a lubricating drop in Columbia

Quell’s Drug Facts label lists its Uses as: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. The formula is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss, whether the moisture is being pulled away by an office AC vent in August or a dry April breeze. Use it as directed: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. Each time you open the bottle, the label’s handling instruction applies: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

The label gives the storage range as Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A parked car in Columbia in July heats up far past that, so keep the bottle in your bag rather than the console.

Ordering Quell in Columbia

Orders ship from Brentwood, Tennessee, to Columbia-area addresses for $10.00, free with 3 or more bottles. No arrival date is promised, so order before you run low. Checkout doesn’t require an account. The Columbia page and the South Carolina page have more.

When to see an eye doctor

Make an appointment if dryness lasts through the season or returns again and again, or sooner if your eyes hurt or your vision changes. Finding the reason and caring for it is an eye doctor’s work. The label says when to stop: 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. See eye symptoms that need a doctor for more.