Dry eye relief in Dallas, Texas

Dallas eyes get it from both directions: about 106 days a year at 90°F or hotter at DFW Airport, and roughly 29 freezing nights that keep furnaces running in winter. August afternoons at Love Field average 48 percent humidity. Point vents away from your face, take screen breaks, wear sunglasses on windy days and use a lubricating drop as its label directs. See an eye doctor for pain or vision changes.

Dallas climate in NOAA’s records

North Texas sits on open prairie, with nothing between it and the Great Plains to the north or the Gulf to the south. That puts Dallas in the path of both summer heat and sharp winter fronts. NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 normals for Dallas Fort Worth International Airport show the range:

• About 106 days a year reach 90°F or more, and about 20 reach 100°F.
• July and August both average highs near 96°F.
• January’s normal low is 36.1°F, and the airport counts about 29 nights a year at freezing or below.
• Normal snowfall is about 1.6 inches, most of it in February.
• Precipitation averages 37.01 inches, with May the wettest month and July and August the driest.

Love Field, closer to downtown, runs a little hotter: about 22 days a year at 100°F and fewer freezing nights, around 23. If you live inside the loop, your winters are slightly milder than those of friends out near the airport.

Why August afternoons feel so harsh

NOAA’s relative humidity table for Dallas, taken at Love Field, shows mornings averaging 75 to 77 percent in July and August and afternoons falling to about 48 to 49 percent. Hot air at that humidity pulls water from the eye’s surface faster than a cooler, damper morning does. Dallas is also drier than Houston on summer afternoons by about eight points, which is noticeable after a weekend on the coast.

• Walk the Katy Trail or the loop around White Rock Lake early, before the afternoon dries out.
• Wear sunglasses with side coverage; prairie wind and glare off concrete add up.
• Take a break inside every hour or so on long outdoor days, like a Rangers game or the State Fair.
• Keep eye drops out of a parked car in summer; the label sets a range, and a hot dashboard ignores it: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F).

Highways, commutes and car vents

Dallas runs on long drives: I-35E, the Tollway, LBJ, 75. An hour each way with the air conditioning aimed at your face is an hour of dry, moving air across the tear film, plus the reduced blinking that comes with watching traffic. Two easy changes: aim the center vents at your chest, and once the cabin has cooled, drop the fan a setting or two. On winter mornings, use the floor and defrost vents instead of the dash.

If your eyes feel worst after the commute home, that’s a clue the car is part of it. Our guide to dry eyes when driving in winter has more on heater settings.

Ice storms, northers and heated air

A strong cold front, a blue norther in local terms, can turn a mild afternoon cold, and Dallas homes switch from cooling to heating in a single day. Heating cold air without adding water lowers its relative humidity, so the inside of a house can feel dry even when outdoor humidity in January averages a reasonable 58 percent in the afternoon. During ice storms, when people stay home with the heat running for days, eyes often feel it most.

• Close or redirect heat registers near the couch and bed.
• Run a small humidifier in the bedroom on heating nights, cleaned as its maker says.
• Keep space heaters pointed at your legs, not your face.

Our guide to winter heating and dry eyes covers this in more detail.

Office towers and screens

From Uptown to Legacy in Plano, a lot of Dallas works at a monitor in a cold building. Concentration lowers the blink rate, and partial blinks leave the tear film uneven. Every 20 minutes, look across the room and blink fully a few times. Position the monitor a little below eye level, and if a ceiling vent blows on your chair, ask facilities whether it can be turned.

What the Quell label says

Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss. Its Drug Facts panel lists the Uses as: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. The directions are: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. Keep this in mind each time: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

The label carries one caution: Caution should be used in those with egg or bird allergies — For use in the eyes only. It doesn’t give directions for contact lens wearers, for children, or for using it with other eye drops, so ask an eye doctor or pharmacist first. Read the full panel on the Drug Facts page.

Getting Quell in Dallas

Quell ships from Brentwood, Tennessee, to Dallas, Plano, Garland, Irving and the rest of North Texas. There’s no account to make. Shipping is $10.00, and 3 or more bottles ship free. A tracking email comes once it ships; no delivery date is promised, so order before you run low. An unopened bottle can be refunded within 30 days of delivery, and it stays with you. See the Dallas page, the Texas page, or order from the home page.

When to see a doctor

Drops are for everyday dryness. Dryness that persists or keeps returning deserves an exam, where an eye doctor can work out the cause and what to do about it. The label is clear: 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.

Use the dry eye self-check to track when your eyes feel worst; it’s not a diagnosis, but it gives your doctor something specific.