Dry eye relief in Kansas City, Missouri

Dry eye relief in Kansas City starts with the air you sit in. Summers are humid but spent under air conditioning, winters bring more than a hundred freezing nights and a furnace that runs for months, and wind crosses the open plains in every season. Aim vents away from your face, take blink breaks at screens, and use a lubricating drop as its label directs. Pain or blurred vision that lingers needs an eye doctor.

What NOAA’s Kansas City records show

The long weather record for the metro comes from Kansas City International Airport, north of the Missouri River in Platte County, at about 1,005 feet above sea level. NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 climate normals for that station describe a place with a hard swing between seasons:

• About 39.3 inches of precipitation in a normal year, most of it from April through September.
• May is the wettest month at 5.32 inches; January is the driest at 1.16.
• Roughly 18 inches of snow a winter, with February the snowiest month at 5.9 inches.
• A January normal high of 38.4°F and a low of 19.5°F.
• About 107 nights a year at or below freezing, and close to 26 days when the high never gets above 32°F.
• A July normal high of 88.3°F, with about 36 days a year reaching 90°F or more.

That range matters for eyes because each end of it sends people indoors into heated or cooled air. Cold air holds little water to begin with, and heating it in a house or office drops the relative humidity further. Hot, sticky air gets run through an air conditioner, which dries it as it cools.

Humidity that looks fine on paper

NOAA’s humidity table for the Kansas City airport gives an annual average of 81 percent in the morning and 60 percent in the afternoon. The driest afternoons come in April and October, both at 56 percent. December afternoons average 65 percent, which surprises people who feel parched every winter.

The catch is that those readings are taken outside. When 20°F air with high relative humidity is pulled into a house and warmed to 70°F, its relative humidity falls sharply, because warm air can hold far more water than the cold air did. That’s why a January evening on the couch in Overland Park or Lee’s Summit can feel drier than a windy October afternoon outdoors. Our guide to winter heating and dry eyes walks through the indoor side.

Wind off the plains

Kansas City sits where the wooded hills of Missouri give way to open prairie to the west, and wind has a long run before it reaches town. Moving air pulls water from the tear film faster than still air does, whatever the temperature. A few local situations stand out:

• Standing in an open parking lot at Arrowhead on a December game day, with wind chill and tailgate smoke at the same time.
• Spring afternoons in April, when the air is at its driest and gusty fronts come through.
• Riding a bike on the Trolley Track Trail or along the Riverfront with no windbreak.
• Walking the Country Club Plaza during the holiday lights, when the cold and the crowd keep you outside longer than planned.

Wraparound sunglasses or clear safety glasses cut the airflow across your eyes. Smoke from a barbecue pit or a fire ring is an irritant too, so it helps to stand upwind of it.

Indoors: offices, cars and long screen days

Most of a Kansas City weekday happens inside a building or a car. Commutes on I-35, I-70 and I-435 can run long, and dashboard vents aimed at your face blow dry air straight across the eye. Point them at your chest or the windshield. At a desk, the bigger factor is concentration: people blink less while reading a screen, and partial blinks leave part of the eye’s surface uncovered. Every twenty minutes or so, look across the room and blink fully a few times. Screens and your tear film explains why that works.

A small humidifier in the bedroom or home office can help during furnace season. Clean it as the maker says, and keep the reading in a comfortable range rather than fogging the windows.

Using a lubricating drop the way the label says

Quell is an over-the-counter lubricating drop. Its Drug Facts Uses line reads: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. It’s designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss, which is the problem that heated rooms and plains wind both cause. The directions read: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. Before every use, follow the handling line: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

Check the caution line before the first drop: Caution should be used in those with egg or bird allergies — For use in the eyes only. The label’s “Do not use” line reads: If this product changes color. The storage line also matters in this climate: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A car at the Legends or in a downtown garage can freeze in January and bake in July, so keep the bottle in a bag or pocket that comes inside with you. The full panel is on the Drug Facts page.

Getting Quell delivered in Kansas City

Quell ships from Brentwood, Tennessee, to addresses across the United States, including both the Missouri and Kansas sides of the metro. Checkout works as a guest, shipping is $10.00, and orders of 3 or more bottles ship free. We don’t promise a delivery date, but you’ll get an email with tracking once the order ships. An unopened bottle can be refunded within 30 days of delivery without sending it back. See the Kansas City page and the Missouri page, or order from the home page.

When it’s a question for an eye doctor

A drop is meant for ordinary dryness and irritation. Working out the cause of symptoms that keep coming back, and what to do about them, belongs to an eye doctor. The label sets out 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.

If you’re unsure whether what you feel is routine, try the dry eye self-check; it’s not a diagnosis, just a few questions and suggested next steps. Our list of eye symptoms that need a doctor covers the warning signs worth acting on quickly.