Dry eye relief in Raleigh, North Carolina

In Raleigh, the driest air arrives in late winter and spring. February is the Triangle’s driest month by rainfall, April afternoons average 46 percent humidity, and furnaces run on about 65 freezing nights a year. Keep heat and vents off your face, take regular breaks from screens, wear glasses outdoors on windy days, and use a lubricating drop as its label says. Eye pain or vision changes need a doctor.

The Triangle’s weather in numbers

Raleigh-Durham International Airport, about 420 feet above sea level between Raleigh, Durham and Cary, is the area’s official NOAA station. Its 1991 to 2020 normals show a climate where summer is the wet season and winter the dry one:

• About 46.1 inches of precipitation a year.
• Summer, June through August, is wettest at about 13.6 inches, and September alone averages 5.15 inches.
• Winter, December through February, is driest at about 9.6 inches, with February the lowest month at 2.78.
• About 5.2 inches of snow in a typical year, half of it in January.
• July highs average 90.8°F, and about 52 days a year reach 90°F or more.
• January averages 51.9°F for the high and 31.8°F for the low, with roughly 65 nights at or below freezing.

Why winter is dry season in Raleigh

Less rain is only half of it. Winter afternoons average 51 to 54 percent humidity outside, and the cold air holds little moisture to begin with. Heat it to 70°F indoors and the relative humidity falls further. Older brick homes near Oakwood and newer townhomes in Wake Forest alike can feel dry by late January. Try these steps:

• Run a small, clean humidifier in the room where you sleep.
• Move a chair or desk out of the stream from a floor or ceiling register.
• Turn the bedroom ceiling fan off in winter if you wake with dry, sticky eyes.
• Keep any space heater aimed low, toward your feet.

If mornings are the worst part of your day, waking up with dry eyes in winter goes into the bedroom in more detail.

April: the lowest humidity of the year

NOAA’s relative humidity table puts Raleigh’s April afternoon average at 46 percent, with March at 48. Spring brings people to Umstead State Park’s trails, Falls and Jordan lakes, and the stands at college baseball games. Spring wind across open water or a sunny ballfield dries the eyes faster than the number alone suggests. Sunglasses that wrap around the face block more breeze than flat lenses.

Research Triangle screen time

Labs, software companies, hospitals and three large universities mean a big share of the Triangle works or studies at a screen. When you concentrate, you blink less often and less completely, and the tear film thins between blinks. A few habits that fit a workday at RTP or a study session at NC State, Duke or UNC:

• Every 20 minutes or so, look at something across the room and blink fully a few times.
• Lower your monitor slightly so you look a little downward.
• Raise text size rather than leaning toward the screen.
• Keep a desk fan pointed at your body, not your face.

Students ordering their own drops need to be 18 or older to check out.

Muggy summers, chilled offices

August and September mornings reach 89 to 90 percent humidity, and nobody in Raleigh thinks of summer as dry. Still, air conditioning running from May to September dries indoor air, and a long drive on I-40 with the vents at face level can leave eyes scratchy. Direct vents away from your eyes and lower the fan speed once you’re comfortable.

What the label says, and getting Quell

Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss. Its Uses read: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. Directions: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. Read the caution before you order: Caution should be used in those with egg or bird allergies — For use in the eyes only. The full Drug Facts panel is on the Drug Facts page.

Quell ships from Brentwood, Tennessee, to Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill and anywhere else in the United States. There’s no account to create, and a tracking email follows once your order leaves. We don’t promise a delivery date. If you change your mind, unopened bottles qualify for this: 30-day refunds on unopened bottles, no need to send them back. More on the Raleigh page and the North Carolina page.

When to see an eye doctor in the Triangle

A drop is not the answer for every eye symptom. Pain, light sensitivity that comes on suddenly, or vision that doesn’t clear when you blink deserve an exam. Quell’s label says: 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.