Dry eye relief in Seattle, Washington

Dry eye relief in Seattle usually comes down to the air indoors and the hours on screens, not the drizzle. From October to April most people spend their days in heated offices and apartments, and July is almost rainless. Look away from the monitor often and blink fully, keep vents and fans aimed away from your face, and use a lubricating drop exactly as labeled. See an eye doctor for pain or blurred vision.

Sea-Tac’s numbers, season by season

NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 climate normals for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport describe two very different halves of the year:

• Roughly 39.34 inches of precipitation in a normal year, falling on about 93 days with a tenth of an inch or more.
• November is the wettest month at 6.31 inches; December, January and February add up to about 15.3.
• July gets just 0.60 inches and August 0.97, and the whole summer totals about 3 inches.
• Winter is mild: January’s normal high is 48.0°F and its low 37.7°F, with about 25 nights a year at or below freezing.
• Snow averages only 6.3 inches a year at the airport.

The rain is frequent rather than heavy, which is why Seattle feels wet. But frequent light rain outdoors says little about the air at your desk.

Why a damp city can feel dry indoors

NOAA’s humidity table puts Sea-Tac’s December afternoons at 79 percent relative humidity. Bring that cool, damp air inside and heat it from the 40s to the high 60s and its relative humidity drops a long way, because warm air can hold much more water than cool air. Nothing in a typical furnace or baseboard heater adds that water back.

Seattle’s mild winters work against you here. Because it’s rarely cold enough to feel drastic, people don’t think of their home as a heated space, yet the heat may run quietly from October through April. New apartment buildings with sealed windows and constant ventilation can be especially dry. A small hygrometer from a hardware store will tell you what your rooms really measure; our guide on whether a humidifier helps dry eyes explains what to do with the reading.

Screens, standups and long workdays

Seattle has a large workforce at keyboards, from South Lake Union offices to home desks in Ballard and Bellevue. Concentrated screen work lowers how often you blink, and many blinks during focus are partial, leaving the lower part of the eye exposed. Over an eight- or ten-hour day in heated air, that adds up. A routine that fits around meetings:

• Every 20 minutes, look at something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds and blink slowly.
• Set the top of your monitor at or slightly below eye level, so your eyes aren’t opened as wide.
• Use the walk to a standup or the coffee machine as a screen break, not a phone break.
• Turn down the brightness of a monitor that glows much brighter than the room around it.

Our guides to screens and your tear film and dry eyes with multiple monitors go further on setup.

The dry, bright summer

By July, Sea-Tac’s afternoon humidity averages 48 percent and highs reach about 77°F. That’s comfortable weather, and Seattle spends it outdoors: kayaking on Lake Union, riding the Burke-Gilman Trail, catching a ferry with the wind off Puget Sound in your face, or hiking to a Cascade viewpoint. Each one moves air across your eyes for hours. Sunglasses that wrap around cut both glare off the water and the breeze. On the ferry deck, the lee side of the cabin is noticeably calmer.

How Quell fits in

Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss, the evaporation that heated offices and windy ferry rides both speed up. The label’s Uses line reads: 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. Check this caution before the first drop: Caution should be used in those with egg or bird allergies — For use in the eyes only.

Keep the bottle clean and in range. The label’s handling line says: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination. Its storage line says: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A desk drawer or a jacket pocket suits Seattle’s mild climate well; a car parked in the sun on an August afternoon is the main place it could get too warm. You can read the complete panel on the Drug Facts page.

Ordering to Seattle

Quell ships from Brentwood, Tennessee, to addresses across the United States, including Seattle and the Eastside. You can check out as a guest, shipping is $10.00, and 3 or more bottles ship free. You’ll get a shipping email with tracking, though we don’t promise a delivery date. Shipping to an office mailroom works if you include the company name and suite. More is on the Seattle page and the Washington page.

Signs it’s time for an eye exam

Drops are for routine dryness. Working out the cause of symptoms that persist, or of eyes that feel worse at the screen even after breaks, belongs to an optometrist or ophthalmologist. 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. Our list of eye symptoms that need a doctor covers the urgent ones.