Dry eye relief in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis eyes dry out mostly indoors. The city’s river-valley summers are hot and sticky, so people live under air conditioning from June through September, and then the heat comes on for a winter of about 85 freezing nights. Both kinds of conditioned air speed evaporation from the eye. Keep vents off your face, blink fully during screen work, and use a lubricating drop exactly as labeled. Persistent pain or vision changes call for an eye doctor.

Where the rivers meet, and what the weather does

The Missouri River joins the Mississippi just north of the city, and St. Louis grew up along the bluffs above them. NOAA’s long record comes from Lambert International Airport, about 531 feet above sea level. Its 1991 to 2020 normals, in short:

• About 41.7 inches of precipitation a year, with May the wettest month at 4.82 inches.
• February is the driest at 2.23 inches, and September is close behind at 2.96.
• About 16.6 inches of snow a winter, most of it in January.
• July averages a high of 89.6°F and a low of 71.1°F, and about 47 days a year reach 90°F or higher.
• January runs from a normal high of 40.4°F to a low of 23.8°F.
• Close to 85 nights a year fall to freezing or below, and about 19 days never climb above 32°F.

A July low of 71°F says a lot: summer nights here barely cool off, so the air conditioner rarely gets a break.

Muggy outside, dry inside

NOAA’s humidity table for Lambert shows August and September mornings averaging 85 percent relative humidity, with afternoons near 55 percent. Air that heavy sends most people to cooled rooms, and an air conditioner removes water from the air as part of how it works. A day spent at a desk under a ceiling diffuser, a drive home on I-64 with the dash vents open, and an evening in front of a window unit can add up to a dozen hours of dried, moving air.

A simple fix in the car is to aim the vents at your chest or feet. At home, notice where the supply registers blow. A vent pointed at the couch or the pillow is worth redirecting with an inexpensive deflector.

The dry stretch: April and fall afternoons

The same table puts the driest afternoons at Lambert in April, at 53 percent, with September and October close behind at 54. Those are the months St. Louis spends outside. Think of a breezy spring evening at Busch Stadium, a walk around the Grand Basin in Forest Park, or a bike ride on the riverfront trail below the Arch. Sun, wind and low afternoon humidity together can dry eyes faster than a humid July day indoors.

Sunglasses, especially wraparound frames, reduce both glare and the air moving across the eye. Squinting into the sun also replaces full blinks with half ones, so shade helps more than you’d expect.

Winter in brick houses and big buildings

Much of the city’s housing stock is old brick, and much of its workday happens in hospitals, universities and offices that keep the heat running. Whether a home runs a forced-air furnace or an older boiler, warming cold winter air lowers its relative humidity indoors. NOAA’s December afternoons at Lambert average 66 percent outside, but that number doesn’t follow the air through the front door.

• Run a humidifier in the bedroom during heating season, and clean it on the maker’s schedule.
• Keep a space heater from blowing toward your face while you read or watch TV.
• Step away from a laptop every so often and blink slowly a few times; screens cut blinking.
• Drink water through the day, since heated rooms dry everything, including you.

The guide to winter heating and dry eyes has more on setting up a room for the cold months.

Where Quell fits

Quell is a preservative-free lubricating drop sold over the counter. The 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, and the oil layer is what slows evaporation in a heated or air-conditioned room. Follow the directions as written: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. Keep the tip clean as the label says: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

Read the caution before you start: 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 range also applies to cars parked at a MetroLink lot in August or a driveway in January: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). Keep the bottle with you rather than in the glove box. The full panel is on the Drug Facts page.

Ordering to a St. Louis address

Quell ships across the United States from Brentwood, Tennessee, including to the city, St. Louis County and the Metro East. You can check out as a guest. Shipping is $10.00, and an order of 3 or more bottles ships free. We don’t promise a delivery date; a shipping email with tracking arrives when the order leaves. Unopened bottles can be refunded within 30 days of delivery, and you don’t have to send them back. The St. Louis page and Missouri page have local details, and you can order from the home page.

Symptoms that need more than a drop

Lubricating drops are for routine dryness and irritation. If symptoms keep returning, working out why and what to do about it is a job for an eye doctor. The label’s stop-use line reads: 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 signs worth acting on. The dry eye self-check can help you sort out next steps; it’s not a diagnosis.