Dry eye relief in Washington, D.C.

Dry eye relief in Washington, D.C., starts with knowing when the air turns on you. NOAA’s records show the capital’s lowest afternoon humidity in March and April, its breeziest month in March, and long seasons of office air conditioning and winter heat. Wear sunglasses on the Mall, aim vents away from your face, blink fully at screens and use a lubricating drop as labeled. Eye pain or vision changes need a doctor.

Where D.C.’s weather numbers come from

The city’s official weather station isn’t in the District at all. It sits at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, practically at sea level on the bank of the Potomac. NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 normals for that station give a picture of a humid, four-season city:

• About 41.8 inches of precipitation in a normal year, with July the wettest month.
• February is the driest month, at 2.62 inches.
• Normal snowfall is 13.7 inches, nearly all of it in January and February.
• A July day runs from about 72°F at dawn to 89.6°F in the afternoon, and the station averages 40 days a year at 90°F or above.
• About 60 nights a year fall to freezing or below.

Those warm July nights matter. When the low only drops into the 70s, air conditioning runs around the clock in apartments, row houses and offices.

The windy riverfront

NOAA’s wind table has two stations for the area, and they differ in a way anyone who has crossed Memorial Bridge in March will recognize. National, on the open water of the Potomac, averages noticeably more wind through the year than Dulles out in Loudoun County. At National, March is the windiest month and August the calmest.

Wind thins the tear film by carrying moisture off the surface of the eye. The places that feel it most are the open ones: the Tidal Basin loop, the long walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol, the Georgetown waterfront and the Mount Vernon Trail along the river.

Cherry blossom season and the driest afternoons

The spring rush to the Tidal Basin falls in the same stretch as D.C.’s driest air. NOAA’s humidity table for National gives April an afternoon average of 48 percent and March 49 percent, the two lowest months of the year. Mornings run around 69 percent, so the drop through the day is steep.

• Go early. Morning humidity is higher and the crowds are thinner.
• Wraparound sunglasses do more than regular frames against a crosswind off the water.
• Hours spent looking up at branches and through a phone camera mean less blinking, so pause and blink on purpose.
• Keep your bottle in a bag, not loose in a jacket pocket, and check the cap before it goes in.

Office air on the Hill and downtown

A lot of D.C. works at a desk: federal agencies, law firms, think tanks, newsrooms, lobby shops. Long days of reading on screens slow blinking, and big office buildings run climate control hard in both directions. September is the dampest month outdoors, with mornings near 81 percent, but inside the building the air conditioning keeps the air dry.

Small changes help. Shift the monitor slightly below eye level so your lids cover more of the eye, step outside at lunch, and close or redirect a vent that blows across your desk. If you run two screens, our guide to dry eyes with multiple monitors covers the setup.

Metro, commutes and winter

Metro platforms get a rush of air every time a train pulls in, and escalator shafts at deep stations like Wheaton and Forest Glen pull wind with them. Stand back from the edge and look away from the tunnel as the train arrives. In winter, the switch from a 30-degree platform to a heated train car and then a heated office repeats several times a day. January highs average 44.8°F at National, and buildings keep the heat on from late fall into March.

What Quell is and what its label says

Quell is a preservative-free lubricating drop designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss. The Uses on its Drug Facts panel read: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. The directions: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. The label also asks you to handle the bottle carefully: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

One caution stands out: Caution should be used in those with egg or bird allergies — For use in the eyes only. Store it as the label says, Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F), which rules out a car left at a summer ball game at Nationals Park. The full panel is on the Drug Facts page.

Getting Quell delivered in the District

Quell ships from Brentwood, Tennessee, to D.C. addresses, from Capitol Hill apartments to Chevy Chase houses, and to the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. There’s no account to create, shipping is $10.00, and orders of 3 or more bottles ship free. A tracking email follows when the package leaves; no delivery date is promised, so give yourself some lead time, especially if your building’s mailroom holds packages. See the Washington, D.C. page or the District of Columbia page.

When drops aren’t enough

If your eyes keep bothering you, an optometrist or ophthalmologist can work out the cause and what to do about it. The label tells you 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 signs that shouldn’t wait.