Dry eye relief in Woodstock, Georgia

Woodstock’s dry-eye season is really two seasons: months of air conditioning through a long, hot summer, and a crisp, low-humidity stretch in fall and early spring. Both dry the tear film, and long commutes on I-575 add hours of vent air and screen glare. Point vents away from your face, take screen breaks, and use a lubricating drop exactly as the label says. Ongoing or painful symptoms belong with an eye doctor.

Cherokee County weather, from NOAA

NOAA’s long-term normals for Woodstock’s own volunteer station weren’t published for 1991 to 2020, so the closest full rain record is Canton, the county seat farther north on I-575. For temperature, the nearest airport station with normals is Cartersville, in neighboring Bartow County. Together they describe the northern Atlanta suburbs well:

• Canton averages about 55.6 inches of precipitation a year.
• October is Canton’s driest month at 3.49 inches, followed by May at 3.72.
• March and December are the wettest, each about 5.4 inches.
• Cartersville logs about 55 days a year at 90°F or hotter, with a July normal high of 89.6°F.
• January averages a high of 52.2°F and a low of 31.4°F there, with roughly 68 freezing nights a year.

Summer: humid outside, chilled and dry inside

NOAA’s humidity table for Atlanta shows July and August mornings averaging 86 to 87 percent relative humidity, with afternoons near 58 percent. On those days, most of Woodstock retreats indoors and into cars, and the air conditioner runs hard. AC pulls water out of the air as it cools, and the cold, dry stream from a vent dries eyes quickly.

• Aim car vents at your chest or the floor instead of your face.
• Move a desk away from a ceiling diffuser if you can.
• Turn a bedroom ceiling fan down, or off, while you sleep.
• Step outside for a few minutes during long indoor days; warmer, moister air is easier on your eyes.

Fall and spring: the drier months

The same Atlanta record shows April afternoons averaging 49 percent and October afternoons 53 percent, the two lowest points of the year. Those are the months people spend outdoors: Friday nights at high school football, weekends at Lake Allatoona, mornings on the Greenprints trails around downtown Woodstock. Dry air and a steady breeze both speed evaporation, and sun glare makes people squint instead of blink.

Sunglasses help in more than one way. They cut glare, so you squint less, and wraparound styles block wind. On the lake, spray and wind off the water add to it; our guide to dry eyes on a boat has tips for a day out on Allatoona.

The I-575 commute

Many Woodstock residents drive south toward Marietta and Atlanta for work. Heavy traffic means long stretches of staring straight ahead, blinking less, with the climate control running and the sun often low in the windshield in the morning or the evening. A few habits make the drive easier on your eyes:

• Set the fan to a lower speed and recirculate when the air outside is dusty or smoky.
• At a long light or in a stopped lane, close your eyes gently for a second or two.
• Keep sunglasses in the car, not in the house.
• Don’t leave eye drops in the car; Georgia summers push cabin temperatures well past the label’s storage range.

How Quell’s label describes it

Quell is an over-the-counter lubricating drop. 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, a fit for air-conditioned rooms that pull water away. The directions read: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. The label also lists its storage range, Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F), and a handling step: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

Each bottle is .33 fl oz (10 mL), and the drop looks different from clear drops: The eye drops have a naturally milky-brown appearance. This is normal and does not indicate a problem with the product. You can read every section on our Drug Facts page.

Ordering to Woodstock, and when to see a doctor

Quell ships to Woodstock from Brentwood, Tennessee, with guest checkout. We don’t promise a delivery date, so order before your last bottle runs low. See the Woodstock page and the Georgia page for local information.

If you’ve been searching for help because dryness keeps coming back, an eye doctor is the right next step. Figuring out the cause and recommending what to do is their job, not a drop’s. The label lists 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 self-check can help you decide, and eye symptoms that need a doctor lists warning signs.