Dry eye relief in Yuma, Arizona

Dry eye relief in Yuma is a year-round job. NOAA’s records show about 3.28 inches of rain a year and roughly 118 days at 100°F or more, so your eyes face desert heat outside and air conditioning inside for most of the year. Keep vents off your face, wear wraparound sunglasses, blink fully at screens, and use a lubricating drop as its label directs. Pain or vision changes need an eye doctor.

One of the driest cities in NOAA’s records

Yuma’s official normals come from the weather station at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, which shares its runways with the city’s airport, at about 65 meters, or roughly 213 feet above sea level. The 1991 to 2020 figures:

• 3.28 inches of precipitation in a normal year.
• Only about 8 days a year bring a tenth of an inch of rain or more.
• June averages 0.01 inches, and May just 0.06.
• September is the wettest month, at 0.68 inches.
• No measurable snow in the normals, and about one freezing night every ten years.

NOAA’s humidity and wind tables don’t include Yuma, so we haven’t borrowed numbers from another city. The rainfall record makes the point anyway: there’s very little water in the air here for much of the year.

Why do my eyes hurt in the Yuma heat?

Heat and dry air both speed evaporation from the tear film. July’s normal high is 106.7°F, August’s 106.4°F, and June’s 103.3°F, and about 181 days a year reach at least 90°F. Working the fields, fishing the Colorado River, or spending a weekend in the dunes west of town puts your eyes in sun, dust and moving air for hours at a time.

• Do outdoor work and errands in the early morning whenever you can.
• Wear close-fitting, wraparound sunglasses; in blowing sand, goggles cover more.
• Keep a hat with a brim on to cut glare from pale ground and water.
• When you come inside, close your eyes for a few seconds and blink slowly before going back to a screen.

Living in air conditioning

With summer highs above 100°F for months, air conditioning runs in homes, cars, offices and stores much of the year. Cooled air is dry air, and a vent blowing at your face speeds evaporation the same way a breeze does. Try these:

• Aim car vents at your chest or the floor, not your eyes.
• Move your desk or recliner out of the path of a ceiling or wall vent.
• Run a ceiling fan on low, or not at all, at night.
• Consider a small humidifier in the bedroom, cleaned as its instructions say.

Our guide to dry eyes in a hot, dry workplace goes further for anyone who works in heat or under cooling all shift.

Winter in Yuma

Winter is the reason so many visitors arrive each year. December averages a high of 67.8°F and a low of 46.8°F, and January is a touch warmer by day. Most homes barely need heat. The air is still dry, though: December and January each bring well under half an inch of rain. RV parks fill, golf courses and pickleball courts are busy, and long sunny days outdoors mean the same habits matter, just at kinder temperatures. Snowbirds who split the year between Yuma and somewhere colder can read snowbird travel with eye drops.

What the Quell label says

Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss. The Uses on its Drug Facts panel: 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 handling line: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

Storage needs real attention in Yuma. The label says Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F), and a car parked in the sun in June will blow past the top of that range quickly. Carry the bottle in a bag you take indoors, or leave it at home in a cool cupboard. Read the warnings, including the egg and bird allergy caution, on our Drug Facts page.

Ordering Quell to Yuma

We ship from Brentwood, Tennessee, to Yuma, Somerton, San Luis and every other US address. Check out as a guest; shipping is $10.00, and 3 or more bottles ship free. You’ll get a tracking email, but no delivery date is promised, and a package left on a sunny porch in summer gets hot, so bring it in promptly. Unopened bottles are refundable within 30 days of delivery without being returned. See the Yuma page or the Arizona page.

Getting help from an eye doctor

A drop is meant for everyday dryness. If your eyes keep bothering you, an eye doctor can work out the cause and what to do about it. 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. Sand that seems stuck under a lid after a windy day also deserves a professional look.