Dry eyes after swimming in a pool

Eyes can feel dry or irritated after swimming because pool water washes over the tear film and the chemicals that form in chlorinated water can sting. The CDC says chloramines irritate the eyes, especially around indoor pools. Well-fitting goggles, rinsing your face after you get out and giving your eyes a break help. The Quell label doesn’t mention swimming, so follow its directions and ask an eye doctor for specifics.

Does swimming cause dry eyes?

Swimming doesn’t change how your eyes make tears, but it can leave them feeling dry for a while afterward. Your tear film is a thin layer of oil, water and mucus that sits on the eye’s surface. When you open your eyes underwater, pool water mixes with it and rinses some of it away. Once you’re out, your eyes have to rebuild that layer, and if you climb out into a breezy deck or dry locker room, evaporation adds to the effect.

Can chlorine cause dry eyes?

Chlorine is the disinfectant, but the sting most people blame on it comes from what it reacts with. The CDC’s guidance for pool operators says chloramines, which form when chlorine combines with sweat, urine and other body waste, irritate skin, eyes and the respiratory tract. It adds that they can turn into gas in the air above the water, particularly indoors.

So an eye that feels irritated after a swim may be reacting to chloramines in the water or the air, not just to having been wet. The CDC’s advice to pools includes having swimmers rinse off before getting in, noting that even a quick shower removes much of what helps form chloramines. That’s one small thing every swimmer can do for the pool as a whole.

Dry eyes after swimming in a pool: what helps

• Wear goggles that seal around the eye socket; adjust the strap and nosepiece until water stays out for a full length.
• Shower before you swim, which the CDC recommends to cut down on chloramine formation.
• Rinse your face, closed eyelids included, with clean tap water after you get out.
• Pat around your eyes with a clean towel instead of rubbing.
• Keep your eyes closed when you dive in or push off the wall if your goggles tend to shift.
• Spend less time sitting on the deck of an indoor pool, where irritants can build up in the air.

Indoor pool air

Natatoriums are warm and humid, which sounds like the opposite of dry-eye weather. The issue is the quality of the air rather than its moisture. When ventilation is poor, the air over the water carries the chloramines that the CDC describes, and swim meets, with lots of swimmers and spectators, make it worse. If your eyes sting more in one facility than another, it’s worth mentioning to the pool staff.

Using drops around swimming

The Quell label is silent about swimming. It doesn’t say to use drops before swimming, after it, or with goggles, so there’s no swim-specific instruction to follow. What the label does give you is the general routine: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. Its Uses are For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye, and it’s designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss.

If you want to know whether a drop before or after laps makes sense for you, ask your eye doctor or pharmacist; questions to ask your pharmacist has a starter list. Contact lens wearers who swim should ask too, because the label doesn’t cover contact lenses either. See contact lenses and Quell for what that means.

Handling the bottle at the pool

• Leave it in your bag in the locker, not on the hot deck in direct sun. The label’s storage range is Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F).
• Dry and wash your hands before touching your eyes; pool water on your fingers defeats the point of rinsing.
• Watch the tip. The label says: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.
• Don’t share a bottle with a teammate or swim partner.

Outdoor pools, lakes and the beach

Outdoor swimming adds sun glare off the water and wind on the deck. Tinted goggles and a brimmed hat between swims help with both. Natural water doesn’t have chloramines but can carry sand and debris, and your tear film still gets rinsed away. Rinsing your face with clean water afterward applies there too.

When to see a doctor

Brief stinging that eases within an hour or so of leaving the pool is common. Pain, a change in vision, discharge, or irritation that keeps going needs an eye doctor’s attention, and eye symptoms that need a doctor lists more. The label says: 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.