Dry eyes for musicians and stage performers

Musicians and stage performers get dry eyes from hot lights, haze and fog effects, air-conditioned venues, hours of reading music and constant travel. Fixes start offstage: angle away from fans and vents, blink deliberately during rests, wear glasses for close reading and keep your hands clean. If you use a lubricating drop, put it in before you go on or after you come off, with washed hands, never mid-performance.

Why performers’ eyes dry out

A performance packs several drying conditions into a short time. Stage lighting throws heat onto your face. Venues run air conditioning hard to keep a crowd comfortable, and stage fans blow on the band. Concentration lowers your blink rate, whether you’re counting bars, watching a conductor or hitting a mark. The tear film, a thin layer of oil, water and mucus over each eye, loses water faster in warm, moving, dry air, and blinks are what replace it.

Add a few nights in a row, short sleep on tour and long drives between cities, and gritty, burning eyes become part of the job for many working musicians, actors and dancers.

Stage lights and onstage fans

• During soundcheck, notice where the fans and floor vents point, and ask for them to be angled at your body instead of your face.
• Between songs or during a long rest, close your eyes for a second or two and blink fully a few times.
• Look away from the brightest lights when you can; squinting into them all night is tiring.
• Keep water within reach onstage and drink it.
• In the wings, step out of the direct path of lights and heaters.

Haze and fog machines

Haze and fog effects hang in the air to catch the light, and many performers find their eyes feel dry or irritated during and after a heavy-haze show. Practical steps: ask the lighting designer or stage manager whether haze can be lighter near your position, avoid standing at the machine’s outlet, and rinse your face with clean water after the show. If your eyes stay irritated well after you leave the venue, or you have any pain or change in vision, stop and see a doctor rather than waiting for the next show.

Reading sheet music, charts and scripts

Orchestral players, session musicians and anyone reading a chart spend long stretches focused at one distance, often in dim pit lighting. That steady stare reduces blinking. If you read from a tablet on a music stand, the effect is similar to working at a computer.

• Use the brightest stand light the venue allows, so you aren’t straining.
• Enlarge parts or turn up the tablet’s text size where you can.
• If you wear reading glasses, make sure the prescription suits your stand distance; an eye doctor can check.
• During rehearsals, look up and across the room between pieces.

Dry eyes when reading covers the reading side in more depth.

Touring, flights and hotel rooms

Life on the road adds its own dry air: airplane cabins, tour buses with the vents running, and hotel rooms with heating or AC that never quite turns off. A few habits help on tour:

• Pack eye drops in your carry-on, in the quart-size bag TSA requires for liquids of 3.4 ounces or less.
• Turn the overhead air vent on a plane away from your face.
• Keep bus and car vents pointed at your body, not your eyes.
• In hotels, turn the fan setting down at night and keep the bed away from the vent.

Dry eyes on a plane and Dry eyes in a hotel room go into each in detail.

Using eye drops around a performance

Timing matters. Put drops in before call time or after the show, not during a set, scene or rest. Mid-performance, your hands have been on strings, keys, mouthpieces, drumsticks, props or a mic stand, and the label is clear: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination. Rushed drops also blur vision for a moment as they spread, which is the last thing you want before an entrance.

• Wash your hands with soap and water before touching the bottle or your eyes.
• Sit down in the dressing room, tilt your head back and pull down the lower lid.
• Follow the label directions: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye.
• Close your eyes gently for a moment, then check your vision has settled before you head to the stage.
• Put the cap back on right away and keep the bottle in a closed bag, not loose on a stand.

If you wear stage makeup or contact lenses, the label doesn’t give directions for either situation, so ask your eye doctor or a pharmacist how to fit drops around them. Eye drops before or after makeup? covers what’s known about the makeup side.

About Quell for performers

Quell is a preservative-free, over-the-counter lubricating eye drop. Its label lists its uses as: 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, which is the layer that slows evaporation under hot lights and in dry venues. The liquid is milky brown, so it can briefly blur your vision as it spreads; The eye drops have a naturally milky-brown appearance. This is normal and does not indicate a problem with the product.

Storage matters on the road. The label says: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). Don’t leave the bottle in a hot van, a trailer in winter, or on top of an amp under the lights. A gig bag or jacket pocket that stays with you is safer. Read the full label, including the warning that reads Caution should be used in those with egg or bird allergies — For use in the eyes only, on the Drug Facts page.

When to see a doctor

Sore eyes after a long tour often settle with rest, but some symptoms shouldn’t wait for the next break. 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. Anything that hits the eye, such as a pyro particle, confetti or a broken string, is a reason for prompt medical attention, not drops. The free dry eye self-check can help you sort out what you’re feeling between gigs.