Dry eyes in a hot, dry workplace

Hot workplaces dry the eyes quickly because heated air carries moisture away from the eye’s surface, and ovens, furnaces, heaters and blow dryers push that air straight at your face. Stepping out of the heat on breaks, using protective eyewear your employer provides, and using lubricating drops as directed, Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye, all help. Keep the bottle in a locker, not near the heat.

Which jobs this covers

• Restaurant kitchens: ovens, fryers, grills and dish machines, all within a few feet of each other.
• Bakeries: deck ovens and proofers, and the blast of heat each time a door opens.
• Foundries, forges and glass shops: radiant heat from molten metal or glass, often for most of a shift.
• Warehouses and loading docks heated by overhead gas units in winter, which blow hot, dry air down onto the floor.
• Salons and barbershops, where blow dryers run within inches of a stylist’s face for hours.
• Laundries and dry cleaners, with dryers and presses venting warm air.

Why heat dries the eyes

Warm air can hold more water than cool air, so when air is heated without adding moisture its relative humidity falls and it pulls water from whatever it touches. Moving air speeds that up, and many hot jobs come with fans and exhaust hoods running constantly. The tear film’s oil layer slows evaporation from the watery layer beneath it; Quell is designed to reinforce that oil layer to help reduce moisture loss.

Reducing the heat at your face

• Step back from an oven door as it opens and let the first rush of heat clear before you lean in.
• In a salon, hold the dryer so the airflow points away from your own face, and turn the chair rather than leaning across the client.
• Under overhead warehouse heaters, pick work spots between units rather than directly beneath them when you can.
• Point any cooling fan at your body, not your face.
• Wipe sweat with a clean towel instead of the back of your hand, so it doesn’t run into or get rubbed near your eyes.

Eye protection is your employer’s job

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says eye and face protection must be provided whenever necessary to guard against chemical, environmental, radiological or mechanical hazards. In a foundry or a glass shop, that usually means safety glasses, goggles or face shields chosen for the work. If you think your job needs protective eyewear and doesn’t have it, raise it with your supervisor or safety officer. Protective eyewear also takes some of the hot air off your eyes, which is a useful side effect.

Using drops on a hot shift

Plan your three drops around breaks, when you’re away from the heat and can wash up. Before your shift, at a midshift break and after you clock out is one easy pattern. Wash your hands and face first: flour, grease, hair product and metal dust are all things you don’t want near your eyes. Then follow the label: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

The label doesn’t allow extra drops on a hot day. If three don’t feel like enough, ask an eye doctor rather than adding more. Can I use more than three drops a day? covers that conversation.

Keep the bottle out of the heat

Quell’s label says Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A hot kitchen line, a bakery near the ovens or a foundry floor can easily run above 86°F, and an apron pocket rides along with you into all of it. Leave the bottle in your locker, in a bag in the break room, or in a cooler part of the building, and use it there. Avoid the dashboard of a car parked in the sun as well; can you leave eye drops in a hot car? covers that.

If a bottle has been somewhere hot, look at it before you use it. The label says not to use it If this product changes color. The eye drops have a naturally milky-brown appearance. This is normal and does not indicate a problem with the product.

Sparks, splashes and particles

Heat is one thing; something in your eye is another. Hot oil, chemical splashes, metal fragments or a chemical cleaner in the eye aren’t a job for lubricating drops. Follow your workplace’s first-aid procedure, use the eyewash station if there is one, and get medical help. Eye symptoms that need a doctor lists signs that shouldn’t wait.

When to see an eye doctor

If your eyes stay dry or uncomfortable on days off, or the discomfort is getting worse, book an eye exam and describe your workplace. The label is clear: 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.