Dry eyes in a sauna

A traditional dry sauna can make your eyes feel dry because very hot air with little moisture in it speeds evaporation from the tear film. Infrared saunas warm you with less air heat but still dry the room. Steam rooms are humid, so they feel different. Keep sessions within the facility’s posted limits, close your eyes for stretches, and use a lubricating drop as labeled afterward, never storing the bottle in the hot room.

Can a sauna cause dry eyes?

It can make eyes feel dry while you’re in it and for a while afterward. The tear film has an oil layer on top that slows evaporation from the watery layer beneath. Hot, dry air moving across the eye works against that oil layer, the same way a hair dryer or a car heater does. Many people notice a gritty, tight feeling or a need to blink more after a long sit on the top bench.

How much you notice depends on the type of sauna, how hot it is, how long you stay, and how your eyes feel to start with. If you already have dry eyes from screens or winter heating, a sauna can tip them over.

Dry sauna, steam room and infrared: how they differ

• Traditional dry sauna: very hot air, usually heated by a stove with rocks. Humidity is low unless someone pours water on the stones, which briefly releases a burst of steam.
• Steam room: lower temperature but air saturated with moisture. Most people find it much less drying to the eyes, though the heat can still be uncomfortable.
• Infrared sauna: heating panels warm your body more directly, and the air temperature is usually lower than a traditional sauna. The room is still warm and fairly dry.

Gyms, spas and hotels often have more than one option. If dry eyes bother you, a steam room or a lower bench may be the more comfortable choice.

Tips for using a sauna when your eyes are dry

• Follow the posted time and temperature guidance for that sauna. Shorter sessions mean less time in drying air.
• Sit on a lower bench, where it’s cooler.
• Close your eyes for part of the session; a closed lid stops evaporation from the eye’s surface.
• Don’t sit facing the heater or directly in the path of air from a vent.
• Skip the phone. Staring at a screen slows blinking, and phones don’t belong in a sauna anyway.
• Rinse off and cool down gradually afterward, and drink water.

Sauna goggles and towels

Some people use a cool damp washcloth over closed eyes during a session. Others look for sauna goggles or eye covers. Whatever you use, make sure it’s clean and rated for heat; metal frames and some plastics get very hot. Glasses are a poor idea for the same reason, and contact lens wearers should ask their eye doctor about saunas, since Quell’s label doesn’t give directions for use with contacts.

Using eye drops after the sauna

Quell’s Uses read: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. It is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss, the loss that hot dry air speeds up. The directions are: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. One of those daily uses can fall after your sauna session, once you’ve cooled down, dried your face and washed your hands.

Use it in the locker room or changing area, not inside the hot room. Sweat running into the eye and hands that have touched benches and towels aren’t a good combination with an open bottle. Follow the handling rule: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

Don’t leave eye drops in the sauna or a hot locker

Quell’s label gives a storage range: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). Sauna air is far hotter than that, and so is a bag left on the sauna bench, a car parked in summer sun, or a locker right next to the sauna wall. Keep the bottle in a locker away from the heat source, or leave it at home and use your drop when you get back. If a bottle has been somewhere too hot, check it before use: If this product changes color. Can you leave eye drops in a hot car? explains why heat matters.

When to stop and see a doctor

Sauna heat isn’t a substitute for medical care, and eye drops aren’t a fix for everything a sauna can bring on. If your eyes hurt, your vision changes, or something like a splash of cleaning product or essential oil gets in your eye, rinse with clean water and get medical advice. For ongoing symptoms, follow the label: 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.

Eye symptoms that need a doctor lists signs not to wait on. If your eyes feel dry most days, not just after the sauna, the self-check can help you describe it to an eye doctor. It is not a diagnosis.

Hot tubs, hot yoga and other heat

Heat sessions come in other forms too. Hot yoga rooms are heated and often humid. Hot tubs put warm, chemically sanitized water close to your eyes; Dry eyes after swimming in a pool covers pool water. The same principles apply across all of them: limit time, keep your face out of direct heat, and keep the bottle somewhere that stays within the label’s range.