Dry eyes in Minneapolis

In Minneapolis, dry eyes usually come from spending the cold months indoors in heated air, then stepping into wind that’s often well below freezing. NOAA’s normals show 72 days a year that never climb above 32°F, and downtown workers can go from parking ramp to desk through heated skyways without breathing outdoor air. Managing indoor air, blinking during screen work and using a lubricating drop as labeled all help.

A city built to stay inside

Few American downtowns are designed around avoiding winter the way Minneapolis is. The city’s own zoning bulletin on skyways describes enclosed bridges placed at the second floor, with the bottom at least 16 feet 6 inches above the street, walls that must be mostly glass, and use limited to people walking. In practice that means an office worker can park, eat lunch, run errands and get back to the car without a coat.

That comfort has a cost your eyes notice. Skyways, lobbies and the buildings they link share heated, recirculated air. In January, that air started out cold and dry before the building warmed it, so the relative humidity indoors can fall low enough that contact with it for eight or nine hours leaves eyes gritty by late afternoon. You don’t feel wind, but you also never get a break from dry heat.

Minneapolis winters by NOAA’s numbers

NOAA’s 1991–2020 climate normals for Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport list:

• A January normal high of 23.6°F and a normal low of 8.8°F.
• About 147 nights a year at or below freezing.
• Around 22 nights a year at zero or colder.
• Normal snowfall of 51.2 inches a year, with December averaging 11.4 inches.
• About 7,399 heating degree days a year, NOAA’s yardstick for how much heating a climate demands.

Summer looks nothing like that. The July normal high is 83.4°F, so air conditioning takes over from the furnace for a few months. Both systems dry indoor air, which is why some people in the Twin Cities notice their eyes in August as much as in February.

Where Minneapolis eyes get the most wear

• Desk work in towers connected by skyways, where you may not step outside from morning until evening.
• Light rail platforms and bus stops in a crosswind, waiting with your face exposed.
• Watching a game in an enclosed arena with blowers overhead.
• Lake walks and cross-country skiing on cold, bright days when snow glare makes you squint and wind finds every gap.
• Long evenings on a laptop after dark comes early in December.

Habits for office workers and skyway commuters

• Set a desk humidifier away from your keyboard, and clean it on the schedule its maker gives.
• Move your monitor slightly below eye level so your lids cover more of each eye while you read.
• Every 20 minutes or so, look out a skyway window at something distant and blink slowly a few times.
• Angle desk fans and space heaters away from your face.
• Drink water through the day; heated buildings dry you out in general, not just your eyes.

For the reasons blinking matters so much at a screen, see screens and your tear film.

Outdoors on a Minnesota winter day

The skyways cover downtown, not the whole city. Shoveling a south Minneapolis sidewalk, walking a dog around a frozen lake, or waiting for a hockey practice to end in an outdoor rink all put your face in air that NOAA’s normals say stays below freezing for the whole day on about 72 days a year. Cold wind and low sun bouncing off snow make people squint, and squinting pairs with less complete blinking. Sunglasses with wraparound frames cut both the glare and the wind, and a scarf or gaiter pulled up to the cheekbones keeps the lower face warmer so you’re less tempted to turn away from the breeze with your eyes half shut.

How Quell is meant to help

The label’s Uses are For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss, which suits the problem of tears evaporating into dry office air. Follow the label: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. It’s a multi-dose bottle, so the label’s handling line matters every time: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

If you work downtown, a bottle in your desk drawer stays at room temperature, which keeps it inside the label’s storage range, Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A car parked in a surface lot through a January workday doesn’t.

Getting Quell in the Twin Cities

Orders ship from Brentwood, Tennessee, to Minnesota at $10.00, and orders of 3 or more bottles ship free. You can check out as a guest, and unopened bottles can be refunded within 30 days of delivery without being sent back. The Minneapolis page and the Minnesota page cover the details.

When to see someone in person

If dryness hangs on after the furnace goes off in spring, or it comes with pain or blurred vision, it needs more than a drop. 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.