Eye drops for truck drivers

Truck drivers spend long hours in a cab where heat or air conditioning runs constantly and the vents blow toward the face, and dock work adds dust and wind. Keep eye drops in the cab or the sleeper, inside the label’s range of Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). Use them only when the truck is parked, and follow the label: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye.

What dries the eyes on a long haul

A cab is a small space with a big climate system. In winter the heater runs for hundreds of miles, and in summer the air conditioning does. Both dry the air, and the dash vents sit a couple of feet from the driver’s face. Add hours of watching the road, a logging device or phone to check at every stop, and nights in a sleeper berth with the bunk heater or air conditioning running, and the tear film gets little rest.

The tear film has three layers: mucus on the eye, water in the middle, and an oil layer on top that slows evaporation. Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss. Its label’s Uses line reads: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye.

Vents, the bunk and the cab climate

• Turn the dash vents away from your face and toward your chest or the windshield.
• Run the fan on a lower setting once the cab is at temperature.
• In the sleeper, aim the bunk vent at the wall or your feet, not your pillow.
• Wear sunglasses for low-sun hours and glare off wet roads and snow.

Dust at docks and yards

Walking a yard to find a trailer, sliding tandems, or waiting at a dock door puts you in wind and dust that the cab keeps out. Grit on your hands and around the cab is the bigger issue for the bottle. Wash or sanitize your hands before you open it, and keep the tip away from everything, including the dash and the steering wheel. The label is direct about it: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

Keeping the bottle in the right temperature range

Quell’s storage range is Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A dash in summer sun goes well above that, and a cab with the engine and the bunk heater off in winter can drop well below it. Side boxes and outside compartments aren’t heated or cooled at all.

• Keep the bottle in a closed cabinet or bag inside the sleeper, out of direct sun.
• Don’t leave it on the dash, in a cup holder by the windshield, or in a side box.
• When you leave the truck for long, take it with you in your shower bag or backpack.
• If it has been too hot or too cold, look at it before the next dose. The Do not use line reads: If this product changes color.

Using eye drops on the road

Only when the truck is parked and the brakes are set: at a rest area, a fuel stop, a shipper’s lot or during your break. Never while moving, and never in stop-and-go traffic. After the drop, give your vision time to clear completely before you pull out. Spreading the three daily doses across a shift is easy to tie to stops you already make: the pre-trip inspection, a fuel stop and the end of the day.

DOT medical exams and your eyes

Federal driver qualification rules (49 CFR 391.41) include a vision standard that the certified medical examiner checks at your DOT physical. This site can’t tell you how any eye drop relates to that exam. Questions about medications, your vision or your medical card belong with the medical examiner or your eye doctor, and the label doesn’t address them.

Ordering when you’re rarely home

Quell ships to any US address, so order it to wherever someone will take it in: home, a family member’s house, or a company terminal if your carrier accepts personal packages. Ask dispatch or the terminal office first. Put your name exactly as the terminal knows it, and use the order tracking page to see where it is. Shipping is $10.00 per order and free on 3 or more bottles. The guide to getting the shipping address right covers suites and unit lines.

When to get off the road

If your vision blurs, doubles or changes while you’re driving, pull over at the next safe place and don’t drive on until it’s cleared. 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. The guide to eye symptoms that need a doctor lists the signs the label points to.