Fireplaces, candles and dry eyes

A fireplace, wood stove or cluster of candles can dry and irritate your eyes in two ways: radiant heat warms the surface of the eye and speeds evaporation, and smoke carries particles that sting. Sitting farther back, burning dry wood, ventilating the room and keeping drops away from the heat all reduce the problem without giving up the fire.

Why a fire dries your eyes

Radiant heat is the warmth you feel on your face from a fire even when the room itself is cool. It heats whatever it hits, including the thin layer of tears over your eyes, and warmer tears evaporate faster. A wood stove or insert also warms the air around it, and warmer air at the same moisture content has a lower relative humidity, so the room dries out the longer the fire burns.

Then there’s smoke. Even a fire that’s drawing well puts a little into the room when you open the door to add a log or when a downdraft hits the chimney. Fine particles land on the eye’s surface and make you blink, rub and tear up. Candles add a smaller version of the same thing, especially scented ones and ones with long, untrimmed wicks that flicker and soot.

How far to sit from the fire

There’s no official distance, but a practical test works: if your face feels hot after a few minutes, you’re too close. Pull the chair back until the warmth is pleasant on your hands rather than your face, and angle it so you see the fire from the side rather than staring straight into it. Kids and pets crowding the hearth push adults into the closest seats, so set up seating before the fire is lit.

What EPA’s Burn Wise advice says about smoke

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Burn Wise program gives wood-burning guidance aimed at cleaner fires. Its pages say:

• Burn only dry, split, well-seasoned wood, and season it at least six months.
• Wood burns most cleanly at a moisture content below 20 percent; a wood moisture meter checks it.
• Don’t burn wet or green wood.
• Keep household trash, cardboard, plastics and painted or coated wood out of the fire.
• A correctly installed and used appliance should make very little smoke, and regularly seeing or smelling smoke may point to a problem.

Following those steps is mostly about air quality and the chimney, but less smoke in the room is also less for your eyes to deal with.

Candles and tabletop fires

• Trim wicks short before lighting so the flame stays small and steady.
• Keep candles out of drafts from vents, fans and doors, which make them smoke.
• Put them below eye level on a table rather than at face height on a shelf beside you.
• Snuff, don’t blow, at the end of the night to cut the smoke trail.
• If several are lit in a small room, crack a door to bring in fresh air.

Keeping the bottle away from the hearth

The label’s storage line reads Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). The stone ledge above a fireplace or the top of a wood stove can get well past the upper end of that range during a long evening, even if it doesn’t feel hot when you touch it in the morning. A side table across the room, a kitchen drawer or a bathroom cabinet keeps the bottle at room temperature, and how to store eye drops covers the rest of the house. If it ever does get warmed by mistake, look at it before using it: The eye drops have a naturally milky-brown appearance. This is normal and does not indicate a problem with the product. Its “Do not use” line reads: If this product changes color.

Using drops on a fireside evening

• Wash the soot and ash off your hands first; firewood and kindling leave a residue.
• Step away from the fire so heat and smoke aren’t on your face while you tilt your head back.
• Follow the label: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye.
• Keep the tip clean. The label says: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.
• Put the cap back on and return the bottle to its spot away from the hearth.

Quell’s Uses are 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, the same evaporation that radiant heat speeds up. For more on dry winter air in general, see winter heating and dry eyes.

When smoke irritation should be checked

Brief stinging that settles once you leave the smoke is common. Pain, changes in vision, or irritation that lingers are different. 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 lands in the eye from the fire, such as an ember or ash, is a reason to get medical help rather than reach for drops.

The Drug Facts page has the label in full if you want to read the warnings before the season starts.