Dry Eyes & Skiing

Hey all - this past summer I was diagnosed with a moderate/severe case of dry eye (pretty rare for my age). It sucks, esp. for skiing because the eyes stop producing natural tears. Anyway, have been doing a fair amount of touring the last couple of months, and the descents are brutal. Even with goggles on, it's like someone blowing air right in your face. I have to stop, regroup for some tears, and then continue skiing.

Doc has said I should try tight wrap sunglasses/eyewear under goggles. Anyway, wondering if anyone out there has experienced this, or have any solutions/suggestions.

Wish there were an icon for tears, I'd insert one here!

Much appreciated.

I had eye irritation from dry eyes, but it was mostly indoors from lack of blinking, so I had to train myself to blink; but wind/breeze are supposed to bring tears and they are not for you, I'd dry using eye drops.

I had laser surgery to correct an old injury from a metal sliver in the eye. It was causing a slipped rug effect on the cornea. Think getting poked in the eye with a stick every night in the middle of the night.

The surgery left me with dry eye syndrome in one eye for two years. I was told that was to be expected and it would last the rest of my days.

In winter, I used Panoptx glasses with clear lenses. The Panoptx have foam gaskets that seal the orbits. No more problem. In sunny weather, my Julbos w/ side shields were OK, not as good as the Panoptx, but you can get them in shades as well.

That and liberal use of artificial tears (I liked Refresh brand best) during the day, and the grease at night. That was already mentioned.

Good luck. Stay hydrated. The Refresh come in little sterile individual dispensers. I keep some in the FAK for flushing the occasional speck of dirt out of the eye.

drink lots of water

check and make sure you arent on medicines which make it worse: betablockers, diuretics, antihistamines, decongestants, depression meds and meds for BPH

they have lubricating ointments you could use if it is just one eye and you are willing to give up binocular vision

try different artificial tears, some have different consistencies

Have similar, but less-acute, problems in the same vein. My Julbo Colorados with side shields seal better than goggles (but skiing with googles works for me). For biking, I grabbed a cheap pair of prescription full-wrap glasses from Zenni Optical.

Any way you can seal up the goggles better? If you're not fogging, perhaps a little temporary electrical tape might seal up the vents?

Good luck - it's no fun!

Talk to your opto-doc about restasis. It took me two years but now no more dryeye and only use it 2-3 times a week now.