I have dry eyes. Even had an ophthalmologist once officially diagnose me.
They're even drier now, ten or so years later, the condition made worse by exposure to intense light (sun, computer screen) for too long a time. Not caring for the sensation, and now also knowing that dry eyes can accelerate the progression of presbyopia (age-related farsightedness), I've tried several remedies to produce more moisture in my eyes.
Once, I tried smearing coconut oil on my eyelids. A while later, my eyeballs grew sore. At first I thought it must have been a coincidence. I'd been on the computer too long or something.
But after doing this for several days, then stopping, the conclusion was undeniable: coconut oil, for some weird reason, hurt my eyes. Even when just applied to my eyelids.
I cast around for other ideas. Someone suggested castor oil, not just on the eyelids, but actually in the eyes. She'd been healed from glaucoma and had her vision improved by this remedy.
A search online, and I found that, indeed, castor oil applied to the eyes can help with a variety of eye conditions - including dry eyes.
The experiment began.
I started putting a drop of castor oil into each eye right before going to sleep. I did not like the stickiness of it. At. All. But, I continued for a week.
It didn't help.
Time went by. A couple of years, actually. I badly strained my eyes, which always makes my eyes drier than ever. When I still hadn't recovered several months later, I thought, well, what if I just apply castor oil to my eyelids?
I began to do so. Three times a day. My eyes stayed moist.
And the pain in my eyes continued. And continued.
Why were my eyes taking so long to heal from the strain? Yes, I'd done a number on them a few months earlier, but, this bad? Really? I began to despair of my eyes ever returning to normal.
And then, I remembered the coconut oil.
Putting coconut oil on my eyelids had made them sore. For all the purported miraculous power of castor oil, what if it was exacerbating the pain in my eyes, making them feel more strained when in actuality the inflammation was a reaction to the oil?
So, I decided to conduct another experiment. I stopped smearing castor oil on my eyelids.
And my eyes stopped feeling sore.
On the one hand, I was greatly relieved. My eye strain was much further along in its healing than the castor oil had led me to believe.
On the other hand...I wanted to kick myself six ways from Sunday.
Castor oil in and around the eyes may not bother most people. But it (and other oils), for whatever odd reason, bothers me. Not anywhere else on my body. Anywhere else, neither coconut nor castor oil causes any problem.
But, my eyes despise them.
How I treat my dry eyes now.
I haven't used either homemade or commercial eye drops in years. I no longer apply anything to my eyelids. Yet, I manage to keep my eyes moist for most of the day.
Without spending a dime.
How do I do it? Every few minutes, I squeeze my eyes shut. Hard. For several seconds. Sometimes I need to do this two or three consecutive times. But it produces tears.
And my eyes are comfortable. And that makes me happy.
