FAO york310

[cupid04]

I hope you dont mind me talking to you. Blame sqad [he must have been on
something, because he referred to you as york311, that's why it's taken so long to track you down.] I went to the opticians last week because I needed
new reading glasses. I mentioned to the optician that I sometimes wake and
my face is wet. [I haven't been crying]. He said I could be sleeping with my
eyes partially open. A few other abers said it had happened to people they know. But I just wondered is it a commomn occurrence?
//squad wrote never heard of such a thing! Can one lachrymate so much
that it's all over your face? I doubt it. York311...where are you when we need you.// Not trying to get sqad in trouble, I think he was just taking the proverbial. Excuse my rambling. Cupid04.

[237SJ]

I`m not so sure that your eyes water when you sleep with them partially open. When my Dad was on life support his eyes were partially open (to the point where I could see his iris) but his eyes didn`t water. When I sleep on my break at work (a couple of hours) with my eyes closed, they water like hell because the atmosphere is so dry.

[york310]

Hi Cupid04,

It seems very unusual that you would have such excessive tearing whilst sleeping that your face would be so wet on waking? Usually if you sleep with your eyes partially you are more likely to get an evaporative effect of the tears causing dry eye symptoms. These symptoms are usually grittyness and blurring on waking with sometimes watering as a reflex action to relubricate the ocular surface. These reflex tears are usually more watery than normal tears and can generally overflow. This can often be seen by cold/wind stimulation in dry eyes suffererers.

In your case I suppose your head position whilst sleeping could let the tears flow away from the natural drainage of the tear duct and the overflow would be down the side of your cheek touching your pillow.

Although as Sqad says ' could one lacrimation that much?'.

Do you have excessive tearing at any other times?
Any other dry eye symptoms such as intermittent blurring, grittiness, stinging etc?
Have you tried any ocular lubricants before sleeping such as Lacrilube to see if this helps?
What did your optician say about the health of your eyes and tear production and their quality?
The main question is do you sleep with your eyes partially open? Has anybody told you this before?

[Eve]

Random thought but can people cry (maybe moreso well up maybe?) while asleep, say while dreaming, which could cause a wetter face on waking?

Is the wetness definitely from your eyes?

[cupid04]

last year I had a nasty eye infection [corneal ulcer-herpes zoster] The doctor
said it could have been something I had has a child and lain dormant] Perhaps
he said I could be run down [was under a lot of stress at the time because my
husband has been seriously ill. I feel that my eyesight has deteriorated rather
quickly since then. The problem I have with tears at night is only once or
twice a week[not every night]. The optician has done full examination and says
there is nothing to worry about. But it is less than 18 months since I had my
last eye test. My normal glasses for short -sightedness have got better, but my reading glasses I needed stronger. Even with my reading glasses it takes
me a long time to focus. I do have dry gritty eyes especially first thing in the
morning and the optician has given me some drops [called blink]. I haven't
tried them yet, but I will.My doctor also says I am border-line diabetic because
of high blood pressure. I'm on three different medications for that. I hope
you can make head or tail of this as I'm not very good at explaining things.
Thankyou for your previous reply. Will wait to hear from you. Cupid04.

[cupid04]

Thankyou for your reply jenna1978. I suppose I could be crying whilst having
a sad dream. Cant think what else would make my face wet. I wasn't sweating.
Anything else would be the other end, LOL!