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When biking, my eyes get red. Guessing due to dryness.

Usually, people wear sunglasses or glasses to block out the wind. Wearing them didn't help. Still red. Maybe more red if I wasn't wearing them.

This was at nighttime. It was cold. What suggestions do you have to prevent this problem?

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    Voting to close under: "General health and medical advice is off-topic here; you should contact a qualified medical professional instead.". For what its worth, even in -10-15F with decent amounts of wind, my eyes still look normal.
    – Batman
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 21:32
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    Are you allergic to anything? It could be pollen or pollution getting in your eyes.
    – Davidmh
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 21:33
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    Glasses by themselves aren't great because they cause buffeting around the sides. Ideally your cycling glasses would be curved and relatively close to the skin, but that's pretty much impossible with any prescription lenses.
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Jun 3, 2017 at 5:41
  • What do you mean by "cold"? If I lived in Singapore, that might be 20C; if I lived in Calgary, it might be -20C.
    – David Richerby
    Commented Jun 9, 2019 at 8:08

3 Answers 3

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Several solutions:

  • Clear cycling glasses (which you've tried)

  • A helmet with a windscreen / windshield / visor that'll help keep the wind and the light from streetlamps and cars out of your eyes

  • Saline or "liquid tears" eyedrops (helps with dry eyes, in the "Eye Care" section of your pharmacy)

  • Liquid tears with a vasoconstrictor (helps hide the appearance of red eyes, e.g. Visine)

  • Liquid tears with antihistamine (helps with allergies, e.g. Visine-A)

  • An oral anti-histamine (assuming it's because of allergies)

I have no connection with companies selling liquid tears. I should note that many optometrists recommend against regular application of anything except pure saline drops because your eyes become habituated to the chemicals (especially vasoconstrictors) and this can make the situation worse.

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I have several pairs of sunglasses and find some work much better than others. If your glasses weren't tight to your face, you may just need to look for a different pair. When I wear my looser, farther-from-the-face glasses, my eyes go totally bloodshot. Completely cured when wearing close glasses.

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    – David Richerby
    Commented Jun 9, 2019 at 8:35
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Answer Try a visor/brim on your helmet.

I get dry eyes a lot more than I used to. I attribute this to loosing the visor off my helmet, allowing more turbulent air in the region of the eyes.

If you don't have a visor that suits, try a cycling cap, or at last resort a baseball cap underneath your helmet.

In my experience, I'm okay riding on cold frosty mornings until I stop at a red light where my glasses fog up. That requires me to pull the glasses down the nose a little to allow air movement to reduce the condensation/fog.

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