Do your eyes pop?

March 16, 2005 3:37 PM

Me and my boyfriend have discovered a strange thing - those little bobbles on the inside corners of your eyes will "pop" sometimes. Obviously everyone has the bobbles, but do yours "pop"?

I think of it as more of a clicking, but the boyfriend refers to it as popping. My eyes will only do this sometimes, but his always will. The actual question: Does anyone else have this, and/or know what it is and why it happens?

posted by Lotto to health & fitness (28 comments total)

Arg sorry: forgot to mention that the popping/clicking is a result of being pressed with a finger, not just a random occurance.
posted by Lotto at 3:41 PM on March 16, 2005

yeah, I did it just now. you're just pressing air out of a cavity in your ear socket.
posted by mcsweetie at 3:43 PM on March 16, 2005

um..no!

(What means bobble? Is that the meaty chunk on the nose side (also known as the medial canthus?)

Or do you mean something popping in a zit-like fashion?
posted by zerokey at 3:46 PM on March 16, 2005

I take that back. Mine just popped. (eww! cool!)
posted by zerokey at 3:47 PM on March 16, 2005

try not to pop your eyes too much because you might make yourself colorblind.

not really, but your fingers are probably filthy and should not be anywhere near your eyes!
posted by mcsweetie at 3:53 PM on March 16, 2005

why did I say ear socket? I meant eye socket! and I'll stop posting now.
posted by mcsweetie at 3:53 PM on March 16, 2005

Yes, mine pop. It can be very annoying because I like to keep on pressing it until the popping noise goes away. Sometimes it stays no matter how many times I press it, sometimes it goes away after I press it once. I have always wondered as to the exact reason of why this happens. It sounds like there is air stuck somewhere, and pressing it moves the air. My theory is that air is caught in the same channel as tear-drops go through.
posted by Sonic_Molson at 3:55 PM on March 16, 2005

Yeah, mine have always done this, and I second Sonic_Molson's theory (but don't have his problem).
posted by Aknaton at 4:00 PM on March 16, 2005

when i blow my nose it happens--is that what you mean?

and what mcsweet said : >
posted by amberglow at 4:07 PM on March 16, 2005

I can't get mine to pop at all! I think I might have made my eyes all red, though.



I just washed my hands.
posted by Specklet at 4:16 PM on March 16, 2005

If I hold my nose closed and keep my mouth closed and try to blow air out I can get it to come out of my left eye. I suspect it is coming out of the medial canthus. I can open and close my eye and hear it stop and start.
posted by darkmatter at 4:21 PM on March 16, 2005

.
posted by ori at 4:22 PM on March 16, 2005

they appear to be connected to the nasal cavity via the nasolacrimal duct
posted by nobodyyouknow at 4:35 PM on March 16, 2005

That little "bobble" is a tear drain. It connects to your eustachian tube, as said above. Keep your fingers out of your eyes. The eustachian tube connects to the back of your throat; it helps equalize the pressure in your inner ear as well as handle fluid overflow. The major tear duct in the eye is at the outer corner. Did I mention that you should keep your fingers out of your eyes? :-)
posted by reflecked at 5:12 PM on March 16, 2005

Keep your fingers out of your eyes.

Is it ok to shove a pencil in this "bobble thingy"? I ask because I've done it 20 or 30 times and each morning after I've had to go to the emergency room. Are the two related?
posted by darkmatter at 5:27 PM on March 16, 2005

lol! : >
posted by amberglow at 5:51 PM on March 16, 2005

my left one does, but not the right.
posted by mai at 6:07 PM on March 16, 2005

my theory is that the tears of angels leave tiny potpourri balloons in my eyes when they pass over my house at night.
posted by punkbitch at 6:20 PM on March 16, 2005

Ummm. Cold milk and fig newtons. Ummm good.

Oh shit. have I endangered this thread?

Is it going to be deleted?
posted by darkmatter at 6:54 PM on March 16, 2005

I used to know this lady who when she was really stuffed up and snotty and congested she could hold her nose and blow you know like to equalize the pressure when you're swimming and stuff and anyway if she did that when she was all snuffleupagussed then tears would squirt out of her little bobbles onto her face and they'd fly a few inches and it was totally gross and also awesome and I just betcha it's the same principle at work as with your popping bobbles.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:10 PM on March 16, 2005

Waaah! Mine don't pop, but my sinuses are weird.

Oh, and darkmatter, hush up. I can't get decent Fig Newtons in Canada.
posted by deborah at 9:29 PM on March 16, 2005

Mine don't pop, but I can often get air to flow out, as described above.

I believe you're mistaken about the tear duct running to the eustacion tube. I believe it runs into the nasal cavity, hence you blow your nose when you've been crying.

Other wierdness: sometimes I can suck air from my nasal cavity into my mouth through a passage in the roof of my mouth. It tickles!
posted by Goofyy at 11:56 PM on March 16, 2005

I have never experienced the popping thing, nor can I get air to come out of my eyes, but, oddly, lately I have noticed that sometimes when I sneeze there are small droplets on the inside of the lenses of my glasses...hmmm.
posted by wsg at 1:13 AM on March 17, 2005

Gooffyy's right. :-) Don't stick anything larger than your elbow in your bobble.
posted by reflecked at 2:10 AM on March 17, 2005

If I hold my nose closed and keep my mouth closed and try to blow air out I can get it to come out of my left eye. I suspect it is coming out of the medial canthus. I can open and close my eye and hear it stop and start.

I can do that too!

/stops feeling like a freak of nature.
posted by Navek Rednam at 2:39 AM on March 17, 2005

I still don't know what bubbles you guys are talking about? Where?? I'm so confused......
posted by eas98 at 7:49 AM on March 17, 2005

You might be able to squirt milk through them, too. Ewwww. Some sick buddy will probably post a link to the image of the Guiness record-holder for milk-squirting distance. Ugh.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:38 AM on March 17, 2005

Bobbles, eas98, not bubbles. No wonder you're confused.
posted by spaghetti at 11:13 PM on March 17, 2005