Can your sleep ducts get clogged?

June 27, 2022 6:36 AM

You know how you wake up with sleep in your eyes? That stuff presumably comes out of some duct, right? Well I think I have a clog in that duct. Is that a thing? How do I fix it or what do I do?

So I have something going on in the inner corner of my eye for a few days now. Like right at the edge on the very inside corner. It hurts a little if I touch it and it feels like there's a little tiny pebble stuck in there...like the hurt is the the pressing of this little pebble into the eye skin stuff.

I assume this is a little piece of sleep that's stuck in there. In fact, it feels pretty much like you rubbed your eye and rubbed in a little piece of sleep except the sleep doesn't then move out of the eye. It just stays in there because it's stuck on the inside.

There is nothing visibly wrong with the eye. It is not swollen or anything. This thing, whatever it is, is definitely worse upon waking and can get better over the course of a few hours.

This has happened before and it resolves itself, though often coming back several times over weeks. Presumably it will eventually resolve itself this time, but how can i make it resolve faster and what is it?

posted by If only I had a penguin... to Health & Fitness (13 answers total)

Sleep is just the dried stuff that comes from your tears/eye fluid, so it sounds like your tear duct is blocked? Lots of advice via google for dealing with a blocked tear duct eg. here and also in this recent thread, though I think that was more about what to do when the initial steps haven't worked.
posted by penguin pie at 6:42 AM on June 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

A warm compress (like, a washcloth soaked in warm but not painfully hot water) helps me with stuff like this. If it continues though it is probably worth talking to a doctor about it - this could be a symptom of something else (an infection, allergies, something like that).
posted by mskyle at 6:48 AM on June 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

I deal with similar issues occasionally (styes and whatnot). Warm compresses definitely help, as does obsessively cleaning my lids while showering. There are OTC omega-3 supplements that can promote tear production and keep things moving along, too. They gave me a sample last time and it worked pretty well - a little too well if memory serves. My eyes felt like they were watering constantly.
posted by jquinby at 6:54 AM on June 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

It does sound like a clogged tear duct. If yours is recurrent, you might have an atypical tear composition (some people have low-fat tears, for instance, so their eyes get dry faster), or a congenital difference in shape in that duct like a little narrow area that makes it more prone to clogging.

I'd try:
Warm compresses
Warm saline rinse (mix sea salt and clean warm water in a clean cup so it's roughly the same salinity as tears, and trickle it into your eye, maybe in the shower)
Gently massage the skin near your eye (not your mucous membrane to prevent infection - just the skin), pressing up so whatever's in the duct moves up towards the hole
Saline eye drops that will trickle down into the hole and maybe dissolve the pebble

Going forward, wash your eyelids and lashes with mild soap every day, and anything else that goes near your eyes (glasses, fingers, etc) to prevent infection / styes.
And maybe drink more water to help keep your tears wet.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 6:55 AM on June 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

Sounds like a Chalazion. I get them all the time, in fact I have one right now. They're annoying as hell.

Hot compress a few times a day.
Massage it with your finger. Close the lid and gently rub the pad of your finger over the bump. Do this a few times a day.

Not to scare you, because all but one of my (dozens?) of them have gone away on their own, but I had to have one lanced by a doctor once and it was... not fun. So, compress and massage.
posted by bondcliff at 7:27 AM on June 27, 2022

While it is likely nothing (as most posters have said), go talk to your optometrist. There are other things, such as map-dot-fingerprint dystrophy that are especially evident after waking from sleep and can cause that sensation of grit in the eye/foreign object in the eye. Until then, use whatever liquid tears/soothing eye drops you can to ease the sense of irritation and lubricate the eye.
posted by sardonyx at 8:08 AM on June 27, 2022

It could also be a very mild corneal abrasion.
posted by sardonyx at 8:09 AM on June 27, 2022

Try warm moist towels over your eyes for 5-10 minutes at a time to open up the ducts. If it doesn't improve in a few days you should see an eye doctor.
posted by kschang at 8:18 AM on June 27, 2022

Response by poster: For those suggesting corneal abrasion and "map-got-fingerprint dystrophy", I've actually seen my ophthalmologist since this started happening. though of course I forgot to mention it. Are those things the ophthalmologist would have seen even if I didn't mention it and did not at that time have the little piece of something feeling by my eye (and just to be clear, it is BY my eye, not in my eye. Like it's in the flesh/skin right beside the eye, not the eyeball itself.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:43 AM on June 27, 2022

If it's not in the eye, but by the eye, then don't worry about the things I mentioned. And yes they are absolutely thing that your doctor would have pointed out. But it absolutely wouldn't hurt to call their office, describe your symptoms and ask them if they think an appointment would be helpful. Until then, drops and warm wet washcloths.
posted by sardonyx at 9:04 AM on June 27, 2022

It's probably a stye or chalazion or clogged tear duct. But this is your eye, I wouldn't f*ck around, I'd make an appointment with your ophthalmologist.
posted by radioamy at 11:26 AM on June 27, 2022

Seconding chalazion. If you turn your eyelid inside out near where the sensation is, you may be able to see it, like an internal pimple on the inner surface of your eyelid. If it's a chalazion, then in my experience they tend to also evolve like pimples, starting out as generic redness and swelling, then "pointing" and developing a more localized white head that can pop.

As a guilty confession, I have lanced these myself in the past using those sterile skin-prick lancets from the drugstore, with no ill effects-- but I'm sure the medically responsible course of action would be to see a dermatologist/ ophthalmalogist.
posted by Bardolph at 1:27 PM on June 27, 2022

I am an ophthalmologist. IANYD, TINMA, etc.

Lots of incorrect info here.

Please speak to your ophthalmologist about this. They may even be able to give you advice with a quick phone call rather than a separate in-person visit.

An aside: Bardolph, your comment is suggestive of wildly inappropriate and dangerous advice. Good lord.
posted by aquamvidam at 7:53 PM on June 27, 2022 [3 favorites]