"But a mermaid has no tears,
and therefore she suffers so much more."
-- Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid
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| Self portrait (eye) 4-26-14 |
"This pure little drop from a pure little source was too sweet ..."
-- Charlotte Bronte, Villette
I have this condition called "chronic dry eye."
What it means is my eyes don't make enough tears to clean and lubricate my eyes.
You know how when your car runs out of windshield washer fluid, and you try to use the wipers anyway, but they just smear and spread the gunk and eventually stick to the glass and make the dirty windshield worse and worse?
Essentially, that's what's going on with my eyeballs.
Without tears, my eyelids just grind the grit and pollen and dust and bacteria and pollutants of daily living deeper into the surface of my eyes. They hurt.They itch. They're red. They're puffy. It sucks.
And so I am super grateful for a magic elixir called artificial tears. I squirt the contents of tiny little tubes into my thirsty, thirsty eyes all day long. I carry them in my pockets, I keep them by my bed and all over the house, in a continuous and ongoing effort to rinse away the grime and keep my peepers happy and healthy.
It's a good thing they make this stuff for eyes like mine.
The better to see you with, my dear.
