Why Your Eyes Get Crusty When You Sleep

We’ve all woken up in the morning to some crusty gunk in our eyes. It’s a natural function in our eyes and this crust has a purpose. But at the same time, it may also signal a problem.

We at Bright Side are also very curious as to why this gunk appears in our eyes, so we found out why it happens every time we wake up from sleeping. Let’s dig into this!

Why it commonly appears:

1. It’s because our eyes stay closed all night.

When you’re asleep, these crusts build up in the corners of your eyes, and sometimes even along the lash line. They appear because your eyes don’t get to lubricate themselves like they do whenever you blink.

2. It’s a necessary component of good eye health.

The eye discharge or “sleep” in your eyes can be wet and sticky or dry and crusty. They come from your eye’s tear film, which is secreted when you blink and that keeps your eyes lubricated. These are also your body’s defense mechanisms that protect your eyes from things like bacteria.

Why it leads to complications:

1. You have dry eyes.

Dry eyes commonly happen when you are looking at your phone or computer screen for a long period, even when you’re in an air-conditioned place. Your eyes don’t get enough of the tears that should be lubricating them and it might affect your eye crusts with a stinging feeling.

2. You’re not removing eye crust often enough.

When you wake up from sleeping, you might be in the routine of immediately checking your phone or maybe picking up your toothbrush, but you should actually be removing those boogers in your eyes first.

One important step to remove them the right way is to dampen a washcloth or use warm water, which will also effectively eliminate all the crusts.

3. Your eyes may be infected.

If you’re seeing these eye boogers often, this is not normal. Each person has a unique situation with this gunk. You probably want to call a doctor if you are not sick and see if there are signs of an eye infection.

Were you curious about how these things always appear in our eyes? Do you notice your eyes being crusty after you sleep? We wanna know your thoughts!