Why you should never put cucumber in your eyes.
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What can you put on your eyes to soothe them if they are irritated?
When your eyes are burning and irritated, it’s time to take action. Whether you’re dealing with an allergy attack or a serious case of dry eye, there are many options available to help soothe your eyeballs. With all the products on the market, it can be hard to figure out which one is right for you—sometimes it just depends on what you have lying around the house! So before you reach for the cucumber slices (seriously don’t do this), consider trying these cheap and easy remedies made from ingredients found in a kitchen cupboard:
“I want my eyes to feel better!”
How do you use these items on your eyes when they are feeling dry, tired or irritated?
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Despite the many images suggesting that putting cucumbers on your eyes is a very effective home remedy for eye irritation, it is not and can even be harmful to your health.
Oops! Click Regenerate Content below to try generating this section again.We’ve all been there: after a long night, you’re about to take off your contacts for the day and you realize that you’re out of solution. So you head to the fridge and grab a slice of cold cucumber, right?
WRONG.
Cucumbers are not a substitute for eye drops. While they may feel soothing at first, they can actually lead to red, puffy eyes and irritation. And nobody wants that!
Here are some things that you CAN put on your eyes when they’re burning:
-Cold compresses—try a damp washcloth and keep it in the freezer
-Tea bags—let them steep in hot water then let cool until warm, then place on closed eyelids
-Milk—use whole milk and soak cotton balls in it
-Rose water—store-bought rose water is great for soothing dry or irritated eyes. Soak cotton balls in it and keep them in the fridge
You’ve seen it in the movies, but that doesn’t mean you should do it. Putting cucumbers on your eyes is the easiest way to spread bacteria and, eventually, get pink eye.
Instead of using a cucumber, here are some other things you can put on your eyes to soothe them when they’re burning:
-Fingerless gloves
-A pair of ear muffs
-A small pillow
-Cheese curds (or any cheese)
When your eyes are burning, it’s tempting to reach for the nearest vegetable to soothe them. But that vegetable should never be cucumber.
There are many reasons why you shouldn’t put cucumber on your eyes, but the most important ones have to do with bacteria and salmonella. Most vegetables aren’t clean before they’re sliced open, and cucumbers are no exception. Even if you’re slicing it with a clean knife, the inside of the cucumber is contaminated by dirt and bacteria from the outside of the vegetable. When you place that on your eyes, you’re only making the situation worse because you’re letting those contaminants get into a very sensitive area of your body.
Put down that cucumber and reach for one of these instead:
Hey there!
We know you’re here because your eyes are burning and you have cucumbers in your fridge, so it’s only natural that you’d want to use them as a cooling compress. Don’t do it!
Not only is the cucumber not going to provide that soothing relief you’re hoping for, it could actually make the problem worse.
That’s because the cucumber has a high water content: about 95% of its makeup is water. So when you put a slice of cucumber on your eyes, it releases that moisture… onto your eyes. You can just see where this is going…
Irritated eyes are often dry eyes, so the last thing they need is more moisture from water-filled cucumbers. Instead, try these methods to get rid of that burn:
– Use cold compresses that are filled with air (like frozen peas!) instead of water
– Put a few drops of artificial tears into the eye to lubricate it and give it some much-needed relief.
It’s a familiar scenario: you’re in the kitchen, chopping up some cucumbers for a salad or whatever. You make it through half of the cucumbers before realizing that your eyes are burning from the fumes. So you make your way over to the fridge and grab a slice of cucumber and think, “ah, this will soothe my eyes.”
But here’s the thing: it won’t. It might feel cool and refreshing, but that feeling is only temporary, and it’s not going to actually help your eyes (and then what happens when you run out of cucumbers?!).
It turns out that there are a lot more interesting things you can put on your eyes to soothe them than plain old cucumbers (not to mention safer things—what if someone else grabs that cucumber slice? Plus, who knows where it’s been?)
Here are just a few items you might have lying around the house (or in your purse) that you can use instead of cucumber slices if you find yourself with burning eyes:
-Eyedrops
-Tea bags
-Milk
-Cucumber-scented lotion
Do you know what to do when your eyes are burning?
While most of us have heard that putting cucumbers on your eyes can help soothe them, cucumbers aren’t actually the best solution. Here we’ll go through some of the best ways to soothe your eyes when they’re sore.
Cucumbers have been a go-to for eye relief for many years. But why, exactly, should you avoid putting cucumbers on your eyes?
The answer lies in the properties of cucumbers themselves. Cucumbers are mainly comprised of water, which actually makes them a poor choice for soothing irritated eyes. You see, water is only effective when it is able to retain its heat (or cold). And because cucumbers are made up of so much water, they tend to lose their temperature quickly and will not provide lasting relief to your tired peepers.
What’s more, cucumbers contain tannins that can be highly irritating to sensitive eyes. The irritation caused by these tannins can actually exacerbate the discomfort you are already experiencing and cause more redness, swelling and pain to develop.
Your best bet? Reach for a bag of frozen peas or corn. The peas or corn will keep their cool longer than cucumbers and won’t cause any further irritation to your already-sensitive eyes.
