Three efficient home remedies for dry eye

The tissues in front of the eye—the cornea—are the most sensitive anywhere in the body for the obvious reason that were they to be damaged by a foreign body, it might seriously impair one's vision. The pain caused by eye grit is thus of such intensity that it requires the immediate removal of the offending object. There are a variety of methods of achieving this.

The tongue: Mr S. J. Green from Swansea recalls: 'My mother took my head in her hands, telling me to hold my head back. She then pulled up my eyelids and with her tongue licked over the ball of my eye, removing the offending piece of grit.' This is a very good home remedies for dry eye.

Castor oil: Mrs Cynthia Castellan from Stafford¬shire comments: 'When the children had a sand¬pit, I always kept castor oil handy for floating out sand in the eyes — also a bottle of witchhazel to soothe them afterwards (diluted on damp cotton-wool).'

Hair: This remedy comes from Mr Bill Annable from Nottinghamshire: 'Stand in front of the patient, remove from your head a long, strong hair. If you have not one borrow one from your patient or someone else close by as the hair must be strong. Make a loop with the hair. Hold the loop between the thumb and forefinger of the hand you are to use. The loop should ideally be three-eighths of an inch or less sticking out from the thumb and forefinger. With the thumb of the other hand lift or lower the eyelid in question. Ask the patient to look in the direction that exposes the debris. Let the loop or hair manoeuvre or scoop the debris away. When you have done this a few times, the debris is out in seconds. The hair does not irritate the eye and the patient has no feeling that something is being poked into the eye.'