can slicing onions cause dry eye?

[sashad87]

hi,
does anyone know if there is any connection between slicing onions and dry eyes? my eyes have been healthy all my life but 2 months i started working at a restaurant and about a week ago, i noticed that my vision was getting a bit blurry. i slice about 20 onions a week.

thanks

[aga]

Very interesting:-) I do not know if there is a connection but onec I did an experiment with onions when I was taking Restasis. Restasis worked for about 5 minutes- I mean-for 5 minutes I had tearing and next 12 hours -no tears again. So I cut an onion and I had this same result- tearing for 5-6 minutes and dryness again. I gave up Restasis:-)

[olb]

Lots of famous cooks wear diver glasses for cutting onions. It helps a lot !

[Rebecca Petris]

I would guess it's the other way around: Not that onions caused dry eye but that if you had "subclinical" dry eye, i.e. some underlying mild dry eye but no symptoms, onions could bother you a lot more than they would the average person.

I wear a special kind of contact that covers almost my whole eye and I never notice onions. Then once in a long while I'll chop a few onions for a batch of chili when I'm not wearing my lenses. YOWCH!

Try the appropriately named Onion Goggles (google it). :)