Sleep crusts: what you didn't know about 

Do you have bad allergies?

Had that happen last year a few times due to an allergic response to medication, definitely scary--and quite an ordeal to de-crust one's eyes fully when completely caked in thick layers.

I had that many times as a ten year old. Used to have to walk blind to the bathroom and soak it off. My eye was making so much sleep gunk 24/7 it affected my vision. Lasted months. Still no idea what it was, wasn't contagious, no additional inflammation, optometrist and doc put it down to maybe a mystery virus.

I had that happen as a kid. I had pink eye so I think it was mostly discharge. That was an experience lol. Recently had it happen due to a virus :(

@@tHebUm18 I think that happened to my mom too. Her eye problem was misdiagnosed and the meds made it worse, I remember her waking up with her eyes glued shut a couple times.

Huh, interesting. I also referred to them as eye boogers lol

in quebec we call them " crotte d'œil", the 'same' name that we call boogers "crotte de nez". but if u were to only say "crotte" that would literally mean poop. which i now realize is kinda gross hahah

@@emmi5581 LOL I mean, it IS the sht that crusts on you eyelids 😂

You're so right, I've never heard of it being called "sand" until just now lol. I think the Chinese word, "yanshi" has a similar meaning. It's straightforward and accurate!

We call it eye boogers too. Who the heck is laughing at you??

born in 99% average rate humidity next to beach and I'll get eye crusts if I'm up for 20 hrs or 30 hrs without washing my eyes

Interesting. Curious now. Wonder if any studies have been done on it.

Whoahhhh, you might be on to something… I’ve never been to Egypt, but I was born/raised in the desert areas of chihuahua MX and now I live in a desert area of the USA. I’ve almost never gotten “sleep crusts” in the morning in my life, except for very rare occasions. Now I’m going to start asking everyone about it in my local area! 😂❤

@@glorygloryholeallelujah I used to live in Houston and I got them every day basically

i live in the bay area in california and never really get eye crusts ever! the climate here is not very dry, but not very humid - it’s like mediterranean climate

Yes, he did. I was surprised that they took my blood pressure at the beginning of each dental visit. I was always good but I would imagine they sent a few folks away with a stern suggestion that they seek medical aide asap.

Woah!

The optometrist can see blood sugar levels in our eyes?? Why don't the family doctors use this technique??

@@MoonPhaze5 He said he didn't know what was wrong but he could tell from examining my eyes that I was in dire need of emergency medical care.

@daddynunya9045 wow. 😨

wait that's so cute omg 🥺💕

Me too.

Are you german by any chance?

I never knew that is where “Mr Sandman” came from lol

Sounds painful.

My cat will sit and let me get rid of his eye boogies every time I tell him "You've got some gunk in there."🙂

If I see a cat or dog with eye gunk, I HAVE to clean it. My childhood cat had them as well as regular boogers constantly, so I probably developed the habit from him. He didn’t care for me cleaning them, especially the stubborn nose boogers. 😅 Now it doesn’t matter whose animal it is or why the gunk is there, I MUST and WILL lovingly clean their eyes. 😂

Same! Call my dogs eye boogers haha or crusties

In Hawaiian we call it makapiapia. maka is eye. standing for eye dirt or eye bugger.

We call them eye boogers in my house .

This was the same for me too lol

I agree 100%!! I'll never understand why so many content creators feel the need to blast "background" music to the point it's difficult to understand them.

Agreed!

Honestly this!

I also had BP in mid March 2020 (just as Covid was hitting North America hard). I had the same problem, except on the left side of the face. Not being able to close my eye fully was brutal and like you, I had issues with it. Was hard to shower, and I tried to make sure that I kept myself and my open eye as hydrated as I reasonably could without overdoing it. And like you, I was also concerned that this may have an impact on my overall vision as time went on. Thankfully it didn't, but man, I wouldn't want to go through that again. Horrible feeling to have to live with when there's no creams or ointments or pills to make it go away.

I had facial palsy on my left face caused by Shingles. It was called Ramsay Hunt syndrome.

I had to tape my eye shut to sleep. Anyone else or just me?

Technically you could manually blink by pulling the eyelids with your fingers

@@DogDogGodFog yup had to use my fingers to manually blink my eye and tape it shut at night. Sometimes I would forget to do this and my eye would get dangerously dry. Had to constantly do eye drops too. So glad I'm better and I was you well too!

Take a syringe, remove the needle and shoot some water, see if that would get the rest of it out

Stys under the lids are caused by plugged glands. I’ve had stys surgically removed from my eyelids. Hot compresses can be a preventative measure to prevent them from forming.

I had a fly that got in my eye and I did not know it for months till I went to the medical doctor and he got out the fly. I worked in a chicken house, and often the flies were so bad we would spray the egg packing room a lot and then go in the laying area and look of any birds that are dead and on the egg belts and pull them out. By the time were were done with that, the flies we sprayed for in the egg packing room, would all be dead or almost dead. Then we could work in there in peace and open the window to air it out as well. Well what happened was as I came out of the laying area, and fly flew at my eye and that is how it got in there. I did not know it at the time and my eye watered got red and irritated but I figured it was just left over fly spray from one of them flying at me. But it was the whole fly stuck in the corner of my eye when the doctor found it. Used a q-tip with some, I assume, Vaseline on the tip and it was sticky enough to stick to the dead fly.

@@tableseven8133 what did it smell like? 😳

@@zakimuharam2978 That I don't recall but I'd say what ever puss smells like, if there was any smell at all...

In German, we also call it 'Schlaf' which means 'sleep'. And I also find it kinda neutral in a positive way. Now I learned an easy way to remember an english word for it. Thanks. 😊

Boogers doesn't feel nasty to me because I have chronic nasal congestion (though it's managed now) lol

@@sourgreendolly7685 Hahaha! Okay. You are important! Sorry about that.

@@Sarah20048 I find it interesting that there is this connection between German and America (in the USA). Did you know that at one point, German almost became the language of the USA instead of English? I just wanted to let you know that you're welcome.

the word sleep may be passive, but its already in use by another premise. if you just say sleep i'll think youre talking about unconscious resting. everyone knows what youre talking about when you say eye gunk/boogers. i prefer language to be accurate rather than pleasant.

Omg I'm not the only one?? I just thought my family was weird with the cute names for stuff lol

@@azazellon Mine too!

Thank you for citing the medically correct term "sleepies".

ayyy sleepies crew represent lol I wonder if there's any geographical/generational component to the different terms... my Grandmother was from mississippi and my ma was born and raised there in the mid 40s to early 50s

@@AGwolf2097 My gram's from Baltimore and we called em sleepies or crusties

Wow! I have all these issues too and couldn't work out why my eyes are so dry and crusty! Thank you, it now makes sense x

Leaky guy is a pseudo science term, do you waste money on naturopathy/chiropractor? Your being scammed bud

@@JamesMadisonsSpiritAnimal you’re an idiot . Everything the commenter mentioned were all real medical conditions. I have them as well and my functional medicine Doctor, yes an MD taught me about how to remedy the above conditions . The only people getting scammed are those who solely rely on regular doctors who are puppets for the pharmaceutical industry.

@@JamesMadisonsSpiritAnimal Crawl back to your cave.

A traditional Western medicine doctor can diagnose a leaky gut. This diagnosis is not pseudo science.

I bet you see a lot of that, poor animals 😔

Thanks for including rats without adding a negative spin to it. : ) (Rattie parent here, Love My Rats 😊)

@@lilyanne7528 Rats are fantastic! There's a reason I work with them for a job. 🥰

I swear I read this comment right as he said the word

Groannnnn but at the same time...👍🏻😁👍🏻

Cute! I have had hamsters that would get them, but no buddy to rub them off except me and a wet q-tip!

@@TheVermilliaFamily I’ve had some of the most personable chill hamsters when I was younger. My 1st Hamster was right b4 I started kindergarten. I think the pet-store guy lied to my mom about his age bc she said he only lived a year! Then my moms friend picked me up from school & when I got home they lied to me & told me “Hamster” metamorphosized! 😅 Wow I was quite intrigued. I think 1 or 2nd grade I came home from school to find he he metamorphosized again into an entirely different Hamster that grew rather large - excuse me but just being honest- Testicles😅 sooo I caught on after a year or so & I have to admit that was one Lie I def let my Mom slide with 😂 and that hamster lived like 5 years!

Oh man. But cats have sandpaper tongues that are really sharp. Something like that shouldn't go near any eye.

@@DogDogGodFog ah that’s why they did such a good job at tactfully cleaning the dogs eye crud

I'm also from Chicago and have never heard the reference "sleep seeds." Rather ppl would m say get the "sleep" out of your eyes or "crust." Kept it pretty simple. ;)

I grew up in the Northeast (USA) and we called them "Sleepy Seeds"

Everybody here is talking about how they called them "sand" or "eye boogers" or "sleep seeds" I was told that they were eggs that flies laid and they would hatch into maggots and burrow into my eye if I didn't wipe them out, it took me till I was 10 to realize that wasn't true I still subconsciously make sure there isn't any rheum there

@@Hole313 same here

Did you still have eyelashes when you woke up 😮?

@Nilly K yes. This happened about 9 years ago but if I lost any, I lost a few. The crusts either naturally fell off in my sleep or I rubbed them off.

One year I had some GNARLY allergies. I had to physically peel my eyelids apart when I woke up because of all the gunk for weeks. Nothing like it has happened since, but I worry about it every time spring comes around. :S

​@problemsfan4132 also happened to me in my childhood but never happened again (im much older now) it was due to allergies and I had to reopen them with warm water 😢😂

Yes, I remember the same thing. Waking up and eye being completely crusted shut. It would hurt like crazy trying to get it all off. Weird it only happened when I was young.

Warm, wet washcloth is the gentlest way to remove them. The crusty parts can scratch your skin if you try to dry-finger them away. And pull out lashes. It's such a freaky feeling. Especially a small child the first time it happens. Since having sinus-reeming surgery all my upper respiratory issues have lessened HUGELY. Ears, tonsils, sinuses, throat, even eyes are less prone to infection. And the scent-induces headaches (oh, my lord! Instant and 4-5 days of auras, nausea, and pain, in a quiet dark room, unable to function) have vanished. My sister waited until they did it with lasers. I had the old hammer and chisel. Lots of bone spurs (in my sinuses!?!).

@@Paul-fq4mmright this is the only time i’ve seen people talk abt it When i was rly young my right eye would get glued shut and it would hurt to take the crusts off and then it just randomly stopped??

Yea same!! I thought I would never be able to see again

That's what we call it too in my family, we are from the Midwest in the States

We call it sleepy dust

Never heard it called just 'sleep' always 'sleepy dust'

It’s the same in my part of Canada.

Yep my entire family call it sleep and I live in the UK

tire particles what??? synthetic chemicals, fabric softener exhaust, vape-vapor, all the makeup and vanity products

@@zerpblerd5966 Where do you think all that rubber goes when you drive around? It goes into the air as very fine particles. Fabric softeners bother me so much that I do not walk downwind of a laundry. There is so little vaping going on around me to bother about. I do NOT wear make up. "Synthetic" chemicals," everything is a chemical, not just the artificial byproducts of what passes for us as a "civilized" life. No one is truly immune to a substance called urushiol and it is a naturally occurring skin irritant, then there are hornet stings, wasp stings, bee stings, bull nettle...

@@ManuelGarcia-ww7gj synthetic

@@zerpblerd5966 Do you really think that you have made an argument with a single word? EVERYTHING around you is a chemical of one kind or the other. You can be and likely are, allergic to many of them, most of them naturally occurring. So, forget your "back to nature" BS.

Could be that there's more dust and fine particles in the area. Climate and weather plays a massive role in what type of stuff gets in your eye 🤷

I call them eye crusties too.

You should not be scraping it off. That is way too harsh for such delicate body parts. You would be better off washing it off with water. That works really well without damaging and it cleans really well.

Sorry but it is still gross 😂 boogers isn't something most people want close to their eyes 😂😂😂 but there's no definitive and correct term for it except the scientific one so 🤷

EYE CEMENT 😂😂😂

This is super interesting. Thanks for sharing your perspective!

I have chronic dryness from year-round allergies and medication that causes it too. I can't go a day without my artificial tears. Question- You ever hear yourself blinking because of the dryness? I get it if I forget them sometimes, it's kinda disturbing lol

@@sourgreendolly7685 I DO hear the blinks! And sometimes little bubble-popping noises.😁👍🖐

My Aunt has always had Thyroid issues that affected her eyes. Additionally, she’s recently been properly diagnosed with Sjogren’s & realized the destruction Sjogren’s has been doing to her body & eyes over the last 30 years. Also explains why the thyroid related treatments for her eyes weren’t really effective.

@@laulio7823 The damage that it does to your body is IMMENSE! It's one of the worst things, because it is SO hidden. I was sick my whole life, not diagnosed for 63 yrs when kidneys nearly failed. Can't believe what all I've been thru since diagnosis and what all we've found that has gone wrong. Silent and invisible.

@@janbounds911 I don’t have Sjogren’s but am still able to really empathize with you on so many levels. I was diagnosed with a severe case of Tourette’s Syndrome at young age. It’s possible I’ve been really distracted by the lifelong pains from the TS tearing me up. My Aunt fears we all have it - it just a matter of time until we find out😒 autoimmune issues run heavy in Moms side of the family.

I’ve been biting my nails recently … I needed to hear this lol

@@userunknown4739 Trust me, back then, I did too and I immediately stopped!!!

Stop! You're making me hungry!

😆🤣🤣🤣 YES..... Thank you very much!!

eyelash mites ☹️ bruh be so frlllll why can’t we just bacteria free…..

Happens to me alot since I have moved to North America

Use warm water on a rag. Soak eye for a few minutes. It will help dissolve them so you can wipe them off

Could be allergies or chronic dryness - I use artificial tears for both of those and it helps with them

Eye poop...roflmao.

Maybe Dr.Antonio can advise?

Do you think you may have some undiagnosed allergies?