• Question: When we wake up in the morning, what is that gooie ball in the corner of our eye where our tear ducks are? And how is it created?

    Asked by gazakim to Amy, Karen, Sarah, Vijay, Will on 11 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Sarah Martin

      Sarah Martin answered on 11 Jun 2012:

      Hi again gazakim!

      When I was little, we were told that the sandman came round all the children at night and sprinkled sand in their eyes with stories in them so they could sleep better. But the real answer is that it depends! Very often it’s only dried up tear fluid, maybe with a little dust in it, that accumulates over night. Your eyes are constantly cleaning their surface so you can see, by washing tear fluid over them and collecting little bits of dust in the corners of your eye.
      Sometimes, when you’ve caught a slight infection, there can also be bacteria that have been fought off by your immune system cells in your tear fluid, which form a little puss that dries in the corner of your eye.

    • Photo: Amy Birch

      Amy Birch answered on 11 Jun 2012:

      I have always called it ‘sleep’, but I have no idea why!
      It is usually a fluidy discharge that is secreted around your eyes, and can be made up of an oily substance, mucus, dust, and cells. Usually in the day, this is washed away with blinking and tears but during the night it can collect and dry out around the corners of your eyes because you don’t blink when you sleep.

    • Photo: Karen Reed

      Karen Reed answered on 12 Jun 2012:

      Hiya Gazakim,

      I too call it sleep, and agree with Sarah and Amy. Our eyes are always producing a fluid to keep them clean and moist. In the day it drains away without us noticing. At night it tends to build-up because we are not blinking as much, and then dries out in the place were it sits the most – the corner of the eye

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