What the colour of your eye ‘sleep’ can reveal about your health – and when to get help
GUNK, goop, sleep, crusts – what do you call the gooey stuff that accumulates in the corner of your eye?
Whatever your name for it, we all brush away crusty bits from our peepers after a long sleep and throughout the day.
You probably don’t make a habit of examining the colour of your eye crusties.
But Neil Laird, a special optometrist at Pure Optical, told Sun Health that different hues could mean different things.
From white, to green, yellow and pink, here’s what the colour of the ‘sleep’ in your eyes can tell you about your health.
1. Clear, cream or white
If your eye sleep is clear, cream or white-hued, you’re probably with the normal range, Neil said.
“A small amount of clear, cream or white crust in your eyes when you wake up is perfectly normal, as this is your body’s way of naturally clearing out any debris that accumulates over the day,” he explained.
“This sleep gets its colour from a mixture of oils, mucus and shed cells, so may be lighter or darker depending on whether your eyes have been a bit dry, or you have used oil-based facial cleansers,” Neil added.
2. White (but lots of it)
Neil noted that white gunk in large amounts might be cause for concern, however.
“While white mucus can be normal, if you have a lot of white eye discharge coupled with redness, swelling or sores this could be a sign you have viral conjunctivitis or even ocular herpes,” he warned.
Conjunctivitis is an eye condition caused by infection or allergies and it usually affects both eyes, according to the NHS, making them:
- Red
- Burn or feel gritty
- Produce pus that sticks to lashes
- Itch
- Water
“Viral conjunctivitis will usually go away on its own, and a doctor can prescribe you eyedrops to help ease your symptoms,” Neil said.
“However, ocular herpes can cause long-term damage to your eyes, especially your cornea, so it’s best to get your eyes checked sooner rather than later to help keep the virus in check.”
A herpes simplex eye infection will usually one affect one eye, the NHS says.
Symptoms can be similar to some other eye conditions, and can include:
- Eye pain
- A red eye
- Watering
- Sensitivity to light
- Blurred vision or other changes to your eyesight
- A swollen eyelid
- Blisters or a rash on your eyelid or the skin around your eye
It’s more likely to be a herpes simplex eye infection if you’ve had one before, or if you’ve had cold sores, the NHS added.
3. Green or grey
After a day of wearing eye makeup, it’s not uncommon to wake up the next morning with with grey-tinged good in your eyes.
Neil said: “Your sleep can go green or grey due to the pigments in make-up like eyeshadow, mascara or eyeliner.
“However, if your sleep is this hue and is coupled with itchiness, redness and blurry vision you’ve likely got an infection.
“In most cases, this colour of sleep can be a sign of a bacterial infection or bacterial conjunctivitis – also known as ‘pink eye’ – which will need a dose of antibiotics to go away.”
4. Yellow
“Yellow discharge can also be a sign that you have a bacterial infection, but can also point to a stye, a blocked tear gland or dacryocystitis,” Neil explained.
“The glands in our eyes are very delicate, meaning they can become clogged very easily if we use the wrong products, leading to painful infections and inflammation,” he added.
“Styes will often be recognised by a painful red lump on your lash line that will ooze yellow pus, while a blocked tear duct will have swelling focused in the inner corner of the eye.”
According to the NHS, styes tend to clear up on their own within one or two weeks.
To reduce swelling and help the stye heal:
- Soak a clean flannel in warm water
- Hold it against your eye for 5 to 10 minutes
- Repeat this 3 or 4 times a day
Blocked tear ducts, meanwhile, might be worth seeing a doctor about.
Neil went on: “Dacryocystitis occurs when the tear duct becomes infected due to a build-up of stagnant fluid and will often result in watery mucus with ‘lumps’ of yellow discharge coming from the inner corner of the eye.”
5. Red or Pink
Red or pink gunk in your eye might be a little alarming.
“If you see a tinge of red, this could be due to some minor bleeding in the eye, usually from some mild irritation or dryness,” Neil said.
“If it’s a one-off it’s usually not an issue, however, if you’re frequently noticing red eye crusts you may have some damage to the eye or surrounding area that you should get checked out as soon as possible.”
Health warning signs you can spot in your eyes
Though very rare, there are about 850 cases of eye cancer diagnosed in the UK every year
According to Cancer Research UK, possible signs of eye cancer include:
- Bulging of one eye
- Complete or partial loss of sight
- Pain in or around the eye – though this is rare with eye cancer
- A pale raised lump on the surface of the eye – either on the the thin, clear membrane that protects the white part inside the eyelids, called the conjunctiva, or the cornea, the transparent part that covers your pupil
- Blurred vision
- change in the appearance of the eye
- lump on the eyelids or around the eye
- Seeing spots or flashes of light or wiggly lines, often known as floaters, in front of your eyes
- Loss of peripheral vision – you can see what is straight ahead clearly, but not what is at the sides
- A dark spot on the coloured part of the eye – the iris – that is getting bigger
- Eye irritation, red eye or chronic conjunctivitis
These signs are often picked up in routine eye tests.