It Came From below: The New York City Subway and Your Eye Health

Riding the Subway in New York can be smelly, gross, and sometimes scary. With all that going on, few consider the health of their eyes while riding the train. In this article, I want to go over the risks all of our eyes face while riding the Subway, and steps we can take to keep our eyes healthy while underground.

Dust

The Subway is an extremely dusty environment, this dust comes from underfoot dirt and grime that has dried on the steps and platform, track debris, and a lack of proper ventilation and air exchange with the outside.

Everytime a person steps down the stairs in the subway, their feet kick up dust from the outside sidewalk. Likewise when a train leaves or arrives at the platform, a gust of wind pulls dust up from the track area. As a consequence the air is full of a brown dust that you can see on all the surfaces of the station.

Composed primarily of rust and dirt, this dust enters the eye and attaches itself to your tears, as they are a wet surface. The dust then collects in your tears and along the inside of your eyelid. If you are a contact lens wearer, this can be especially problematic as the surface of the lens can become permanently coated with the brown substance.

Eye irritation, itchiness and a feeling of something in your eye can develop into a chronic condition from this exposure. Worse even still, you are likely to rub your eyes with dirty hands as a result of the dust exposure.

Wearing glasses can help with this, as it provides a shield against the dust touching your corneal surface. In addition, 1 day replacement contact lenses can minimize the long term buildup of toxic dust in your eyes. Visit us at Eyebox for more information.

Infection

It is cringeworthy to think of the bacteria, grime and bodily fluids that can be found on subway surfaces. Touching a seat, bar, or god forbid the floor introduces your hands to any number of contaminants that have NO place in your eye.

While it is impossible to not touch any subway surface, it is imperative that you do not rub your eyes, adjust your contact, or clean your glasses while riding. Your eyes have limited ability to fight infection, and can pay the price for the accident eye rub.

An eye infection generally presents itself with the following symptoms. Redness, tearing, yellow/green discharge, pain and crustiness.

Concentrate on keeping your hands away from your face and wash them as soon as you arrive at your destination to minimize threats to your eye health. If you think you may have developed a lid or eye infection, call us at Eyebox right away.

COVID

COVID has also been shown to be transmitted through the air into the eyes. The close quarters of a subway car is high risk for virus transmission from an infected person into your eyes. I can’t emphasize how easy it is to protect yourself by simply wearing a pair of glasses instead of contact lenses to avoid this type of infection.

As a New Yorker, the subway is one of the best ways to get where you are going, but keep those eyes healthy with two important habits. First keep your eyes covered with glasses, and secondly always avoid touching your face.

These two simple steps can help everyone keep their eyes healthy white riding underground.