Anyone else have experience with cold weather making your eyes tear? Cold weather below 40 makes my eyes tear a little. With a breeze or wind or below 30 they tear a lot. On the bike, when it's cold my eyes just run the whole time. I can still see as the tears are running down with the draft.

I do wear glasses with "overs" or "cocoons" over them. When riding I can't see my feet, because when I look down the tears blind me. When I stop I have to wipe my tears away several times to see. I really want to ride when it's colder...but, it seems dangerous (not to mention a pain in the ass!)

I did just buy a Kinetic Road Machine 2.0 Bike Trainer. I'm still waiting for it to arrive.

I've tried (very limited use) various eye drops without much results. Anyone have luck with eye drops in this situation or anything else?

I would think the cold air is getting to your eyes some how. My eyes tear up even when it is warm so I always wear either sun glasses or protective glasses which shields my eyes. If you use prescription glasses to ride, try finding sporting type glasses that will encase your eyes. they are not cheap but they work.

Check - https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-winter-riding

More likely to use a pair of Ski goggles with lens inserts or just ride 1/2 blind myself.

Unfortunately, I wear strong progressives. I've been unable to find big enough goggles to go over them and still be able to have viability.
I'll check out the other thread.

Part of my question is does anyone have this problem and found a non-goggle solution for not just bike riding, but also just walking around in cold weather. (yes, I know So-Cal is a wonderful place to move to...just not an option.)

You could try getting side shields for your regular glasses. Myself, I just let the tears flow to my ears, since my glasses block the rush of cold air well enough to keep my eyes from being irritated.

You might consider getting progressive glasses just for riding. My optometrist had a lot of catalogs to look through and I picked a number of frames which he got in for me to try. I picked a frame that was large enough for good coverage, as wrap-around as possible and still fit my prescription, and that sat high enough on the nose so that I wasn't looking over the glasses when in the drops.

I also found that as I got accustomed to the cold, my eyes started tearing a lot less.

It's my nose that runs when it's cold. I reduce this effect by taking a generic Sudefed PE(not the real sudefed from behind the counter) before a ride. My eyes tear a little, but my glasses must give enough protection to prevent excessive tearing.

I get the same thing, I just put my sunglasses on and everything is alot better.

Tearing up is why wraparound glasses are so popular. If your prescription doesn't allow using them, then ski goggles work great too. Most goggles I've seen will go right over glasses.

I got lens implants 3 years ago due to cataracts.
It was wonderful to be able to use small, thin lenses instead of the coke bottle lenses I'd previously been using. Actually it was great to not be legally blind anymore! (20-450 & 20-250 corrected and getting worse weekly)
I do have a greater sensitivity to wind now, but I'm not sure if it's the implants or smaller lenses.
Next pair of glasses, I'm getting BIG lenses. At least they will be thin. (20-40 & 20-60 uncorrected)

SportRX advertises in all the outdoor and cycling mags - I've ordered from them a couple of times over the years. They have perfected making wraparounds that are optically correct. Are 'progressives' the new 'bifocals'? If so, you might consider doing what I do and chose single-prescription sporting glasses for distance only, to simplify your prescription - I have to remove the glasses to read, but I can get along fine riding. Also, per my optometrist, chose the regular lenses, not polycarbonate, as poly is not as good optically as plastic, and impact-resistance really isn't a consideration for cycling.

There are some excellent glasses that are marketed for motorcycle riders, line or progressive, with interchangeable magnetic lenses. They start at about $450-500.

For my money, rather than my progressive titanium glasses for normal use, I have a pair of lined bifocals from Walmart that do the job. They're about $175 a pair, and an excellent compromise. I have them in sun glasses and in clear for those winter rides.

i added a motorcycle visor to my helmet it helps

I've got the same problem and also have a strong 'progressive' lens. I bought a Dux helmet with a visor built in - it works really well. I can quite easily fit the visor over my glasses and have the option of clear/grey/yellow lens inserts in the helmet. Might not be a sexy as wrap arounds....but it's a whole lot cheaper that tri-focal rx cycling glasses.

Here's the link: https://www.duxhelm.com/shop/

Thanks. I'll check into this, as well as the other options!

Go see an eye doctor. I did and they were able to check to see if there was something wrong. My right eye has teared up for years and it comes and goes.

Perferably a ophamalogist.

Only real good thing about being diabetic--I have to see an Ophthalmologist, an MD, rather than, insurance only covering, an optometrist.

I've never seen one of those. However, my dad was big on seeing ophthalmologists instead of optometrists. I'm not convinced it's necessarily better for general exams and screenings than seeing an optometrist, who is trained and focuses (pun intended) on this rather than performing medical interventions. IMO, it depends more on the individual than the paper hanging on the wall.

Ski goggles would be best at keeping the wind a bay, that is what they are designed for. If you want to try them, get a pair that is designed for use over glasses. They have cuts outs on the side for the arms of your glasses. For cheap wrap arounds have a look at www.zennioptical.com. I got a pair of riding glasses from the for about $40.00. They are cheap plastic, but they fit and work well, surprised me how well they work. Just be sure to read every part on fitting on the site, it's important that you do and understand what all the number mean. You will also need all of your Rx information.
I was on a ride with my regular glasses, and was going down a smooth hill at 40 mph when my eyes started to tear. rut-ro. I was not fun not having diminished vision at that speed.

I'll add a small bit to this: I've had no trouble with the tearing, but my right eye apparently does not like the cold air and became inflamed. Doctor gave me a prescription for some drops, but advised me to get some sports glasses both to reduce the wind effect and also because my regular, metal-framed glasses would cut me up in a spill (yes, they did!).

You know, this is a pretty normal occurrence, and I'm not sure you need to go to a doc to get anything. I think what you need is what I got, which are a pair of good goggles. I found a pair used by the military which have a small fan built into it so as to keep them from fogging.

I found them when we were trying to solve a fogging of goggles problem with chemical workers, who could not easily remove their goggles to de-fog them because of being is chemical protective clothing and gloves, and having gloves contaminated by bad chemicals, like concentrated sulfuric acid. So we tried these goggles out, and they rejected them due to a battery pack on their back strap.

Well, I used it in my bicycling, and found it to be great at preventing tearing during fast downhills in cold air. If you think about it, the cold wind on the eyes causes watering, and that is normal. You wouldn't want your eyes not to react in this situation. But because we need to see where we are going, these goggles are then necessary. I'll look them up later today and give you a name and link.

John

I use a pair of safety glasses from Lowe's. They wrap around and keep my eyes from drying or watering. $20. My cure.

Here's the link to the goggles I mentioned. They are called the ESS Profile Turbofan goggles.

https://www.esseyepro.com/TurboFan-Se..._category.html

Joh

Sounds like you haven't been riding long. It gets better with time on the bike. Your eyes should adjust. More windproof glasses might be good, OTOH they'll fog easier. 50 years ago I had trouble seeing anything on the bike no matter what the weather. Bug-eye glasses that were popular then helped some.