WEBVTT - What Are Eye Boogers?

0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:07.080
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works a brain

0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:12.240
<v Speaker 1>Stuff Christian Sager Here, Today's question is what our eyeboggers.

0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:14.440
<v Speaker 1>If you've ever had to wipe gunk out of the

0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.599
<v Speaker 1>corner of your eyes, it's not because you were visited

0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:21.360
<v Speaker 1>by the Sandman or a magical mucus ferry. Nope, we

0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:24.800
<v Speaker 1>live in a cruelly mundane universe, and I'm sorry if

0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:27.080
<v Speaker 1>I'm the first to break it to you, But eye

0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:31.080
<v Speaker 1>buggers are a build up of the pre corneal or

0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:35.120
<v Speaker 1>basil tier film that coats and protects your eyes plus

0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.919
<v Speaker 1>any foreign particles it catches. This tier film is just

0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:42.840
<v Speaker 1>three micrometers thick, which is less than half the diameter

0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:46.000
<v Speaker 1>of a red blood cell. But it's made up of

0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:50.760
<v Speaker 1>three components, the mucin, the aqueous, and the lipid. These

0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:55.760
<v Speaker 1>are indistinct layers of stuff that your body produces. The

0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.680
<v Speaker 1>aqueous component is the operative one. It nourishes, lubricates, and

0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:04.240
<v Speaker 1>fluff shows your eyes cells. It also smooths over microscopic

0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.600
<v Speaker 1>lumps and bumps on the surface of your eyes, creating

0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:12.440
<v Speaker 1>a smooth lens that optimizes light transfer into your retina.

0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.280
<v Speaker 1>The other two components are a support system for the

0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.720
<v Speaker 1>aqueous one. The musing component underneath it allows it to

0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:21.880
<v Speaker 1>temporarily stick to your eye, and the lipid component outside

0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.440
<v Speaker 1>it holds it in place so that you're not just

0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:29.399
<v Speaker 1>you know, crying constantly. So closest to your corneal surface cells,

0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:32.720
<v Speaker 1>you've got the musing component of the tear film. Mucins

0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:37.000
<v Speaker 1>are the proteins that make mucus slimy. They're important in

0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:41.720
<v Speaker 1>your eyes because corneal cells. Your corneal cells need water

0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:48.240
<v Speaker 1>and water soluble nutrients, but your corneal cells, unhelpfully are hydrophobic,

0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:54.080
<v Speaker 1>meaning they repel water like microscopic little ducks. Mucin helps

0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:58.200
<v Speaker 1>out by latching onto your corneal cells, specifically via adhesive

0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:03.600
<v Speaker 1>molecules called ico calyx that grow on the cell's surface,

0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:09.480
<v Speaker 1>and musants are hydrophilic, meaning that they grab onto water molecules.

0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.160
<v Speaker 1>Next up the aqueous component. As you may have guessed

0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:15.360
<v Speaker 1>from the name, this layer is made up of about

0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:20.919
<v Speaker 1>water plus two percent water soluble stuff. At any given time.

0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:24.360
<v Speaker 1>Part of that two percent is things your corneal cells need,

0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:29.639
<v Speaker 1>like electrolytes, oxygen, and antibacterial enzymes, and part is the

0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:33.680
<v Speaker 1>cell's waste. There are also some musans floating around in there,

0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:39.359
<v Speaker 1>and usually some dust debris, and you know sun dream microbes. Finally,

0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:41.959
<v Speaker 1>topping it all off, you've got the lipid component, a

0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:45.480
<v Speaker 1>k a. The me bum. It's made mostly of wax

0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:50.080
<v Speaker 1>and cholesterol esters. These esters are slick, hydrophobic substances that

0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:54.480
<v Speaker 1>our bodies used to lubricate and waterproof various tissues in

0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.520
<v Speaker 1>the tier film. They float on top of the aqueous layer,

0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:01.400
<v Speaker 1>helping our eyelids glide easily over our eyes. They also

0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:05.440
<v Speaker 1>provide a strong surface tension for our basil tears. Without

0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:08.840
<v Speaker 1>the lipid layer, our tear film would drip right off

0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.440
<v Speaker 1>our eyeballs. But how do these components become eyeboggers and

0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.880
<v Speaker 1>why do they accumulate in the inner corners of your eyes. Well,

0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.800
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to tell you. When you blink, your entire

0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:25.520
<v Speaker 1>eyelid doesn't close simultaneously. It shuts like a clapboard from

0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:29.079
<v Speaker 1>the outer corners of your eyes inward towards your nose.

0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:33.720
<v Speaker 1>Your tear film gets pushed along by that motion. Upon

0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:36.840
<v Speaker 1>reaching the inner corner of your eye, most of the

0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.680
<v Speaker 1>film drains out through the tear ducts, which empty into

0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.680
<v Speaker 1>your nasal cavity. And some of the film. The musans

0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:47.160
<v Speaker 1>and oils and debris can clump together and get stuck.

0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:50.160
<v Speaker 1>When enough of that builds up, it forms the goop

0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:54.080
<v Speaker 1>known as eyeboggers, and when it accumulates and dries overnight

0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.400
<v Speaker 1>because you're not blinking it away, it forms the crusty

0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:05.920
<v Speaker 1>gunk known as sleep or saying. Check out the brainstff

0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:08.320
<v Speaker 1>channel on YouTube, and for more on this and thousands

0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:24.040
<v Speaker 1>of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.