So This Is Why You Wake Up With That Weird Gunk In The Corner Of Your Eye

Let’s be honest, we deffo look our worst in the morning time; our hair turns into a lion’s mane, we have a serious case of panda eyes and as for our skin? Yeah, let’s not go there.

But have you ever wondered what that morning time, crusty, gooey residue that’s always present and correct at the corner of your eyes, actually is?

Well, the good people over at Scishow have revealed just what the green gunk is made up of – and it ain’t pretty! Turns out it’s an unappetising cocktail of (barf) mucus, dust, bacteria, dirt, and dead skin cells.

Scientists don’t actually have a standard technical term for what we’ve coined ‘gross eye goop’, but some of them refer to it as ‘Rheum’, which is a term for any thin discharge that comes from mucus-y parts of your body. Yep – our term is way more fun!

So, why does gross eye goop (GEG) only happen after a cheeky nap or when you close your eyes for the night? Well, your eyeballs need to be kept moist to function and your tear film ensures this happens. But, in the process it also forms the dreaded green goop. During the day we get rid of it by blinking, but when you head off to the land of nod the goop gathers and leaves you a nice little present in the morning.

If you suffer from allergies you’re probably going to have more GEG than regular peeps because you rub your eyes more – so there’s a lot more gunk to wash away.

Want to find out more? Have a look at Scishow’s super informative vid:

• eyes
• gross eye goop
• human body
• WTF