Buzz
Each morning, I wake up to find my eyes coated with crusty stalagmites. What is this stuff, and where does it come from?
This crust is actually a form of rheum, a thin mucus that naturally comes from our eyes, noses, and mouths. Rheum consists of mucus, skin cells, oils, and dust. The type of rheum that forms eye boogers is called gound, which you might know by other names like eye sand, eye gunk, sleep dust, sleep sand, sleep in your eyes, or eye shnooters.
While you're awake, gound doesn't cause any issues. You don't even notice it because it's wiped away every time you blink. Your eyelids gently push it toward your tear ducts, where it's flushed out. But when you're asleep, you aren't blinking, so the gound builds up in the corners of your eyes. It dries out and hardens, leaving you looking as if you spent the night face-first in a sandcastle.
For most people, gound isn't much of an issue, but for a few unlucky ones, it can be a significant problem. Several conditions, such as overactive oil glands or blocked tear ducts, can cause excessive gound buildup, sometimes to the point where it makes it difficult for individuals to even open their eyes.
