These Eye Drops Will Make Allergy SZN A Non-Issue For Once

No one needs to tell you it’s spring when you have allergies—the sneezing, sniffling, and stuffiness will clue you into it. Not only do allergens leave your nose congested and your throat scratchy, but they also do a number on your eyeballs. Besides planning ahead of allergy season by taking some OTC meds, you may also want to stock up on the best eye drops for allergy.

That’s one of the wisest investments you can make before the discomfort sets in because the eyes are one of the most visible sites for inflammation due to allergy, says Clifford Bassett, MD, an allergist and clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health. “Ocular allergy occurs when the tissue that lines the inside of the eyelids, called the conjunctiva, gets inflamed and eyes become itchy, red, and watery,” he explains.

The conjunctiva contains a large number of mast cells that are involved in the immune system’s response to triggers in the environment, says Dr. Bassett. When you’re outside and pollens deposit in your eyes, the mast cells release something called histamine. “Histamines causes blood vessels to dilate and produce itching and redness,” notes Punita Pondra, MD, the associate division chief of allergy and immunology at Northwell Health.

And your stuffed, congested nose? That messes with your eyes too. Breathing in pollens brings about a similar process of histamine release and dilation of blood vessels occurs in the nose, resulting in congestion, per Dr. Pondra. Since the eyes drain through the nose (kind of gross, I know), if the nose is congested, what your eyes encounter in the environment can’t be drained away. “From direct contact with the allergen to the eye and from the fact that the eye can’t clear the allergens because the nose is blocked, you have itching and tearing and redness in the eyes,” she says.

The whole grin-and-bear-it attitude doesn’t quite work when your eyes feel like they’re on fire. Luckily, a good eye drop can help them get back to feeling normal. Here are the best ones you can buy online based on guidelines from eye experts, as well as the pros and cons for each.