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How to Whiten Your Eyes

Home / Eye Health and Preventive Care / How to Whiten Your Eyes

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Bright, white eyes can enhance one’s appearance, and various methods can be employed to maintain or achieve this look. Lifestyle modifications like consuming a diet rich in antioxidants, getting enough sleep, staying hydrated, avoiding eye strain, and protecting eyes from irritants and UV light are key factors in keeping the sclera white. For those facing issues with red or yellow eyes, over-the-counter products and treatments for underlying health issues can also aid in restoring the white eyes appearance.

How to Whiten Your Eyes Naturally

When trying to whiten your eyes, it is ideal to think about ways you can do so naturally. There are some easy lifestyle modifications you can do to try and whiten your eyes naturally. 

Start With Your Diet

One of the first things to look at when trying to whiten your eyes naturally is your nutrition. Be sure to eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as green leafy foods. These foods are rich in antioxidants and vitamins, and they can also help to support liver health, which helps to keep your eyes looking white. 

Some foods that are great for keeping your eyes bright and white include the following:

  • Carrots
  • Pumpkin
  • Oranges
  • Lemons
  • Spinach
  • Nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, and peanuts

It is also helpful to clean up your diet. Aim to reduce refined sugars, carbohydrates, and processed foods to further detoxify your liver.

Get Enough Sleep

Another thing that can impact the color of your eyes is fatigue. Making sure to get a solid night’s sleep — seven to eight hours a night is optimal — can help to reduce eye redness. 

When you are tired, your eyes often show it. Be sure to get enough rest every night to keep your eyes looking brighter and whiter.

Drink Water

Getting enough water and staying hydrated can also influence your eye health and keep your eyes and body properly moisturized. Drinking between 8 and 10 glasses of water every day can help to keep your eyes clear and whiter in appearance. 

Avoid Eye Strain

Looking at a screen or working on a computer for long periods of time can strain and fatigue your eyes, which can make them look tired and be less bright. To make your eyes look whiter, you need to rest your eyes enough throughout the day. 

Blink your eyes regularly, and use the 20-20-20 rule outlined by the American Optometric Association. For every 20 minutes you spend looking at a screen, take a 20-second break to look at something 20 feet away. 

You can also help to avoid eyestrain and keep your eyes looking whiter by ensuring that the room is properly lit and adjusting the brightness of your screen.

Protect Your Eyes From Irritants & UV Light

Pollen, smoke, and dust can all irritate the eyes, drying them out and decreasing their brightness. Avoiding or minimizing these irritants, such as by using an air purifier and stopping smoking, can help to whiten your eyes. 

You should also protect your eyes from UV light, such as the sun, by wearing sunglasses when you are outside.

Take Supplements

It is ideal to get the necessary vitamins and minerals in your body from the foods you eat, but when this is not possible, you should consider taking supplements to ensure that you are keeping your body and eyes as healthy as possible. Fish oils and Omega-3 supplements can promote eye health and keep them looking bright and white.

Use Eye Drops

In the event that your eyes are still red after trying these tips, you can use over-the-counter eye drops to moisten them and reduce the redness. These eye drops are typically designed to be used as a short-term solution for temporary relief of red eyes. They should not be used as a daily treatment. 

How to Whiten Eyes & Lessen Redness

Red eyes are typically caused by some kind of irritant. This can include the following:

  • Allergies
  • Infections, such as conjunctivitis (pink eye) or blepharitis (inflamed eyelid)
  • Dry eyes
  • Eye injury
  • Smoking or other pollutants
  • Excessive alcohol use

Red eyes can also indicate a serious health or eye issue, such as severe glaucoma. Red eyes can be temporarily treated with vasoconstricting eye drops, which reduce blood flow to the eyes (the cause of the red appearance). These can cause dependency and worsening redness when used regularly, however. 

Treatments for red eyes often involve understanding the root cause of the issue. If it is allergies or an infection, these conditions should be treated (often with medication) to calm the system and therefore improve red eyes. Treating the specific cause of red eyes directly can help them to appear whiter.

How to Whiten Eyes From Yellow

A buildup of bilirubin in your blood can turn your eyes yellow. This can be caused by jaundice or hepatitis, both of which can occur when your liver is unable to filter orange-yellow pigment out of your body properly. Jaundice is a condition that can turn both your skin and the whites of your eyes yellow, and it can indicate a serious health problem.

If your eyes take on a yellow hue, you should contact your health care provider to help determine the root cause of the jaundice to best treat it. To whiten your eyes after they turn yellow, you will need to address the underlying cause of the problem. 

Yellow eyes are often indicative of liver problems. Improving your liver health can whiten your eyes from yellow.

Products That Help Make Your Eyes Whiter

There are numerous products available over the counter to help whiten your eyes. They usually work by shrinking the blood vessels in your eyes, providing moisture for dry eyes, or both. 

Common choices include the following:

Again, it is best to address the cause of the color changes (what is making them turn red or yellow) to best whiten them over the long term. Most products are intended only for short-term relief and not meant to be used daily or on a long-term basis. 

Talk to your eye doctor if you suffer from chronic red or yellow eyes. 

References

  1. 20-20-20. American Optometric Association.
  2. Red Eye. (January 2018). Cleveland Clinic.
  3. Jaundice. (March 2021). NHS.
  4. Visine. (2016). Johnson & Johnson Consumer, Inc.
  5. Lumify. (2020). Bausch & Lomb.
  6. Brite Eyes III. (2022). Life Extension.
  7. Clear Eyes. (2022). Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc.
  8. Home Remedies for Bloodshot Eyes. (May 2021). American Academy of Ophthalmology.

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