Air Conditioning, Low Humidity and Eye Comfort in the UAE: What the Evidence Says

Written by: ORAVU editorial team

Air conditioning is part of everyday life in the UAE. We work in air-conditioned offices, drive in cooled cars, spend time in air-conditioned malls and restaurants, and often sleep with cooling running for much of the night.

For some people, those indoor environments can also be where the eyes begin to feel dry, gritty, irritated or tired.

The most useful explanation is not simply that "AC causes dry eyes." Air conditioning, room humidity, moving air, screen concentration, blinking, contact-lens use and individual tear-film characteristics can overlap. Dry or fast-moving air may increase tear evaporation and make the tear film less stable, which can contribute to temporary eye-surface discomfort in some people.

That is different from saying that everyone in an air-conditioned room will develop dry-eye disease. The evidence supports a more careful conclusion: environmental conditions can influence the tear film and ocular comfort, particularly when low humidity and airflow combine with other factors.

Does Air Conditioning Actually Dry Your Eyes?

Air conditioning can contribute to an indoor environment that feels drying to the eyes, but the mechanism is more specific than the phrase "AC dries your eyes."

Cooling systems can remove moisture from indoor air as part of the cooling process. Depending on the system, building, season and settings, that can lower indoor relative humidity.

Air conditioning also creates air movement. If a ceiling vent, wall unit or car vent sends a continuous stream of air across the face, the moving air can encourage evaporation from the exposed tear film.

These are related but separate issues. A room does not need to be extremely dry for direct airflow toward the eyes to feel uncomfortable, and not every air-conditioned room necessarily has low humidity.

Why Humidity Matters to the Tear Film

The front surface of the eye is covered by a thin layer of tears called the tear film.

Each complete blink redistributes this film across the exposed eye. Between blinks, some of its water naturally evaporates into the surrounding air.

When the surrounding air is very dry, the difference in moisture between the tear film and the air becomes greater. Under those conditions, evaporation can increase.

Faster evaporation may mean that the tear film becomes unstable sooner between blinks. For some people, that can contribute to sensations such as dryness, irritation, grittiness or temporary fluctuations in clarity.

The 2023 TFOS review of environmental conditions and the ocular surface concluded that humidity is relevant to dry-eye disease and ocular-surface health, while also emphasising that environmental effects are multifactorial.

What Happens in Controlled Low-Humidity Studies?

Controlled environmental chambers allow researchers to change humidity, temperature and airflow while measuring the tear film.

In a human study examining the effect of low humidity on the tear film, participants were first assessed at 40% relative humidity and were then exposed to an environment of 5% relative humidity for one hour.

Researchers found significant changes in tear evaporation, tear-film break-up time, lipid-layer thickness, tear production and reported ocular comfort after exposure to the very dry environment.

Another controlled study exposed participants with mild dry-eye symptoms to an environment of about 19% relative humidity for two hours and found changes in several ocular-surface measures. Importantly, those changes were reversible after the exposure ended.

These studies show that sufficiently dry conditions can affect the tear film. They do not mean that every UAE office operates at 5% or 19% humidity, or that every person in an air-conditioned building experiences the same response.

The UAE Climate Needs a Little Nuance

The UAE Government describes the country as largely arid and as having a desert climate.

But "arid" does not mean the outdoor air is always low in humidity. UAE summers can also be hot and humid, particularly in coastal areas.

This matters because outdoor climate and indoor eye comfort are not the same thing.

You can step outside into warm, humid coastal air and then spend the working day under strong air conditioning with moving indoor air directed across your face.

So for everyday eye comfort, the relevant environment is often the micro-environment around your eyes, not simply whether Dubai, Abu Dhabi or another UAE city feels humid outdoors.

The UAE Government's climate information describes the UAE as having a desert climate with hot, humid summers, while its environmental information also describes the country as largely arid.

Why Screens and Air Conditioning Can Feel Like a Difficult Combination

The indoor environment is only one part of the equation.

Concentrated screen work can alter blinking. Some people blink less frequently or make more incomplete blinks while reading, working or concentrating on a digital display.

If the tear film is already spending longer between effective blinks, dry moving air may add another evaporative challenge.

This is why an office worker may notice more discomfort after several hours of laptop use under direct AC airflow than during a shorter screen session in a different environment.

For more on the screen component, see our guides to blinking and screen use and why your eyes can feel tired after screen time.

What About Contact Lenses?

Contact-lens wear can add another variable to an already demanding environment.

Controlled-environment research has shown that people with mild dry-eye symptoms can experience measurable ocular-surface changes when exposed to low humidity, and contact lenses may alter how the eye responds to those conditions.

That does not mean everyone who wears lenses should stop using them in air-conditioned spaces.

But if your lenses consistently become uncomfortable during a long UAE workday, particularly under strong AC or extended screen use, it is worth discussing the pattern with your eye-care professional rather than simply pushing through the discomfort.

Practical Ways to Make an Air-Conditioned Space More Comfortable for Your Eyes

You usually do not need to redesign the entire room. Small changes to airflow, screen behaviour and the local environment can be more realistic.

Should You Use a Humidifier?

A humidifier can be a reasonable option when indoor air is genuinely dry. The National Eye Institute recommends using a humidifier to help keep indoor air from becoming too dry as one environmental strategy for people troubled by dry-eye symptoms.

That does not mean every home or office in the UAE needs one.

Coastal outdoor humidity can already be high, building ventilation systems differ, and some indoor spaces may maintain comfortable humidity without extra moisture.

The practical question is whether the indoor space is actually dry and whether environmental changes improve your comfort, rather than assuming that more humidity is always better.

Will Drinking More Water Fix AC-Related Eye Dryness?

Staying normally hydrated is sensible for general health, particularly in the UAE heat.

But environmental tear evaporation happens at the surface of the eye, so drinking excessive amounts of water should not be presented as a direct solution to dry indoor air or screen-related eye discomfort.

If the main trigger is a vent blowing across your face, changing the vent direction is more directly related to that exposure than simply drinking another bottle of water.

Temporary Environmental Discomfort vs Dry-Eye Disease

A person can experience temporary dryness or irritation in a strongly air-conditioned environment without necessarily having dry-eye disease.

Dry-eye disease is a multifactorial medical condition involving tear-film and ocular-surface abnormalities. Diagnosis can require an eye examination and appropriate testing.

Environmental conditions can aggravate symptoms in people who already have dry-eye disease, and they can also produce temporary discomfort in people without an established diagnosis.

That is why the National Eye Institute's dry-eye guidance includes environmental changes while still treating persistent dry eye as a condition that may require professional care.

What Does Regional Research Tell Us?

Research from the Gulf supports the idea that eye comfort cannot be separated neatly into "indoor" and "outdoor" causes.

In a small study of employees in Riyadh, researchers assessed workers in indoor and outdoor environments. Signs of ocular dryness were found in both groups, and tear-film stability differed between them.

The authors suggested that multiple exposures could have contributed, including the hot, dry outdoor environment, air conditioning indoors and visual-display use.

The study included only 24 male employees, so it should not be used to describe the whole Gulf population. Its value is the broader point: real-world eye comfort is influenced by combinations of environmental and behavioural factors rather than one single exposure.

When Should You Speak to an Eye-Care Professional?

If your eyes occasionally feel dry after several hours under strong AC, changing your environment and taking a break may be enough to improve comfort.

Persistent, recurrent or significant symptoms deserve a proper assessment.

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