As a child, I sometimes had to coat my fingertips in medicated eczema ointment. The ointment disturbed me more than my eczema. At one of my last visits to my pediatrician, Dr. Krueger, he asked about my skin, and what moisturizer I used (none). He congratulated me on growing out of any skin issues I might have had, pointing out that if my skin were bothering me, I would be using some moisturizer. What if smearing moisturizer on my body wasn’t actually that gross? It was worth another try, since my skin felt unpleasant, and drew comments like “Your skin looks like lizard skin”, and “I didn’t know white people could get ashy skin.”
I’ve been happily moisturizing my skin for a while, so why am I thinking about Dr. Krueger now? My eyes have been dry and sensitive most mornings and evenings all winter. At my routine eye exam this fall, I’d told the doctor my eyes don’t hurt, but what if there’s now something terribly wrong? Wait! He’d asked if I used eye drops, and given me a Dr. Krueger congrats-you’re-fine look when I said no. Could there be a moisturizer for my eyes? It’s called artificial tears, and my appreciation for that name as a title gave me the courage to try it.