Is it possible to sneeze with your eyes open? Yes but it’s quite complicated. Sneezing is not an intentional action, but a involuntary neurological and mechanical reflex. It consists of the very rapid expulsion of air from the lungs through the nose and mouth, and is an essential defense for protect the airways from the entry of pathogens (viruses and bacteria) and foreign bodies (such as dust and allergens). Sneezing can also be caused by chemicals that irritate the nerve endings such as capsaicin from chili peppers or by sunlight (photic sneezing or photoptharmosis). In any case, the chain of events that is triggered is involuntary and difficult to control.
This chain reaction, over which we have no control, develops in completely automatic stages:
- The nerve endings in the nose detect the threat and use the trigeminal nerve to send an immediate alarm signal to the brain.
- The brain bypasses our will and sends direct commands to the diaphragm, lungs and muscles, starting the sequence.
- The body takes an inhalation and hermetically closes the glottis (the muscular structure that separates the pharynx from the airways). The lungs are compressed, making raise the air pressure inside them.
- When internal pressure reaches its peak, the glottis opens wide, throwing air out of the nose and mouth at great speed to sweep away foreign bodies.
Although it is very difficult, sneezing with your eyes open could don’t be impossible. As explained in a 2016 article by the allergist David Houston – associate dean at the Texas A&M College of Medicine in Houston -, closing your eyes during a sneeze is also an involuntary reflex that, with a little concentration, we may be able to and avoid. Closing your eyelids, in fact, for the expert would have a protective role preventing newly expelled particles from ending up back in the eyes.
Certainly, by forcing the eyelids open, our eyes wouldn’t come out of their sockets as some urban legends say. The most famous of these rumors dates back to an article in New York Times 1882in which it was said that a woman was “exploded” an eyeball during a sneeze. The original text reads: «Miss Mary Hanrehan, while traveling on a tram, was seized by a sudden fit of sneezing and one of her eyeballs exploded, which has been causing her intense pain ever since. The sneeze was probably so rapid that the eyelid remained open, and this would have greatly increased the effect of the sudden effort. Obviously, the young woman lost sight in her injured eye»
However, this story would be the result of an exaggeration without clinical foundation: at best, the intense pressure increase it could cause the rupture of some small ocular capillaries. This is confirmed by Dr. Houston:
There is little to no evidence to support such claims. It is extremely unlikely that the pressure exerted by a sneeze will cause an eyeball to pop out, even if the eyes are open.
If keeping your eyes open is a feasible and practically harmless practice, hold back a sneeze it can have decidedly more serious, albeit rare, consequences. By preventing air from escaping, the increased pressure in the lungs finds no outlet and is discharged inside the body, risking causing damage even in healthy people. At the vascular and cranial level, the peak pressure hinders normal blood flow, risking causing rupture of the ocular capillaries and, in rare extreme cases, orbital microfractures or brain hemorrhages. At the same time, the mechanical impact on the chest can damage the lung structure, causing small collapses, air infiltration under the skin (subcutaneous emphysema) or even cracking and fracturing the ribs.
