Eyes

For puffy eyes make some ordinary tea extra strong, refrigerate it, chill the tea bags and apply them as a compress and drink the tea. The tannin in the tea is nicely astringent.

Lie down, dip cotton balls into icy milk and apply the balls to swollen eyelids.

Soak cucumber slices in icy milk, lie down, and apply the slices to your eyes.

Raise the head of your bed a few inches off the floor. This prevents excess body fluid from accumulating in the loose tissue around the eye. Sleep on your back with a small pillow only under the neck and start your morning with a compress of milk, tea, or cucumber on the eyes.

Fresh potato slices are terrific for circles and bags.

The next three remedies benefit the mucous tissue lining the eyes, which is contiguous with the nose and throat.

Make a compress by infusing two German Chamomile (Chamomilla recutita) tea bags for 5-10 minutes. Cool the tea bags and place over the eyes. And, of course, you could drink the tea while waiting for the bags to cool.

Make a poultice with 15 g of Ju Hua (Chrysanthemum morifolium) to 250 ml of water. Cool, squeeze out excess liquid and place poultice over the eye.

Make an infusion with either Eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis) or Cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus) and strain thoroughly. While warm, but not hot, place in an eyebath and bathe eyes well. Do not use more than twice a day. (Recommended for Conjunctivitis.)

Whenever using herbal remedies, do make and use your ingredients as quickly as possible. It wouldn't be good at all to introduce any infection where there had been none before by using herbal waters made the day before yesterday. And, care must be taken not to irritate the eyes with particles of herbs left in the solutions.