When Mrs Dean, who had come all the way from a South Eastern city to see me related her experience with severe cold at the mountain top hotel where she had spent the night, unpleasant memories of my first encounter with winter many years backwererekindled. It was my first time outside the tropics. I had arrived in England in February at the height of the winter to work at the Bristol Eye Hospital, Bristol. The hospital gave me a temporary apartment at the Nurses’ Hostel which was at the top of a hill. The room was quite warmat about 7.00pm when I checked in. About 2hours later the central heating system was turned off and it became progressively colder during the night. The cold was seeping into my bones and becameunbearable. Soon I was shivering!So I removed my pyjamas and jumped back into my three piece suit, hopped into my bed and covered myself with a blanket. When this didn’t work, I added my overcoat. Despite all these I couldn’t sleep! I watched as the clock ticked away until morning when I ran to the hospital’s housing department to demand a more hospitable apartment.

I listened with rapt attention to Mrs Dean. It wasn’t just the cold she was complaining about. “It istoo windy and the air is dry and dusty,” she had said. She added that even though she had shut the windows of her room, she had woken up to find her silver suitcase and all the items of furniture in her room covered with a coat of dust. Now she was worried and asked, “If there is so much dust in the air how will my eyes and lungs escape the ravages of the Harmattan dust?” Secretly, I thought she was just too fussy. The cold of Harmattanis nothing compared to the freezing winter cold of Bristol in February. Not only that, Harmattan brings along with it some remarkable benefits. The cool wind is like a balm that soothes us from the oppressive heat during this period of the year in this part of the world.That is why the Nigeriens gave it the nickname of “The Doctor.”

“How does the eye deal with the very dry air and the extra load of dust in the air?” asked Mrs Dean pointedly.”Mrs Dean, you’ve asked two questions in one! First of all, let us take the dry air. Tears are secreted to lubricate the eyes. The surface of the cornea must be kept moist at all times so that we can see clearly. There are three layers of secretions in the tear film wetting the cornea. The superficial oily layer is secreted by some tiny glands in the lids called meibomian glands. But for this oily layer, any tear produced will dry up quickly during the Harmattan with disastrous consequences for vision and the integrity of the eye. The middle layer is the tear fluid proper which actually wets the surface of the cornea. This is secreted by the accessory lacrimal glands. There is need for some other fluid substance to aid the lids to spread this tear fluid evenly over the surface of the corneaotherwise the tears will form droplets. Thus there is a deeper layer of mucus to perform this role. This is secreted by the goblet cells of the conjunctiva.”

“Mrs Dean Nature is wonderful! It is well organised and takes care of every possibility. In the tear fluid are substances which can destroy germs that enter with the dust. Do you know what is called mote? It is the debris of dead bacteria, shed cells and dust particles coming out of the eyes. So don’t be upset if during this Harmattan season the motes in your eyes increase. As long as the eyes remain white your bodily defences are atop of the situation. If once in a while more dust gets into the eyes than the eye can cope with, there is an automatic system which sends an alarm for a gush of tears to be produced to flush out the eyes.”

“May I use some eye drops to assist in keeping my eye clean during this period,” asked Mrs Dean again. “Why? I asked in return perplexed. “Except you have an infection or one or all of the components of the tear film is deficient or your lids are incapable of spreading the tears evenly over the surface of the cornea, it is absolutely unnecessary to use any eye drops.”

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