what is the technical term for "sleep"- the gunk in the corners of your eyes, when you wake up in the morning?

Answer 1

Almost everyone I know calls it "sleep" in your eyes, and people are more likely to know what you mean if you use the most common words to describe something. The sleep that gets in your eyes is just mucus that occurs in a different place, and mucus is a perfectly acceptable word to use in science circles.

However, if you really want to look at alternative words for discharge from the eyes, "rheum" is the closest that I could get to it. (This word may be used to refer to a normal amount of discharge or to an excessive amount of discharge as would be caused by a cold.)

To I'manalienfrog: It's only called conjunctivitis if it is an *excessive* amount of mucus discharge from the eyes following sleep, and an excessive amount of sleep in the eye is usually accompanied by blepharitis. The questioner didn't mention any such accompanying symptoms. So I believe the questioner is asking what it is called when it is just a normal amount of discharge.

Answer 2

conjunctivitis.

Answer 3

mucus.