2006-07-29 07:16:29 · 18 answers · asked by greebo 3 in Health ➔ General Health Care ➔ Injuries
I also heard it's because your eyeballs would fall out.
I'm not going to try propping my eyes open to see if it's true though.
2006-07-29 07:22:04 · answer #1 · answered by pomme_blanche_2004 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
While it is impossible for most people to keep their peepers from shutting during the process, some rare folks are capable of it. It is also believed that if you did manage to sneeze with your eyes open, your eyes would pop out of your head. Er, no. As discussed above, some people do manage to sneeze with their eyes open, and they don't go blind from it. Eye sockets are made of bone, they aren't connected to the nasal passages, and there are no muscles behind the eyes that contract when you sneeze, so there's really no mechanism involved in a sneeze that could force your eyes out of their sockets. Even if there were, human eyelids aren't particularly strong, so simply closing your eyes during a sneeze wouldn't be sufficient to keep them in their sockets if a sneeze truly had enough power to dislodge them. (In any case, some people — due to circumstances such as birth defects or injury — do not have eyelids. Were the "eye-popping" rumor true, all of those people would have to spend their lives in constant mortal fear of sneezing.)
2006-07-29 07:22:14 · answer #2 · answered by CorraM 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just part of the sneeze reflex. No, your eyeballs wouldn't fall out if you sneezed with your eyes open.
2006-07-29 07:29:56 · answer #3 · answered by parachute 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sneezing is like excreting feces or urinating. Your body is releasing unwanted substances to rid irself of them.
When you sneeze, there is a chance of the things you sneeze to get into your eyes. That's why your eyes invountarily close, to protect your eyes from what your body has already deemed to be a dangerous foreign object.
2006-07-29 07:21:11 · answer #4 · answered by mickjam 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can. Just prop your eyes open with some toothpicks next time you feel a sneeze coming on. It's uncomfortable but then you will have accomplished the impossible!!!!!!
2006-07-29 07:20:50 · answer #5 · answered by wittbelle 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
people think if you sneeze with your eyes open your eyes will fly out of your head. Thankfully, as is often the case with urban legends, this theory is a load of hooey. Your eyeballs are safe and sound in their sockets
2006-07-29 07:21:52 · answer #6 · answered by T 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you put your head down and stare up..hard. It is possible to sneeze with your eyes open. I have done it.
And no..your eyes do not pop out.
2006-07-29 10:33:26 · answer #7 · answered by starting over 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if you sneeze with your eyes open, your eye balls would pop out
2006-07-29 12:48:17 · answer #8 · answered by Under_the_sunset 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pressure built up when you seeze, closing eyes would protect eyeballs from being push out of bony sockets.
2006-07-29 07:20:46 · answer #9 · answered by Antoine a 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, I'm pretty sure it DOES keep your eyeballs in. That's what I've heard at least.
2006-07-29 07:21:06 · answer #10 · answered by Charles 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋