Best heated eye masks to help relieve dry eyes, tried and tested (2025)

When it comes to eye trends, there is one universal truth. The bloodshot look will never be en vogue.

We’re spending more and more of our days staring at one screen or another, be it our handsets on the commute into the office, a desktop computer during the 9 to 5, or a flatscreen as we unwind in front of the box in the evening.

According to Finder, the average British adult spends four hours a day looking at a black mirror of some description - and that’s in addition to any screen-related work. It sounds like a lot - and it is - with your eyes bearing the brunt of the exposure.

Staring at screens for long periods cuts your blink rate, making the ocular surface at risk of drying out. Do you find yourself ending the day by rubbing your eyes? This bodily response stimulates the tear ducts into making more eye lubrication to give your peepers much-needed hydration, but can wreck the delicate periorbital skin in the process. Contact lens wearers are at higher risk of developing dry eyes, but anyone can develop the condition. It tends to get more common with age (another thing to look forward to!).

Eye drops can help hydrate hot, stressed eyeballs, but there’s another tool that can help: a heated eye mask.

Experts agree that using a warm compress up to twice a day can help clear debris from the eyes and encourage the eye's oil-producing glands to open and lubricate the eye's delicate surface naturally.

You may not think it, but if you’re stressed, you can carry a lot of tension in your jaw. Finding 10 minutes to rest under a heated eye mask can help relax your facial muscles and ease migraines and headaches.

If your eyes feel tired all day, try wearing a heated mask for ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes before lights out to give them a little R&R.

Another thing you can do? Get into the habit of looking away from screens every so often when you’re at work. Pick up a book instead of scrolling on your phone in your downtime to give your eyes a break.

If you’re looking to soothe tired and dry eyes, I’ve rounded up the best heated eye masks to check out now.

As a contact lens-wearer who suffers from dry eyes and, at an extreme point, was medically advised to use a heated eye mask along with high viscosity eye drops, I was the best person to test these heated eye masks. I wore them before bed for a fortnight to see if they made any difference in terms of comfort, appearance and vision.

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