Even when walking in -20 C weather the rest of my body will get cold and get numb, yet even though my eyes are exposed to such cold temperatures they always seem to stay warm and wet.
In: Biology
First of all tears and the film on our eyes are salty which lowers the freezing point slightly.
Secondly, your head outputs a lot of heat compared to the rest of your body. ~35% of all heat the body produces is lost through the head. This means your eyes are relatively warm compared to other parts of your body continuously heating the film. Also, your brain is the last thing to stop getting energy when your body is shutting down. Your extremities may close their blood vessels but your brain will still be getting almost all the resources it wants.
Third, your eyes blink regularly which agitates the film on your eyes breaking any crystals formed. It’s like how a river can keep flowing if there’s enough turbulence to keep breaking the ice crystals at a rate faster than they are forming.
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