How to Clean Shih Tzu Tear Stains and Protect Their Eyes

To manage Shih Tzu tear stains, wipe each eye gently every day with a dog-safe eye wipe or solution — stroking from the inner corner outward — keep the surrounding fur dry, and keep the hair around the eyes trimmed short or tied up and away from the eye surface. Those rust-brown streaks are porphyrin staining from tears that overflow onto the fur, and for most Shih Tzu they are a cosmetic issue, not a disease. But this is also a breed where a real eye emergency can hide behind a face full of hair — so this article draws a hard line between routine stain care and the signs that mean you stop wiping and call the vet today.

Why does my Shih Tzu have brown tear stains?

Blame the anatomy, honestly. The Shih Tzu is a brachycephalic (flat-faced) breed with a short muzzle, shallow eye sockets, and large, prominent, forward-set eyes. That combination means the eyes sit exposed and the tear-drainage plumbing is crowded, so tears tend to spill over the lower lid and run down onto the face instead of draining away normally. Those tears contain porphyrins — iron-rich pigments — that oxidize on contact with air and light and turn the wet fur a reddish-brown. Add long facial hair that wicks moisture and stays damp, and you get the classic stained tracks under the inner corners of the eyes.

So the brown is, in itself, usually cosmetic. The risk in this breed is what the staining can distract you from: those same prominent eyes, sitting in shallow sockets behind a curtain of hair, are unusually exposed to hair, dust, and debris rubbing the surface — and that exposure is exactly what makes corneal injury and dry eye real concerns. Keep that framing as you read: stains are housekeeping; pain and damage are medical.

Daily eye care routine for a Shih Tzu

The goal of the routine is simple — remove the porphyrin-laden moisture before it sets, and keep the fur around the eyes dry and short so tears can't pool and wick. Done daily, calmly, it takes under a minute per eye and doubles as a daily look at the eye itself, which is how you catch trouble early.

The daily wipe (inner corner outward)›

Step by step

1. Wash your hands and gather a fresh dog-safe eye wipe or a pet eye-cleaning solution on a clean cotton pad — one fresh wipe/pad per eye, never the same one on both (you don't want to move debris or infection from one eye to the other).
2. Settle your Shih Tzu somewhere calm and low-arousal, ideally after a meal or a nap. Support the head gently; do not restrain hard. If the dog actively pulls away or guards the face, stop — that resistance is information, and a face that suddenly hurts to touch is a vet question, not a wrestling match.
3. Lift the hair clear of the eye with your free hand. Wipe the stained fur and the skin just below the eye in one direction: from the inner corner (near the nose) outward toward the temple. Wiping outward moves debris away from the eye, not into it.
4. Use a separate fresh wipe/pad and repeat on the other eye.
5. Pat the area fully dry with a clean soft cloth. Lingering moisture is what feeds both staining and yeast/skin irritation — dry beats wet every time.
6. While you're right there at eye level, take two seconds to actually look at each eye: is it clear and open, the same as yesterday? That daily glance is your early-warning system.

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How to trim hair around Shih Tzu eyes safely

Long facial hair is a double problem: it wicks tears and keeps the fur wet (more staining), and stray hairs can fall against the eye surface and irritate or scratch it. Keeping the hair short or tied up and away from the eye is one of the most effective things you can do — for both the stains and the eye itself.

You have two safe options. The simplest is to tie the topknot up and back so the hair lifts off the eyes entirely — no blades near the face. If you do trim, the safety rules matter more than the technique:

• Use small, blunt-tipped (rounded-end) grooming scissors — never pointed scissors near a wiggly dog's eyes.
• Trim only when your dog is calm and settled. If your Shih Tzu won't hold still, stop and try a topknot instead, or leave face-trimming to a groomer. Forcing it near the eyes is how accidents happen.
• Point the blades away from the eye, rest your scissor hand against the dog's head so a sudden head-jerk moves your whole hand (not just the blades), and snip a little at a time.
• When in doubt, book a groomer for the face and eye-area work and just maintain the topknot at home.

Shih Tzu eye discharge: when to worry

Here is the line that matters most in this whole article. Clear, watery overflow that you wipe away and that leaves rust-colored stained fur is the cosmetic, routine end of things. The following are not stain problems — they point to pain, infection, or injury (corneal ulcers and dry eye / keratoconjunctivitis sicca are genuine risks in flat-faced breeds with exposed eyes), and they warrant a same-day vet visit rather than another wipe:

• Squinting, blinking, or holding one eye partly or fully shut — especially on one side. A new, persistent, or one-sided squint commonly means a corneal ulcer and is a same-day vet visit, not a calming signal.
• Pawing or rubbing at the eye, or rubbing the face along furniture or the floor.
• Redness, visible irritation, or swelling around the eye.
• Thick, colored (yellow/green), or suddenly increased discharge — different from the usual clear overflow.
• A cloudy, hazy, blue-ish, or dull-looking eye, or any visible spot or scratch on the surface.
• An eye that looks more bulged than usual, or that the dog clearly can't keep comfortably open.

Reading the eye color cue can be hard in a dark-faced Shih Tzu; if anything looks different from yesterday and your dog seems uncomfortable, treat that change as the signal and call. Eyes don't wait well — a corneal ulcer can worsen over hours.

Shih Tzu red eye gunk and squinting — the medical-rule-out reflex

Tear staining is cosmetic; red eye gunk plus squinting is a medical question. The reflex to build is this: any sudden change in the eyes, any new reluctance to have the face touched, any squint or paw-at-the-eye gets a vet rule-out before you assume it's "just stains" and before you add more handling or any new product. This is the same logic you apply across the breed — a dog that suddenly resents grooming may be telling you something hurts. Do not try to treat a painful, red, or squinting eye at home with stain wipes or human eye drops; the underlying cause needs diagnosis. And to be explicit: no oral "tear-stain supplement" cures this — some are inappropriate and none address a medical eye problem. Persistent or worsening staining is itself worth a vet conversation to rule out blocked tear ducts, eyelid or eyelash issues, or low-grade irritation driving the overflow.

The gear that makes the daily routine easy

None of this needs much — but the right basics make it a 60-second habit instead of a fight. The pieces that matter for eye care are dog-safe eye/face wipes for the daily clean, soft towels for drying, and blunt-tipped grooming scissors for keeping facial hair off the eyes. We keep specific picks in the Shih Tzu grooming category so you can see what each item is and why it earns a place in the routine — see the breed's Gear section for the grooming kit (fold/eye/ear wipes, drying towels, and clippers/scissors).

Our pick for this: the right grooming kit makes this far easier — here's a solid, breed-fit option to start from.

Grooming kit for the Shih TzuBrowse options on Amazon