You know that crust that you get in your eyes when you wake up? Call it eye-crusties, sleep sand, sleepydust or eye boogers, you've experienced it at some point in your life, and probably still do. It's more common in children, but I know I still get it, and I hope I'm not some sort of freak in this regard (perfectly okay being a freak in many other regards though). The proper name for it is rheum, with gound being the name for it if it's coming from the eyes specifically. In case you're wondering where else you might find it, it can also form around the mouth, but more often around the nose.
Why? Because it's essentially snot. Alright, not entirely, but close enough that eye boogers is a perfectly accurate descriptor. It's made of mucous, skin cells, dust and sometimes blood cells. The reason you get it when you're asleep and not when you're awake is because your eyes produce significantly fewer tears while you're asleep, so it all just kind of builds up. When you're awake, your tears, coupled with blinking, wash it away. In case you're wondering, yes, your eyes do produce mucous, but it's highly diluted by your tears. Your mouth also produces mucous, but in that instance it's diluted by your saliva.
Sleepydust: A much more marketable name than eye boogers.
Sources:
Comic taken from Cyanide & Happiness
Wikipedia articles on rheum, mucus and mucin.
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