3 Best Dry Eye Treatments at Home | Eye Surgeon explains how to treat dry eye disease at home

hello everyone this is dr audrey thai i'm a board-certified and fellowship-trained refractive and cataract surgeon ophthalmologist and cornea specialist welcome back to my channel i channel by eye surgeon in today's video i would like to talk to you about three effective treatments that you can do at home to treat dry eye disease you may have heard about many different types of dry eye treatments such as eye drops both the ones that are available over the counter and the ones available by prescription and some other treatments that you can get at a doctor's office but if you adopt the three at-home treatments i mentioned in this video and do them consistently you should notice a significant improvement if you have mild to moderate dry eye disease if you stay with me until the end of this video i will go over the single most important component of any dry treatment this is not a sponsored video and the treatments i mentioned in this video are based on my own clinical experience you may have already been doing some of the treatments for dry eyes and mentioning this video but you still feel your eyes get irritated red and tired after watching this video you may find the products you have been using or how you are using them may not be correct for you i will also be posting a more in-depth video about the mechanisms on dry eye disease and different types of dry eyes so make sure you subscribe to my channel so you won't miss any of my new videos treatment number one artificial tears you may be thinking i've been using over-the-counter dry drops many times a day but my eyes are still dry and irritated but which type of over-the-counter eye drops are you using and how many times a day are you using them because using the right type of over-the-counter artificial tear eye drops will help to replenish the tear film on the surface of our eyes by using the wrong ones can cause damage to the surface of the eye instead of helping to improve dry eyes the tear film contains three different layers a lipid layer an aqueous layer and a mucin layer a good dry drop can help replenish and improve all three layers of the tear film the over-the-counter artificial tear eye drop i recommend to most people to improve the health of all three layers of tear film is refresh digital refreshed digital artificial tiers contain castor oil which is a natural ingredient derived from castor beans and he targets the lipid layer of the tear film by reducing evaporation of the tear film and extending the effectiveness of the artificial tears in addition to the active ingredients of cmc and glycerin an additional active ingredient in refresh digital is polysorbate polysorbate can help blend the oil component and the water soluble component of the artificial tears to make the eye drops more soluble and easily spread across the surface of the eye it is very important to use the preservative-free version of the refreshed digital eye drop whenever possible because there are special cells on the surface of the eyes called goblet cells these special cells can be damaged when exposed to excessive amount of preservatives in eye drops over a long period of time resulting in less healthy musing in the tear film the goblet cells secrete the innermost layer of the tear film the museum layer the museum layer of the tear film stabilizes the tear film and decreases the surface tension it allows the aqueous layer of the tear foam to spread evenly over the surface of the eye and protects the surface of the eye from damage to learn more about preservatives using over-the-counter eye drops you can check out my video about dry eye drop ingredients typically if you're using artificial tear eye drops more than four times a day or if you use eye drops while wearing contact lenses i highly recommend avoiding preservatives in the eye drops by using preservative-free artificial to your eye drops the preservative-free refreshed digital eye drops come in single-use vials which can be costly and inconvenient a good alternative is optase dry intensite drops it is preservative free and it comes in multi-dose bottle it contains sodium hyaluronate and 0.2 percent glycerin i've been using the optase eye drop for the last few weeks and found the lubrication factor of the drop to be long-lasting i've listed the links for those two eye drops below in the description of the video you can check them out you can also check out my video about my top five over-the-counter eye drops to help you find the right one for you treatment number two warm compresses this treatment mainly targets the lipid layer of the tear film the lipid layer of the tear foam is very important in preventing tears from evaporating too fast the lipid layer of the tear film is the outermost layer if your eyes feel dry and irritated shortly after applying over the counter eye drops or you feel like you need to put in eye drops over and over again the lipid layer of your tear film is likely not very healthy the lipid layer of the tear film is secreted by the meibomian glands located in both upper and lower eyelids if the melbourne glands are clogged or not working or the gland oil contains two male inflammatory particles the aqueous layer of the tear film underneath secreted by the tear glands will not remain on the cornea for long enough to lubricate or moisturize the eyes one effective treatment you can do at home to open up the oil glands is warm compresses you may have already been doing warm compresses at home but have not found it to be very effective you may not have been doing them correctly the key of getting the benefit of warm compresses is to keep the heat over your closed eyelid for five to ten minutes continuously the method of using a washcloth soaked with hot water often does not provide long enough heat to the eyelids and you'll need to re-warm the washcloth a few times during each warm compress session heatable eye masks are designed to provide more consistent and longer-lasting heat to the melbourne glands to help release oil from the glands into the tear film i typically recommend doing warm compresses once or twice a day depending on the severity of your dry symptoms i've listed the heat mask that i have been using myself in the description below you can microwave the brooder mask for 20 seconds and it will stay hot for 20 minutes treatment 3 omega-3 oil supplements the lipid layer of the tear foam can also be affected by unhealthy gland oil secreted by the meibomian glands this is typically due to increased inflammatory particles in the tear film in this case it is important to modulate and restore the health of the meibomian glands and their oil this is where omega-3 supplements can come into play because omega-3 supplements are not a prescription medication and are not regulated by the fda their dosage and composition may vary greatly stay tuned for an upcoming video where i will take a more in-depth look for you into omega-3 oil supplements for dry disease i'll put a link in the description below for one brand omega-3 oil for dry ice if you would like to check them out please remember to always consult with your doctor before taking any high dose omega-3 supplements to make sure that they're safe and right for you in this video i've mentioned three easy-to-do dry treatments that you can do at home there are also other more invasive and advanced treatment options that require prescriptions and are typically reserved for more severe dry cases to learn more about those treatment options you can check out my video what to do when eye drops are just not enough it is important to remember there is no one-size-fits-all treatment protocol for everyone in my clinical practice i prescribe an individualized treatment protocol for each patient based on their individual situation and i tailor their treatment plan based on their response to each treatment you can follow me on facebook and linkedin at dr audrey thai to learn more about my practice thank you for staying with me throughout this video as i promised at the beginning of this video i would like to share with you the single most important component of any dry treatment the most important thing you can do to ensure that your dry treatment is effective is to be consistent if you only apply eye drops or do dry treatments when you are experiencing symptoms such as redness soreness or irritation the treatment effect will not be long lasting when you adopt any or all of the three treatments and do them consistently on a daily basis the treatments will act as preventative measures to help prevent you from getting dry symptoms i often recommend that my patients with dry disease use artificial tear eye drops three to four times a day on a regular basis and do warm compresses and take omega-3 oil supplements daily if you feel your eyes are still irritated or sometimes have blurry vision despite using over-the-counter eye drops and other at-home treatments i mentioned in this video it is important to have a full eye exam and talk to your eye doctor about what other treatment options might be right for you let me know in the comments below what dry eye treatments you are currently using and what your experience has been i hope you find this video helpful if you have learned anything new from this video please don't forget to hit the like button and subscribe to my channel to help me bring you more videos about eye health and eye surgery thank you again for watching and i will see you in my next video

Channel: Eye Channel by Eye Surgeon Dr Audrey Tai

Views: 349,031

Keywords: dry eyes, dry eye treatement, dry eye home remedy, dry eye drops, dry eye disease, dry eye syndrome, best eye drops for dry eyes, best eye drops for contacts, artificial tears for dry eyes, eye drop for red eyes, eye drops for whiter eyes, eye drops for tired eyes

Id: _pv6F8zB7UU

Length: 10min 14sec (614 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 21 2021