Dry Eyes
Four Effective Ways to Treat Dry Eyes
By Dr. Kristie
Do you suffer from dry eye syndrome? This is a fairly common condition where the eye doesn’t produce enough tears to keep the surfaces of the eyes moist. This results in symptoms of eye irritation, dryness, and burning and may give rise to a feeling that a foreign body is in the eye.
Before attempting to treat this condition, it’s important that you rule out more serious eye conditions such as a corneal abrasion, foreign body in the eye or glaucoma.
You only have one set of eyes and you don’t want to take any unnecessary chances with your vision. Once you’ve confirmed the diagnosis, you can concentrate on the best dry eye remedy for relieving the irritation and dryness.
Before considering the best dry eye remedy, it important to understand why you have it in the first place. What causes the uncomfortable symptoms of dry eye syndrome? Dry eyes can be caused by a variety of factors.
The symptoms are more common in people who suffer from autoimmune disorders as well as those who take certain medications such as blood pressure medications, antihistamines, and antidepressants.
If you’re taking medications of any type, it’s best to contact your doctor to see if they could be contributing to your dry eyes. Dry eyes are also commonly seen in contact lens wearers and smokers. Sometimes dry eye syndrome is a part of the normal aging process, possibly related to fluctuation in hormone levels that occur with menopause.
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It’s important to understand that dry eye syndrome unrelated to medications or contact lens usage may not be curable which doesn’t mean that it can’t be successfully treated. Here are some of the best treatments for dry eye syndrome:
Best dry eye remedies: If you wear contacts
If your dry eyes are related to the use of contact lenses, the symptoms can be temporarily relieved by using contact lens rewetting drops available at your drugstore. Sometimes switching to a contact lens made of a different material can remedy dry eyes as well as cleaning lens more frequently and wearing them less frequently.
You may want to check with your optometrist and Ophthalmologist to see if a different lens material could help to relieve your symptoms. In severe cases, an Ophthalmologist can prescribe anti-inflammatory eye drops to relieve the symptoms of dry eye syndrome.
Best dry eye remedies: Artificial tears
This is a product that lubricates the eye and can help relieve some of the irritation and dryness. While artificial tears can soothe the symptoms of dry eyes, over the counter eye drops such as Visine are not effective for this condition and should not be used. Ask your pharmacist to recommend a good lubricating eye drop.
Best dry eye remedies: Simple measures that can reduce symptoms
Some natural steps that can help to relieve the symptoms of dry eyes include drinking more water to keep the eye as hydrated as possible as well as increasing the humidity in your home.
Even dietary changes can make a difference. Some studies have shown that the symptoms of dry eyes improve with the dietary addition of flaxseed oil and the omega three fatty acids found in fish oils.
These can be purchased in supplement form at your local health food store. Limiting computer use, taking frequent breaks, and adjusting monitor settings so there’s less glare can help to relieve dry eye symptoms.
Best dry eye remedies: If the above fail
If you try the above measures and fail to note improvement in your dry eye symptoms, an Ophthalmologist may recommend a prescription eye drop known as Restasis which helps to increase tear production.
There are also other options which involve plugging the ducts that drain the tears. These are usually done when more conservative measures fail to relieve the symptoms of dry eye syndrome.
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