What do you do if you have a stye? On last week's blog, we talked about what a stye is, and why they were so much more common during our time of self-quarantine during the COVID-19 shutdown.  Eye doctors across the country commented on multiple panels and blogs that that is the infection that they noticed the most from patients during self-quarantine.  If you missed that blog don't worry, you can go back here to review what a stye is.

Now, if you have a stye, what can you do to treat it? There are a number of things you can try at home to get it to heal before going to your doctor's office.  Here is a list of the best practices:

KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF

Avoid touching your face or eyes as much as possible.  Avoid touching the stye itself.  In the long run, you will just irritate it more.   I...

After several months of some length of self-quarantine, we are all beginning to notice new things about ourselves.  This has been an interesting topic in many a Facebook post over the past few months.  

In the health care industry, we have found many different consequences of staying indoors and keeping away from others.  The country may have slowed the spread of COVID-19 with these measures, but other health dilemmas have come about.

In the eye care industry, we have noticed an increase in eyelid infections, namely styes.  A stye is an infection in the oil glands of the eyelid.   The lid becomes red, tender, and inflamed.   As the infection continues, it tends to concentrate in one round area which is red, raised, and tender to the touch.

There are two types of styes:

• External: ...

 Tip #1) Summer Proof your Beauty Routine

This past couple of weeks, I have been focusing on the risks of computer use in your eyes.  The first article covered the 7 ways to alleviate digital eye strain.  The second one talked about blinking and how important it is for our vision and to prevent long term dry eye.  And, the third article talked about digital devices causing sleep disruption and how that has long term effects.

In this article, I will cover the effects of prolonged computer use on the clarity of your vision in general.  Increases in nearsightedness have long been a concern (and a topic of research) amongst eye doctors.

I know this is a detour from my usual topics of all things related to dry eye.  Screen time does have significant effects on dry eyes.  But, I thought it would be remiss to leave out another importan...

Blinking Keeps Vision Clear

For many of us, Spring not only brings sunshine, warmer weather, and beautiful new flowers, it also brings pollen.  This pollen can cause tons of symptoms like sneezing as well as red, watery, itchy eyes.  Allergens can make us feel miserable.  Here are 3 tips to alleviate your allergy symptoms this spring.

Tip 1: Keep the pollen out

Eliminating the amount of pollen indoors is important in controlling your allergy symptoms.  The fewer irritants you have around your eyes, the less irritated your eyes will be.  When there is so much pollen that it coats our cars with a yellow frost, how do we keep it out:

Wear an outer layer of clothes like a raincoat with a hood.  Leave it in the garage or laundry room.  Don't bring the pollen into your home.

Take a shower before going to bed at ni...

Spending extra time on our digital devices seems like a lifestyle we all share right now.  The technology that we have today to work remotely and even socialize remotely is incredible.  But, all this extra screen time can cause problems with both dry eyes and eye strain.  

Utilize this downloadable resource guide to alleviate your digital eye strain.  Download it now and follow along with the blog.

#1) Set up your work station to reduce visual strain

Adjust your chair, desk, and monitor for the optimal distances and settings. Use the Workstation Set-Up Guide on page 7 to customize your workstation for your needs. Also, keep preservative-free tears handy, and utilize a small humidifier to keep your eyes from drying out during extended screen time.

 #2) Modify your Screen Settings 

An H...

3 Ingredients to Avoid

Alcohol

It's the Christmas season as I write this.  We are all running around trying to find the perfect gift for everyone on our list.  We want to make sure the gift is personal and not gonna end up in the re-gifting bin. 

I have a friend that loves candles.  She has them lit all over her house.  It always smells like a bakery at her house.  When you go from room to room there is a different cookie or food scented candle in each one.  There is usually apple, sugar cookie, and gingerbread.  No wonder, I'm always hungry when I'm over there. 

The week of Thanksgiving, I made a list of the ultimate gift-giving guide for 2019.  I put on it some of the best eye care products I've come across.  I feel like I have tried them all of the eye treatment products at this point.  I have listed over a half do...