White, bright eyes are a sign of health and beauty in our society.  More so, having eyes that are constantly red and irritated looking is a reason for significant embarrassment at work or in social settings.  No one wants their co-workers asking if they have had enough sleep last night, or if you are feeling okay because you don’t look so well.  Worse yet, we don’t want people speculating behind our backs that we may have been out late drinking last night.     

Having dry, sensitive eyes is a chronic condition.  And, although you may be working on restoring your own eyes to health through the 4-step plan I provide for you in my book, Alleviate Dry Eye, you could be experiencing a temporary flare up in your dry eyes.  Click here to purchase your own copy of the book.   

These flare-ups ca...

Summer is a great time of year for everyone to get out and travel.  When you get to your destination, you want to look fresh and ready to experience something new.  However, the extra dry conditions of airplanes and even cars can make our eyes look red, puffy, and tired.  Being prepared with a few extra goodies in your carry-on bag and your checked bag can make all the difference in how you see, look, and feel. 

In this blog, you will learn what to pack, how to prepare yourself before you travel, the best ways to stay hydrated while traveling, and how to refresh yourself once you reach your destination.  We all deserve to show up looking and feeling great for our adventure to begin.  I have also included a printable packing list you can keep handy while preparing for your trip to ensure y...

When you have dry eye disease your eyes are very sensitive.  You may find that anything you add to them stings, burns, irritates or otherwise makes them worse.  Preservatives can be especially irritating to your eyes and over time the buildup of preservatives can cause increased redness and irritation.   

The top things eye care practitioners advise to avoid these preservatives are preservative-free drops and daily disposable contact lenses.  Here, I will cover why this is great advice, other contact lens options, and what we can do to reduce our waste products by using these types of disposable products.  

Why preservative-free? 

Preservatives are used in bottled artificial tears, medicated drops, and contact lens cleaners to prevent bacteria from growing in the bottle.  Preservatives ...

When you have dry eyes, everything seems to make them worse. Your eyes are already irritated, anything like wind, dirt, dust, and even pollen makes your eyes feel more irritated.  How do you continue to look cool and keep your eyes feeling good all summer long?  When you are outdoors, it is important to protect your eyes not only from the elements blowing into your eyes but also from UV light.  Let's discuss your sunglasses.  There are 3 things you want to look for in a pair of good sunglasses: protection, tint, and style. 

PROTECTION 

Ultra Violet light: 

The first thing you want to look for in a sunglass is that it has the best UVA and UVB protection you can find.  The glasses need to be labeled with a sticker that says at least 98% UV blocking.  The higher the blocking the better.  I...

It’s summertime! We are all glad to be out in the sunshine and enjoying ourselves outdoors. Many patients tell me they would like to wear their contact lenses more in the summer so they can wear their sunglasses.  Also, since most climates are a little less dry in the summer, dry eye sufferers find they can tolerate their contact lenses better this time of year. 

With wearing your contact lenses more of the time, there are a few things to keep in mind.  We will go over: the golden rule, the best cleaner to use for your contact lenses, and how to clean your lenses properly.   

The Golden Rule 

Since you are wearing your contact lenses more often in the summer it is important to remember the Golden Rule about contact lenses.  If you have read my book, Alleviate Dry Eye, you know there is ...

Artificial tears are used to refresh, restore and repair the front surface of your eyes. There are many different types of artificial tears on the market, so it can become confusing as a consumer to know which ones are best.  If you have you ever stood in the artificial tear aisle and didn’t know what to do, this article is for you. 

When you suffer from dry eyes, your tear film is lacking to nonexistent.  Many of the treatments your eye doctor will prescribe for you will help you to improve both the quality and the quantity of your tears.  While you work to get your body to produce tears again, you will need to supplement your tear film with artificial tears.  Here I will break down the different categories of artificial tears for you. 

Categories of Tears: 

There are two major categor...

The Best Technique for Drop Instillation 

Patients often tell me they have a hard time putting drops in their eyes. They complain that they waste expensive medications by dropping it onto their face.  

The problem with the way most people insert eye drops is that they hold the bottle over their eye and don’t have very good aim.  When you hold your hand above the eye there is nothing for you to use as a reference.  You don’t know how far below to the right or left your eye is from where the bottle drop is aligned.  

The Bridge Method can be used with any type of bottled eye drop, medication or an artificial tear, it doesn’t matter. This technique is a little harder to perform with the preservative-free vialed drops that I ask you to use, but it can still work.   

Currently, my favorite ...

At masquerade parties, mystery can be really fun.  Mardi Gras is an awesome time of year to wear a costume, crazy hat, or a mask.  But, I am not a fan of mystery in my clinical practice.  Dry eye disease can often masquerade as something else because there are other diseases that have the same symptoms.  And unfortunately, patients will sometime self-treat the wrong disease for weeks or months before coming in to see me. 

One of the biggest masqueraders of dry eye disease is allergy symptoms.  Here in Louisiana, my patients will blame everything that happens to them on allergies.  And because our winters are fairly mild, something is blooming here year round.  Allergy season can really be any season.   For instance to my patients a headache = allergies, dry cough = allergies, watery eyes ...

My patients often ask me why their eyes are so dry.  They feel like the symptoms may have come on suddenly, but the truth is that it was more likely to be a lot of little things that added up over a long period of time. 

Our bodies are very complex organisms. They have tasks that are being done all day long without us even thinking about it.  In our eyes, the tear film needs to be replenished constantly.  This means that you are continuously producing tears, and they are flowing out of your eyes all day long.

However, there are many reasons why your body will slow the production of the tears it needs.  In my book, Alleviate Dry Eye, Chapter 1 reviews the reasons for not producing enough tears extensively.  If you haven’t done so yet, you can get your copy here.   

There are several mai...

After the age of 40, have you noticed you are having a hard time putting your makeup on in the morning?  You used to be able to see yourself clearly in the mirror, but now your eye is a blur.  As an eye doctor and a woman over the age of 40, I know how frustrating this can be.  We all deserve to have clear, comfortable vision, and we don’t want to feel less put together because of our age. 

You are not at fault for this change in your vision.  Most patients describe it to me as something that happens all of a sudden.  One day, they are putting their makeup on in the bathroom, and the next day they can’t.  Let me assure you, it was not something that you did which caused the change.  It is simply a part of our aging process.  Watch the video above to see an explanation of this aging proces...