I like to refer to the winter season as Dry Eye Season to my patients.  In most parts of the country, winter is the driest season. When the temperature is cold outside, the moisture comes out of the air. Then, we turn our heaters on indoors to combat those cooler temps. Now, the indoor air is dry as well.

It is important this time of year to provide your eyes with extra moisture. I like to think about hydrating my eyes in 3 ways:

1. From the inside
2. On the surface
3. From your environment

Check out these easy steps you can take to get Dry Eye Relief this Winter...

#1) Hydrate from the Inside

Make sure you are continuing to do the things that are good for your eyes and your health during the winter season.  Continuing to take your omega 3 fatty acid supplement is a great idea.  I hav...

Today, I'm going to talk to you about the first of three myths about dry eye disease. Stay tuned over the coming weeks for the other two myths.

Myth #1:

Dry Eye Disease symptoms will just go away on their own.

Truth:

Dry eye is a disease. It's called dry eye disease (DED).  And, it's chronic and progressive just like other disease that you might have, like diabetes or high blood pressure.

DED is chronic. You will need to treat it for a lifetime. It doesn't just go away on its own. So it needs to be treated long term. It's best to make simple shifts to your lifestyle to treat it. If you make your treatment regimen a part of your daily care routine (like you do for brushing your teeth) it is easy to do it over your lifetime. 

Check out the 4-simple steps of daily dry eye care here.  ...

Dry eye disease is multifactorial. This means that it comes from many areas in our body and in your environment. There are several factors that worsen dry eye disease that we cannot change. These are gender and age. Females over the age of 40 are more susceptible to having dry eye disease than others. Unfortunately, we cannot change these factors. 

What's the best approach to dry eye treatment? 

There are many other dry eye risk factors that can be changed. The best plan to treating dry eye disease is taking a multifactorial approach. In my own patients, I recommend taking 3 three pillar approach to treating dry eye disease. These pillars are: 

E: Eyes – customizing the 4-simple steps of daily eye care for the patients lifestyle. This daily regimen of eye care brings down the overall in...

One of the biggest complaints my dry eye patients talk to me about is redness.  Across the board, no matter their age or gender, patients hate having red eyes.  It's just embarrassing.  And, in truth, other people do notice when your eyes are red.  

Let's face it, the eyes are the windows to your soul.  And although rose colored glasses may give you a sunnier disposition, rose colored eyes do not.  There is no beauty in red eyes.  And, we don't like the story that red eyes tend to relate about activities we may have engaged in the night before.

Instead let's concentrate on how to make your dry eyes white again. This week especially, only a few days before Easter, you don't want to be mistaken for an Easter bunny.

Why are your eyes red when they're dry?

Well, dry eye is driven by inf...

It's almost Valentine's Day!!  Let's talk about how to make your eyes look gorgeous for your date.

There are five steps you can take to make your eyes pop, even when they're dry or sensitive, when you're out for Valentine's day. On this night especially, you don't want to hide your eyes because you're embarrassed by their redness.  Eyes are the window to the soul.  And, we all know that making eye contact is key in building relationships.  And, Valentine's Day is all about relationships.  So, let's stop hiding our eyes, and get them looking gorgeous.

STEP 1) LET THEM POP

You're ready to look great on your Valentine's Day date.  You don't want your leads to make you appear sleepy.  Use one drop of Upneeq at least 20 minutes before "go time".  And, your eyes will look more open and alluri...

I've been talking a lot about how Winter is a dry eye season.  There are many factors in your environment and also in your lifestyle that can be significantly affecting how your eyes feel this time of year.  

If you haven't been following along with this series about how to help your dry eyes feel more comfortable this time of year, you can catch up with these blogs: self-care, indoor adjustments, and outdoor adjustments.   

1) Diet

Now let's talk about your diet this time of year, especially with the holidays, you probably ate all sorts of things that aren't part of your normal diet. There's usually lots of potlucks and people bringing in little treats from home this time of year.

When you're at the office, you may be eating too much sugar, wheat, dairy, alcohol, and caffeine. Just ...

I want to talk about something very important having to do with your dry eyes.  Comparison.  Comparison can kill even the best intended hopes and dreams.   Often, my patients will ask me to prescribe something for them that worked for their: mom, sister, best friend, or the girl down the street.  Because, they will tell me, it works so great for that other person.   Or, they may ask me about a treatment that their best friend tried and want to try it themselves. 

However, the cause of dry eye is "multi-factorial"  This means it can come from many different sources.  Both men and woman can have dry eyes, but the cause of the dry eye and thus the way we treat it will be significantly different. 

So comparing other people's treatments to your own is not useful.  Or wanting your outcom...

My patients and some of my students in my Alleviate Dry Eye course often ask me about how to express their meibomian glands.  You may have been told to do this by your own doctor.  Or, maybe you have read about it or heard about it from a friend.  A lot of folks are still confused as to how to do it.  

If you've been following my blog for a while, then you know I talk about doing four simple steps to take care of our dry eyes daily.  To review, the first step is hydrate, so using an artificial tear. The second step is to cleanse your lids and lashes. The third step is to heat your lashes, and right after that heating you often want to express those meibomian glands, so we're going to talk about that. The fourth step is to take a dry eye supplement. I always recommend HydroEye to my patien...

I hope that most Americans have gotten into the habit of having their eyes checked once a year.  No matter your age or stage of life, you should be having an annual eye exam.  And, if you are having a problem with your eyes, schedule an appointment to see your eye doctor.

A lot of times, patients come to see me for a very specific reason instead of for their annual eye exam.  They come to see me specifically because they have eyelashes that are turned around and are poking their eyes.

What is Trichiasis?

Trichiasis is the medical term for eyelashes that are misdirected or growing in the wrong direction.  It's a problem that can be annoying at best, is usually painful, and can lead to devastating eye infections in the worst cases.  

When eyelashes grow inward or towards the eye, they ca...

This week, I have a special guest with me. Zac Denning is meeting us from San Francisco, California. He is with ScienceBased Health, which makes my favorite omega supplement and Zac is here to talk to us today about HydroEye.

According to the TFOS DEWS II Report, it is important to start every dry eye patient on a daily regimen for eye care.  I recommend using 4-Simple Steps daily: artificial tears, lid scrubs, warm compresses, and a dry eye supplement to help support a healthy tear film.

My favorite dry eye supplement is HydroEye. I thought I'd bring Zac on today to share with my readers and listeners, why we both love HydroEye. So let's start out with an easy one.

What is HydroEye?

HydroEye is a clinically tested supplement for dry eye support. It's really a unique formula. It contai...