What Does It Mean to be CLEAN?

CLEAN makeup refers to a brand that is free of toxic ingredients.  Unfortunately, there are toxic ingredients hiding in some of our favorite makeup brands, which leave residues on our lids and lashes and lead to inflammation. 

These toxic ingredients are like anything else that you can think of being toxic, like eating food that is spoiled. If we eat toxic foods, our stomach would become inflamed and it would be toxic to our insides leading to inflammation, discomfort, and bloating.

What happens with toxic ingredients on the eyes?

When toxic ingredients come into contact with your eyes, they become red, swollen, watery, and irritated.  There are 26 ingredients, which are commonly found in makeup that need to be avoided on the eye.  You can download a lis...

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: ...

Many of my patients struggle with wearing I make up all day. They put on make up in the morning,  but it starts to run down their faces by afternoon. The problem is redness, irritation, and watering.  It's the ingredients in the eye makeup: mascara, eye shadow, and eyeliner that are irritating to the eyes. 

Did you know that women use an average of nine personal care products every day?  And, the beauty industry in the United States is highly unregulated. There has not been a new law past in the United States since 1938. As of today, there are only 11 ingredients banned from beauty products made in the United States. Whereas in Europe, there are over 1100 ingredients banned from their ingredient lists.

When I discuss changing makeup products with my patients, I am often met with resist...

Summer fills most of us with happy memories of time spent outdoors.  Summer is filled with water activities and lots and lots of sunshine.  

When you have dry, sensitive eyes, there are a few more factors affecting your eyes in the summer than any other time of year.  Don't let your red, irritated eyes keep you from enjoying the great outdoors this summer.  Utilize these tips to keep your eyes and your face happy.

There are 3 keys to a successful beauty routine to keep your eyes happy all summer long.

No. 1) NEVER Sleep in your Eye Makeup

Great beauty always begins with a clean face.  Removing your makeup at the end of the day is as important to your eyes as brushing your teeth is to your mouth.  Removing all traces of your eye makeup removes the places where bacteria can live and th...

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...

The holidays are upon us.  For some of us, this news feels us with happiness and joy.  For others, it fills us with stress and anxiety.   I hate to admit to you that I am definitely the latter of these two types of people.  It is not that I don't like Christmas.  I love the decorations, parties, food, and gatherings.  I just have stress about the gift-giving.  #truth

Let's face it, there are some people in our lives that are hard to give to.  And, I'm sure you have more people on your list each year.  The growth of my list always seems exponential.  How does that happen?

Let me present to you the 2019 Gift Giving Guide.  You will find something on it for everyone.  Even if you don't think that your friends and family have dry eyes, we all need to take care of our eyes.  Take care of your...

This past week, I got an up-close and personal reminder of how painful inflammation can be.  I was out on my morning run.  It is by far my exercise of choice for getting the blood flowing and clearing my mind.  

Well, I must not have been thinking about my feet because all of a sudden I was face down on the asphalt.  Ugh.  I rolled on to my back and saw stars all at the same time.  I am a true believer in the discomfort of inflammation.

Do you remember last week when we went over the 4 steps to alleviate your dry eye symptoms?  They are hydrate, harmonize, heat, and heal,  If you want to go back and review that blog again, just click here.

The fourth step - heal has to do with reducing inflammation.  I suggest taking an omega fatty acid supplement called HydroEye by ScienceBased health....

Several years ago, I began to struggle with dry eyes.  This was at a time when I lived in a very dry climate, and I wore contact lenses most of the time. My eyes would get dry towards the end of my workday, and I couldn’t wait to take them off when I finally got home.   

Most days a couldn't stand to wear eye makeup.  I knew there must be a better way to live.  I couldn't go on with the feeling of wanting to claw the contact lenses from my eyes before 5 pm. 

I began to research how to keep moisture in my eyes longer.  I played around and tried every contact lens and contact lens cleaning solution on the market.  I definitely have my favorites from that experiment, but there was still something missing.   

Since then, I’ve read articles, attended lectures, and even written a book on the...