Happy Mari Gras!

It's Mardi Gras season here in Louisiana.  And, Mardi Gras season gives the folks here in Louisiana one more thing to celebrate.  There are parties, parades, masquerade balls, and lots of fun to be had.  Everyone likes to get dressed up for it and wear beaded necklaces and fun masks. 

Since there is a lot of masquerading going on, it's the perfect time to talk about an eye condition that often masquerades as dry eyes - seasonal allergies. Or, I should say that allergies sometimes aren't the cause of your symptoms and it's really dry eye that's the underlying problem.

My patients often come in to see me and talk to me about symptoms of redness and watering. Then, they down play the symptoms by stating, "It's just my allergies". That's how it masquerades. A symptom that...

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 ...