these are seven of the best preservative-free eye drops for dry eyes that you can get right
now at the store walmart target over-the-counter let's focus in
hey howdy everybody this is Dr. Neal Guymon, Dr. EyeGuy, with the channel that keeps your eyes
healthy and your vision clear now i want to go over three tips about choosing the best eye drops
before we get into it tip number one and that's to know which dry eye disease you have a lot of
people fall in the category of aqueous deficient their eyes don't produce enough tears a lot of
people fall in the category of evaporative dry eye disease where their tears evaporate off the
surface of the eye too fast leaving the surface of the eye exposed to the air or you might be a
mixed of those two categories and this is probably where the majority of people fall including me tip
number two and that's to know that you might not like the eye drop that everybody else loves you
might find some people love this eye drop and you hate it or you love this eye drop and nobody else
likes it everybody's different everybody reacts to different eye drops completely normal sometimes
it's just a matter of trying some different eye drops to find the magic eye drop for you
and then tip number three i'll share at the end of the video the first eye drop and a fairly new
eye drop is bio true hydration boost comes in a preservative free bottle form super nice less
waste it's ph balanced the active ingredient is glycerin which is nice because it reduces the
osmolarity or the saltiness of the tears and it helps promote the oculus surface to heal so it's
way nice also the inactive ingredient is sodium hyaluronate which makes the artificial tears
stick to the surface of the eyes a lot better so it coats the eye a lot better feels really nice
and really there are just some artificial tears that feel nice and this is one of them drop number
two i found this one at walmart but it might be a little trickier to find and that's optase
dry eye intense drops really similar to the bio true hydration boost drops contains glycerin
also has sodium hyaluronate in there as well but i definitely recommend trying this one because
optase great company and they have many different dry eye products and eye drops and gels so if you
end up liking this one there's a good chance you might like one of their other products as well
drop number three is refresh reliever comes in a preservative free bottle form also the single
use vial so you have some options there really similar to the bio true hydration boost and optase
great for aqueous deficient dry eyes has glycerin in there but also has carboxymethyl cellulose
sodium which helps improve the viscosity of the tears but also helps protect the mucin layer
of the tears so when you blink it has a nice coating of tears on there and it makes so you
don't disrupt your natural tears it mimics your natural tears really well now really quick i want
to mention this the reason why i almost always recommend preservative free artificial tears
is because these preservatives that can be found in other eye drops can sometimes be irritating to
the eyes especially if you're going to be using those eye drops many times throughout the day
there's one preservative bak or back that's found in a lot of eye drops that can be really
irritating it's one of the more potent detergent type of preservatives some people can be allergic
or sensitive to that preservative and it can actually delay healing of the ocular surface also
if you have one eye drop that you love definitely leave it in the comments below sometimes
that might be the comment that might help someone else and so you might help someone more than i
ever can so definitely leave it in the comments below hit the like while you're down there drop
number four falls under the more evaporative dry eye category and that's refresh mega three with
flaxseed oil now these come in the preservative free single use of vials and then the ingredients
also contain glycerin and carboxymethyl cellulose sodium but also polysorbate 80. this triad
also helps coat the eyes really well it protects the mucin layer of the tears and also helps
viscosity so it really protects the surface of the eyes now with the flaxseed oil and they put
castor oil in there as well it has two oil bases to help protect the lipid layer of the
tears the oil layer of the tears and that's that helps prevent the evaporation of the tears so if
you fall in that category this eye drop is gonna work really well drop number five may be one of my
favorites to recommend at least have people start with and it actually has a stamp on there that
says number one doctor recommended brand in this case it actually might be true this one is sustain
complete the preservative free version now this one actually comes in the preservative free bottle
form so super nice super convenient it also is the perfect eye drop for that mixed category
aqueous deficient and evaporative dry eye disease if you have the mixed you have both
this eye drop would be the one to reach for now the active ingredient in sustain complete
is propylene glycol which is similar to the other active ingredients where it helps create
a protective layer over the eyes over the tears it helps coat and protect the mucin layer of the tear
film now this eye drop actually helps improve all three layers of the tear film which is super nice
now in the inactive ingredients it has hp guar which helps create an interlocking matrix between
the artificial tears and actually damaged epithelial cells of the eyes and so it helps them
repair themselves super nice there it also has mineral oil which helps protect the lipid layer of
the tears and helps protect and reduce evaporation so it helps really all three layers of the tears
if you are just starting into eye drops this would be the first one to try as it can cover all of the
bases drop number six is refresh digital this is also one of those drops that may help with both
types of dry eyes the mixed aqueous deficient and evaporative form of dry eyes it has similar
ingredients to refresh mega three with the triad of ingredients in there but also puts castor oil
in there a lipid base or an oiled base to kind of help prevent evaporation as well so helps
coat and protect and stay on the eyes and helps protect the tears from evaporating super nice drop
worth a try drop number seven i had to throw in a thicker eye drop for the more moderate to severe
dry eye conditions and this is celluvisc super nice thicker eye drop for sure it has carboxy
methyl cellulose in there and it's double the concentration that you'll find in other eye drops
normal eye drops and so it does make the eye drops thicker warning here if you're going to put it in
definitely don't be driving right after you put the eye drop in it can blur your vision for a
couple minutes this is an eye drop that a lot of people use before they go to bed or if they know
they're going to stay around in their house for a while but it's a super nice eye drop preservative
free if you're more of a moderate to severe dry eye patient this would be one to try for sure
can be tricky to find though so if you do see it snag it try it and like i promise tip number three
artificial tears are a band-aid or a temporary fix to a bigger issue they are to supplement
your artificial tears so if you can go into your eye doctor have a dry eye evaluation
see if you can figure out the core issue causing your dry eye symptoms and sometimes that can be
tricky sometimes it can be frustrating but if you can figure that out you can treat the core issue
but still use artificial tears still great to supplement those artificial tears if you're
lacking but definitely try and learn as much as you can about dry eyes if you want to learn more
definitely check out my playlist right here i go in more in depth
about dry eye conditions and symptoms I'm Dr. Neal Guymon, Dr. EyeGuy, stay focused.