- Hey, guys.
Today we're going to talk about blepharitis.
Does that sound exciting?
No, but if you haven't,
you're going to want to know more about it.
So stick around.
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Hey, guys, this is Joel Hayden.
Welcome to my channel if you haven't been here before.
We talk about all things to do with eyecare and wellness.
Today we're going to talk about blepharitis
and how that can affect you and what you can do to treat it.
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All right guys, so today we're gonna talk about blepharitis
and I thought before we talk about how to treat it,
we'll talk about what it is.
So, it's a very common, common condition
that many many, many of us have
where there's inflammation of the eyelid.
And it can be in the front part of the eyelid
or on the back part behind the lashes.
In front, obviously we would call it anterior blepharitis,
and behind we'd call it posterior blepharitis.
Anterior blepharitis tends to be that swollen, itchy,
flaky skin condition
that you'll see right along the eyelashes.
And it can be really kind of bothersome.
When some of those flakes of skin get in the eye,
it can be irritating.
So, that's what we would call anterior blepharitis.
And then posterior blepharitis can happen behind the lashes
almost at the very line going into the inside of the lid,
right where what are called the meibomian glands are
which are the glands that produce oil layers
for the tear film.
So that's what we're going to talk about today,
which is blepharitis.
So, many of us can have it.
There are so many things we could talk about.
Etiology, what could cause it systemically.
I could go on for an hour on this,
and that's not what you're looking for.
I know you just want to know the best way to treat it,
more than likely at home,
and that's what we're going to do today.
So, treating the blepharitis,
I usually will go with three distinct things.
If it's that flaky...
Matter of fact, let's talk about that last.
We'll talk about anterior last,
we'll talk about posterior first, from back to front.
The posterior blepharitis many times
is one of the main reason for dry eye disease.
So, if you have dry eyes,
you may not even know that posterior blepharitis
is actually the basis for having the dry eyes.
But those meibomian glands get clogged up
and there's a lot bacteria in our tears
and they get into the glands
and they produce what are called exotoxins.
And those exotoxins can clog up the glands
and stop the oil layer from getting out onto the tear film.
And when that happens,
we don't have the oil layer to protect the tear layer
so that it evaporates much faster,
creating the dry eye at a much faster rate.
And it's very bothersome.
And of course, subjectively,
you wouldn't know that's what's happening.
But it's very common.
It's one of the most common causes of dry eyes
is posterior blepharitis.
So let's talk about the treatment of posterior blepharitis.
One of them is very common.
Your eye doctor will tell you that a couple of times a day,
you should take a warm washcloth or a warm compress
and put it over your eye
and just gently massage it for a couple minutes,
and that will open up those glands
and get the tear film back to normal.
I have found that one of the best ways
to get the glands to function properly
is to take 2,000 milligrams of fish oil a day,
and I know that if you've seen my other videos,
I'm a huge proponent of fish oil.
And this is another reason why.
I have thousands of contact lens patients.
And when they come to me with dry eye issues,
I tell them to get on 2,000 milligrams of fish oil a day,
and guess what?
It usually solves the problem.
So it's twofold as to why the omega-3 fish oil pills
will help the dry eyes.
One is it gets the meibomian glands working better
and unclogged.
And then don't forget that the omega-3 fish oil pills work
as an anti-inflammatory agent at the cellular level.
And as I said right at the very beginning,
blepharitis is an inflammatory process.
So, the fish oil really helps
to decrease the amount of inflammation on the lids.
So those are the two things that I would do
to take care of the posterior blepharitis.
And then for the anterior blepharitis,
this is what I would do.
So when my patients come to me
and have issues and I can clearly see
that they're having issues with anterior blepharitis
with the flaking and scaling of the skin,
I usually point them to the OCuSOFT product.
We usually have samples of this in the office
for our patients, and the lid scrubs work really well.
So, what you want to do is take the package,
tear it open.
You will find it folded up.
It's pre-moistened, it's wet, kind of almost soapy.
And what you want to do
is kind of wrap it around your finger, close your eye,
and then gently clean right along the lashes.
And I usually will tell the patients
to do the lower lid well, the upper lid well,
even get the eyebrow.
And then you're going to do the same thing to the other eye.
And then you're going to rinse it off.
I would do that a couple of times a day
for at least two to three weeks.
And I think your blepharitis
will be really under control well
to the point where maybe once a week you can do it
and it will be gone.
So, I hope that helped.
I'm going to put links to all the products down below.
The fish oil, the warm compresses,
I would even tell you to use
one of the custom heated warm compress
that you can put in the microwave,
and of course the OCuSOFT product.
Hope that helped.
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Until next time, take care.