Hey, Eyes and Shine! There, my friends, Dr. Allan here, and today we're going
to be talking about eye drops. Because if you're somebody who struggles with dry eyes,
it can be a challenge to find an eye drop that works. And if you go to the store,
it can be seriously overwhelming with so many options on the shelf. And it's even kind of
scary now because of all the FDA recalls that have occurred on drops over this last year.
So today, I'm going to be sharing which eye drops I personally use for my own dry eyes,
as well as some of the brands that I frequently recommend to patients I see
in the clinic. As well as reviewing some of the ingredients to look for and be aware of,
as depending on where you live, you may not have access to every eye drop option.
And in addition to all of this, we'll also touch on dosing and frequency. And toward the end,
we'll even share some bonus tips and ways to save money on your eye
drops because if you are using drops consistently, they can get expensive.
So, probably the eye drops that I use most frequently here at home are the IVIZIA eye drops.
These are a little bit newer to the US market. They're very similar to a drop called Theolos Duo,
which is the most frequently prescribed eye drop over in Europe. These I like because they feel
good on my eyes, they don't blur my vision, and they seem to last longer than most other eye drops
that I've tried. Plus, they are preservative-free and safe with contact lenses. Also, they happen
to be way more affordable than a lot of the other competitors. Sometimes I find it even less than
50% of the price of the other brands. Ivizia contains high molecular weight hyaluronic acid,
as well as sodium hyaluronate, providone, and an ingredient called Trehalose, which all work
together to help stabilize your tear film. It helps prevent death of the goblet cells or the
mucus-producing cells of the eye, as well as helping with corneal wound healing. So it's
no real surprise why myself and many other eye doctors I know are liking this eye drop so much.
Another eye drop I like to use and frequently take with me, either by putting some in my coat
pocket or I put them in a backpack, is Sustain Hydration. Now, I like these because they don't
blur my vision or make my eyelids feel sticky or tacky. Plus, they are preservative-free and they
come in these little individual vials which just don't take up as much space as other larger eye
drop bottles. Sustain Hydration has polyethylene glycol as a main lubricant which is rated higher
in the research as being better than a lot of other common ingredients in eye drops. Plus,
it also has sodium hyaluronate which is in the Ivizia drops, as that can help with reducing mucus
strand buildup on the eye as well as reducing tear film osmolarity, which are all good things.
And then, finally, toward the end of the day when I've taken out my contact lenses and I'm kind of
winding down before bedtime, lately I've been testing out these eye drops here. First here is
Blink 3in1 Extended Relief. This I like because it not only provides some moisture to the eye, but it
also has two different forms of castor oil in it which can be helpful for preventing your tear film
from evaporating. So if you're somebody that you know you have some Meibomian gland dysfunction or
MGD or some other oil deficiency in your tear film, that's where something like this may be
helpful. Again, Blink 3in1 has both polyethylene glycol and sodium hyaluronate in it. The one kind
of special thing to know is that these Blink drops do technically have a preservative in them. It's
called OcuPure and is known as a soft preservative because when it leaves the bottle as soon as light
hits the eye drops, it denatures that preservative and kind of breaks it down so it doesn't cause any
problems on the eye. That's exactly why you always see these types of drops in this kind of opaque
blue bottle to stop light from penetrating it. Overall, a pretty cool technology. Yay, science!
And then the other two here I've been testing out are from Optase, which is again a very popular
brand in Europe which is now available in the US. The two I've been testing out are Optase Dry Eye
Intense Eye Drops for more of just lubrication and irritation on the eye. And then I also have
the MGD Advanced drops which are more for people with evaporative types of dry eye. Both of these
drops are preservative-free. They have sodium hyaluronate in them and glycerin. The only
difference is that the MGD Advanced drops also have Trehalose and something called Sacha Inchi
seed oil in them and that's again supposed to help with preventing evaporation of the tear. Again,
these are a little bit newer for me but I have been testing them out and am liking them so far.
So those are the eye drops that I frequently use throughout the day. Now, just because these eye
drops work for me doesn't necessarily mean they're going to work for you and everybody
else. Dry eye is very complex and finding a good eye drop for you is going to depend on
what type of dry eye somebody has. So I always recommend talking to a local eye doctor and ask
them what sort of factors are at play when it comes to you and your dry eye symptoms.
For example, a few other eye drops that I frequently recommend to my
patients include both Systain Complete Preservative-Free as well as Refresh
Mega3 because both of these brands are preservative-free formulations
that both treat the moisture as well as some of the evaporation of the tear.
Just one caveat I'll mention about Sustain Complete is that this is technically an
emulsion eye drop, meaning that when you start to drop it out, you'll notice it's kind of a
milky white color and not all eye drops look like that so it's just important to know that
that's normal and supposed to look that way. Otherwise, I've had people ask if that means
it's gone bad or anything like that but just know it's that's how it's supposed to look.
Again, we don't really have time in this video to review every eye drop
in the market but I will put some additional honorable mentions in the description below.
Now when it comes to dosing or frequency of how often you use eye drops, I think there's a lot
that goes into this. For example, I personally do pretty good with my dry eye symptoms now,
especially after starting taking like Omega-3s, for example. And if you haven't seen my other
videos or full playlist about Omega-3s and dry eye, I'll put a link to that up here for you.
But because my eyes are feeling pretty good, that means I don't use eye drops all the time. But if I
have a tough day where I'm staring at the computer screen a lot or I'm having like a flare-up of my
symptoms, then I will start using the drops more frequently and more consistently. But when someone
is experiencing chronic dry eyes and having redness and signs of inflammation on the eye,
then using eye drops more frequently and consistently is recommended. But
dipping into the research, there are studies showing that using eye drops consistently at
QID or four times a day for at least 30 days does show resolution of dry eye symptoms,
with those studies showing that if people continue to use them for 3 to 4 months,
then you even have improved healing of the corneal surface. But as always,
it's best to ask your local eye doctor what they think is best for you because occasionally
we have patients where we tell people to use eye drops more than four times a day.
And now for some extra bonus tips. First, gels and ointments. Eye drop
gels and nighttime ointments are great for really severe cases of dry eye,
but they do tend to blur your vision a little bit. The gel eye drops last longer on the eye,
but they will also cause your eyelids to feel kind of sticky and tacky. And then nighttime
ointments are ideal for right before bedtime, especially if you're someone who, you know,
you sleep with your eyes open just a little bit or you sleep with a CPAP machine. If you're not
sure how to use nighttime ointment, I'll put a link to a tutorial video I did along with some
of the other eye drops and ointments that I like in the description below.
Second tip is to look at the ingredients of your eye drops and avoid anything that
contains something called BAK or Benzalkonium Chloride as that is
a very strong preservative and is known to be toxic to the surface of the eye,
including making burning sensations worse as well as redness to get worse. So yeah, avoid that one.
And then my final tips are ways to save money with your eye drops and medications. This here
is called the NanoDropper. This is a special topper that screws onto your eye drops and
medications and can reduce the size of the drop by about 70%, which reduces waste, helps reduce
the amount of preservatives that get onto the eye, and can extend the life of your medications
by about 70%, which can further reduce cost. The NanoDropper fits on all standard eye drop bottles
and medications and I think is super helpful for anybody who takes eye drops for glaucoma because
those medications can get rather expensive. If you want to check out NanoDropper yourself, you
can enter the code 'Allan10' at checkout and save 10% off your first order. And in addition to this,
there are other programs and coupons that are frequently available to bring the price of eye
drops down further so I will put an extra link to those in the description below that like button
for you. Basically, there's going to be a whole treasure trove of stuff in the description so
check it out. Otherwise, please let us know in the comments section which eye drops are your
favorite, especially if they were a game-changer for you. Otherwise, I hope this video really helps
you out. Thank you so much for watching. Keep an eye on it and I hope you have a fantastic day!