So in this video we're gonna be covering some of my favorite dry eye remedies that don't require any prescription medications or
Eyedrops, so let's take a look
Hey, what's up everybody, this is dr. Joseph Allen from dr. Eye health. Thank you for joining us
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Now dry eyes is a very complicated topic and there's no way that we're going to be able to cover all of dry eyes in
Just one quick video
However treatments for dry eye can be very expensive whether you're using a prescription medication
That goes can cost four to five hundred dollars a month
And then there's some in office treatments that can cost anywhere from one hundred to two thousand dollars for a single treatment
And that doesn't even include any of the office visits just to see the doctor
So a lot of people are coming to me asking
Hey
Is there a way I can
Naturally kind of curb my symptoms whether that's with a lifestyle change or is there a product I can use?
That'll help improve my dry eye symptoms? Let's go over my four favorite ways to help with dry eye
So my first tip is to simply drink more water, and I know that sounds almost too simple
But the reality is that we just tend not to drink enough as humans
We kind of confuse our feelings for hunger and thirst. So a lot of times you'll be snacking thinking
Oh, I'm really hungry
But the reality is you might just be really thirsty
Maybe grabbing an extra glass or two a water is actually gonna help not only your appetite but it's gonna help
your symptoms of dry eyes
Additionally, we always have to be drink some sort of diuretic whether it be coffee tea or soda drinks
These all tend to pull water out of our systems and that can help increase your symptoms of dry eyes and
Then on top of that we all tend to be taking some type of medication whether that be for high blood pressure
Or if you're taking an oral antihistamine for allergies, these are notorious medications for causing dry eyes
So perhaps just drinking an extra glass or two a water throughout the day will help you with your dry eyes
Now tip number two is to blink more often. I know that sounds really simple as well
But the reality is a lot of our lifestyles that we're living include digital devices
so we're all just about on our phone all day or on some sort of a laptop screen or a computer screen and
When we're in front of these devices we tend to be so focused
We don't blink as much and so on average when we're walking around we blink about 20 times a minute
But when we're focused on something like your phone or even a book our blink rate drops to about four and a half to five
Times a minute that's a huge reduction in blink rate
and so when our eyes that you left open and exposed to air longer the
Tears will evaporate a lot faster and that's gonna cause those dry eye symptoms
So just by doing some blinking exercises throughout the day by either closing your eyes completely one two
And then maybe on the third time holding your eyelids shut
That will help encourage you to not only blink more often, but then that's gonna help
Encourage you to completely close your eye and that's gonna help coat your entire ocular surface in new tears
And the reality is a lot of us just don't completely blink I myself
I am an incomplete blinker and if you look closely enough throughout any of my videos
You'll notice that I don't completely close my eye while I am blinking. I only close at about 70%
And that leaves this perfect dry area on the lower 1/3 of my cornea
So during my exams my doctor will even say hey you have these dry spots on your cornea
And that's a significant sign of dry eye disease
so again
just blinking more often can often help and my third tip is to consider doing warm compresses with a Bruderr eye mask and
Warm compresses work because that helps with evaporative forms and dry eye the evaporative form of dry eye
Often comes because we have issues with our oil glands and our oil glands called meibomian glands
Are these little vertical glands that run on both top and bottom portions of our eyelids.
And if you fold down your lower eyelid
You might be able to see them these oil glands produce a very thin layer of oil that
sits on top of your tears and prevents them from
evaporating so if these oil glands start to break down or become clogged up whether that's through aging changes genetic factors or
inflammation, then the oils can no longer run smoothly under the surface of the eye and our tears just evaporate within a matter of
seconds, so by doing a warm compress
you can melt those oils and
Get it to start to run more smoothly onto the surface of the eye and if you check out my oil
Glands on one side that the oil glands look great
But if you look on the other side
I actually have one of my glands blocked up right now and I can actually show you this picture here from the clinic
Where you can see more distinctly that blocked up gland and that means that I'm going to be doing these warm compresses
tonight for sure
now one of the major pitfalls that people tend to fall into is that they try to use a warm washcloth and
Warm washcloth doesn't work in this scenario. The washcloth will end up cooling off in just a matter of seconds
And that doesn't do anything for you
Really you need heat supplied to the oil glands for at least around 10 minutes at a time
and
That's going to give you the desired effect that you need and this is where the brooder eye mask comes in because they designed it
So that you can put it in a microwave
Heat it up for 20 seconds
And it holds the perfect amount of heat to your eyelids and it holds it for over 10 minutes at a time
So really one of the best things you can do is after you heat it up
You close your eyes
you put it on you can strap it to the back of your head and
You can just relax you can sit there and it's almost like a spa treatment
I personally like to meditate with the brooder mask on and
while I'm doing that I'm basically chop treat my own dry eyes and what I really love about the brooder brand is that they're both
reusable and washable
That means that you can use it three four or five times a day if you wish and if it ever gets dirty
whether it's from your oils from your skin getting on to the back of it or maybe makeup you can just hand wash it let
It dry and then keep using it. I think that's a really awesome value
I think that makes doing warm compress is one of the best natural
Dry eye treatments that doesn't require any prescription only caution
I would give is that if you heat it up too much and if you read the instructions
It says don't overheat it more than thirty seconds in the microwave
Because if you heat it up too much, you could potentially burn your skin. Remember the eyelids are very thin
So be careful about them now tip number four is to consider taking a high quality
Omega-3 supplement and although there are many different
Nutrients out on the market that may benefit dry eyes and omega-3 certainly get the most attention and that's because of its strong
Anti-inflammatory effects, the main three components of omega-3s are ALA, EPA and DHA
Ala you get from mainly eating vegetables different nuts and seeds and then EPA and DHA you get from eating oily
Fish as a main source
Ala the vegetable source can convert into EPA and DHA, but it's a very low efficiency
It's around like a 1% efficiency and just isn't enough to get a clinical benefit and then EPA and DHA
When those two chemicals those assets come in contact with what's called cyclooxygenase an enzyme it creates
prostaglandin 3
Prostaglandin 3 again, is that really potent anti-inflammatory.
And that has been proven to be effective in treating both
Different types of arthritis as well as preventing Alzheimer's disease now, I personally use the PRN brand of Omega 3 supplements
I find that there are a very high quality brand. They actually have a very high percentage of
Omega-3 versus the fish oil content of their capsules. I don't get any sort of fishy taste when I eat them
I don't get any burping and they even include vitamin D in their formulation
So I don't need to take any additional supplements for vitamin D
now an extra pro tip is that when you're taking omega-3 whether it's the
and brand or maybe an off-brand or anything make sure it says
triglyceride form
Triglyceride form is going to be way superior than the ethyl ester form of omega-3s our bodies
Just don't absorb ethyl esters as well as triglycerides
So you will actually get better absorption and you'll actually be getting a better bang for your buck
So to speak now because you don't absorb ethyl esters as well. You actually end up having to take almost 2 to 3 times more
Servings of those Omega threes to equal just the single serving of a high-quality
Omega 3 like PRN and although you don't need a prescription to take omega 3 supplements or any other
Multivitamin here in the United States because it's not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration
You should consider consulting with your physician whether it's really good for you or not
If you're a pregnant or nursing or maybe you're allergic to these supplements, it could have negative effects
And I think it's best for you to consult with your doctor before taking any supplement. All right
Those are my four favorite ways to soothe dry eyes naturally
Hopefully you can use this video as an educational tool to help with your dry-eyed journey
so question of the day
What are some of the tricks that you're using to help manage your dry eye symptoms?
Naturally without using medications go ahead and comment in the section below
To let myself and all the other members of the doctor eye health community know exactly what you're doing. What's working?
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