Hello everyone, this is Dr. Audrey Tai. I am a board certified and fellowship trained
Lasik and cataract surgeon, ophthalmologist and cornea specialist, welcome back to my
channel - Eye channel by eye surgeon. Do you feel your eyes are often red, scratchy
and tired from time to time? You may even notice your vision gets blurry sometimes.
If so, most likely you’re suffering from dry eye disease. We’re often Told to use
over the counter artificial tear drops to Treat dry eye disease, but are those eyedrops
enough for you? What are the additional dry eye treatment options when the over-the-counter
drops are just not enough? In today’s video we will go over the dry eye treatment options
that target different causes of dry eye disease. This is not a sponsored video, and the treatment
options I mention in this video are based on my own clinical experience.
If your dry eyes are controlled with over the counter drops alone, I’ve made a video
about my top five over the counter Eyedrops to help you find the right one for you.
You can also find links below in the description section for the over the counter dry eye disease
treatment options i mention in this video (point).
If you find this video helpful please don’t forget to Like and Share this video, and Subscribe
to my channel to help me bring you more videos about Eye health and Eye surgery. To learn
more about my practice you can follow me at Facebook and LinkedIn at Dr. Audrey Tai.
To understand which dry eye treatment options are right for you, it is important to understand
what type Of dry eye disease you have. There are three main types of dry eye disease: evaporative
type, Aqueous Deficient type, and mixed type. There are three different layers of the tear
film - lipid layer, aqueous layer, and mucin layer. And each of the three types of dry
eye disease is caused by a problem with one of the three different tear film layers.
The evaporative type of Dry eye is mainly Due to problems with the lipid layer of the
tear film, Which IS the outer most layer. Often the tear film is unstable and evaporates
too quickly when the lipid layer is unhealthy. With evaporative type, the eyes feel dry and
irritated shortly after applying over-the-counter eyedrops, and you may feel that you need to
put in eyedrops over and over again. The lipid layer of the tear film is secreted by the
Meibomian glands located in both upper and lower eyelids. If the meibomian glands are
clogged or not working, or the gland oil contains too much inflammatory particle, the aqueous
layer of the tear film underneath, secreted by the tear glands will not remain on the
cornea for long enough to lubricate and moisturize the eyes. One effective treatment you can
do at home to open up the oil glands is warm compresses. You can either just use a washcloth
soak under hot water and ring it out and place over closed eyelids for about five minutes
once or twice a day, Or you can use a heat mask. You can microwave most heat masks for
20 seconds and they will stay hot for 20 minutes. The heat will help open up the clogged oil
glands. I’ve listed the heat mask that I have been using myself in the description
below. For more severe blockage of the meibomian
glands, you may ask your eye doctor about some in office treatment options, such as
ilux or lipidflow. They work like a more intense warm compress, and are administered in the
doctor’s office to aggressively target clogged oil glands.
The evaporative dry eyes can also be caused by unhealthy gland oil secreted by the meibomian
glands. This is typically due to increased inflammatory particles in the tear film. In
this case it is important to modulate and restore the health of the meibomian glands
and their oil. This is where omega-3 supplements can come in to play. Because omega-3 supplements
are not a prescription medication and are not regulated by the FDA, their dosage and
composition may vary greatly. Stay tuned for an upcoming video, where I will take a more
in-depth look for you into omega-3 oil supplements for dry eye disease. I put a link in the description
below for one brand of Omega-3 oil for dye eyes if you would like to check it out. Please
remember to always consult with Your doctor before taking any high dose omega-3 supplements,
to make sure if they are safe and right for you.
The second type of dry eye disease is the aqueous deficient type. This type of dry eyes
affects the aqueous layer of the tear film, which is made by the tear gland. When the
tear gland does not produce enough tears, the surface of the eye - the Cornea, which
is the clear dome shaped structure that functions as the windshield of our eyes, does not get
adequately lubricated and moisturized. This type of dry eye disease needs to be treated
with artificial tear eyedrops. A lot of times inflammation of the tear gland and the surface
of the eye causes decreased tear production and low Tear turnover. Your eye doctor may
prescribe a mild steroid eyedrop for a short period time to decrease the inflammation on
the surface of the eye, and to improve to tear production. Prescription eyedrops containing
steroids can have side effects if used long-term, Such as cataract formation and increased eye
pressure. This is why steroid prescription eye drops are typically only used for a short
period of time. There are three FDA approved prescription eyedrops which do not contain
steroids. These drops have a good efficacy and safety profile, and can be used long-term
to treat dry eye disease.(point) The three eyedrops each work differently and it is important
to discuss with your eye doctor to see which one is right for you. Sometimes your eye doctor
may consider placing plugs in your tear ducts to keep the tears in your eyes longer.
For people who suffer from severe aqueous deficient dry eye disease, such as Sjogren’s
disease, even the treatment options I just mentioned may not be enough. In those cases,
a special type of eyedrop purified from the patients’ own blood can be used to treat
the disease and control the symptoms. They are called autologous serum eye drops. Your
eye physician, or cornea specialist can help you determine if your disease is severe enough
to need serum drops. The last type of dry eye disease is the mixed
type of dry eyes, and this is probably the most common type of dry eye disease. For a
lot of people with dry eyes, both the lipid layer and aqueous layer of the tear films
are unhealthy. People with mixed type may need a combination of the dry treatments that
I mentioned earlier, such as warm compresses and omega-3 oil supplements to improve the
oil gland function, over the counter artificial tear eyedrops, and prescription medications
to control dry eye symptoms. It is important to remember there is no one
size fits all treatment protocol for Everyone. In my clinical practice, I make an individualized
treatment protocol for each patient, based on their individual situation, and I tailor
their treatment plan based on their response to each treatment option.
In this video, I have mentioned some of the common dry eye treatment options. There are
also other, more invasive and advanced treatment options, that are typically reserved for extremely
severe cases. Dry disease is more common than we often think,
and it is estimated that more than 16 million people in the US suffer from dry eye disease.
If you feel your eyes are still irritated or sometimes have blurry vision, despite using
over-the-counter eyedrops, it is important to have a full eye exam and talk to your eye
doctor about what treatment options are right for you.
Let me know in the comments below, what dry eye treatments you are currently using, and
what your experience has been. I hope you find this video helpful, if you
have learned anything new from this video please don’t forget to hit the like button
and subscribe to my channel to help me bring you more videos about eye health and Eye surgery.
You can also follow me on Facebook and LinkedIn at Dr. Audrey Tai to learn more about my practice.
Thank you again for watching and I will see you in my next video.