Now when I talk about dry eyes, it includes those eyes, that water on windy days and in air conditioning. Dry eyes are such a common complaint, but are generally not adequately managed, to make the sufferer happy and problem free.
Standard and old school treatments for dry eyes involve loads of lubricants and a thicker more viscous gel or ointment at night. If this works well for you – then that is fantastic. But if not, read on.
Some of the newer treatments include Belphasteam goggles (which works really for Meibomian Gland Dysfunction/Posterior Blepharitis.) Particularly if followed with lid expression which helps get the infection out of the eyelids. Meibomian Gland Dysfunction, involves a bacterial infection of the Meibomian glands; the oil secreting glands. The result of these glands not functioning properly is that your tears evaporate more quickly than they should.
Manuka honey eye drops and gel have been providing great results for a lot of patients with dry eyes, particularly with the Meibomian gland dysfunction. But it should be noted that these drops do sting, on instillation (for up to 40sec according to my patients). In my experience it stings like blazes for about 30 seconds and then your eyes feel really good. Luckily, you do not need to use them as frequently as standard lubricating drops. Another useful thing to note, is anecdotally from regular uses of the honey drops, they don’t sting as much if you use them regularly.
IPL Intense pulse laser commonly known for permanent hair removal is one of the newer options available. A French company has brought out a model specific for treating Meibomian Gland Dysfunction. You need to have a few treatments generally 3-4 to notice an improvement and according to Opthalmologists’ who trialed it on the Sunshine Coast it only shows significant improvement for approximately 1 in 4 patients. But if you have the money and a long history of dry eyes and have tried everything else, why not give it a try.
It is also recommended to make sure that you have oily fish, flax seeds and other foods rich in Omega 3’s in your diet. There are supplements available if you do not have enough of these nutrients in your diet currently.
Now the reason that I wanted to talk about dry eyes today, is I got up this morning to walk the dogs and there was a chill in the air and an intermittent breeze. My right eye started streaming water, down my face. My first thought was, silly me I should be wearing clear glasses to block the breeze from hitting my eyes and drying them out and then secondly: I bet I am not alone with this problem. So if you find that your eyes are streaming with water, after all of the above help – please don’t forget that wearing glasses/sunglasses/safety glasses act as a barrier to protect your eyes from the environs and help them not water.
