Dry eyes are a common and irritating eye condition that occurs when your eyes produce an insufficient amount of natural tears. Though aggravating, dry eye symptoms like itchiness, redness, or soreness often feel mild enough that an appointment with your eye doctor seems unnecessary.
Instead, you opt for a quick trip to your local drug store for eye drops, but the amount of options you are presented with is overwhelming. It’s important to understand what you’re purchasing in order to avoid creating further problems with your dry eyes. Like any medication, eye drops can cause a number of side effects, but they are generally safe for use.
Preservatives or no preservatives?
Preservatives are found in many multi-dose eye drops brands because they eliminate the growth of bacteria in the bottle after it has been opened. Eye drops that contain preservatives are likely to cause irritation and should not be used more than four times a day.
Preservative-free eye drops have little to no additives, making them a great option for fast relief if you are experiencing severe dry eyes.
Red Eye Relief
If you are suffering from dry, red eyes, it may be tempting to try to treat them with red eye relief eye drops to reduce the redness. However, this can do more harm than good. The majority of red eye relievers contain decongestants, which removes redness, but may worsen dry eye symptoms as a whole.
Our Recommendations
While some of these brands may assuage some of the symptoms of dry eyes, there is no “go-to” brand that will work for all dry eyes. Severe dry eyes can only be treated through prescriptions, and they may even require an oil or gel lubricant.
Our favorite over the counter brands include:
- Blink Tears and Gel
- Systane Complete
- Refresh Repair
At our clinic, we stock Blephadex eye wipes that use an all-natural formula of tea tree oil and coconut oil to clean the eyelids and eyelashes. Blephadex eye wipes leave your eyes feeling refreshed and help reduce the symptoms associated with dry, irritated eyes.
If you’re still not finding relief, please give us a call today. There are other options that we can help you discover so that your dry eyes become a thing of the past.
