Q: I must have tried a dozen brands of artificial tears over the years, but none really solved the problem. What is the best one?
A: Sorry to say, but over the counter artificial tears products are never really a cure Yes, they add moisture to your dry eyes and feel better for a while…..but the underlying cause is not resolved
This is a huge topic, but I’ll give a brief overview of possible causes and treatments
Evaporative dry eye disease is very common Your tear fluid evaporates too quickly. More common today, as most people spend hours each day staring at digital screens…..where we all blink less often! Our eyelids should secrete tiny but critical amounts of oils to slow evaporation. The oil glands, right along our eyelashes, can be plugged, blocked, or inflamed. Treatments can restore normal oil production and healthier tear fluid.
Tear insufficiency, also common, means our eyes are not secreting enough tear fluid. Our eye surface can never fully remoisten with natural tears. Both an eye drop medication, and a nasal spray medication can stimulate more natural tear production. More commonly, we place tiny “tear savers” in the eyelid drainage ducts to hold more of your tear fluid on the eye surface This in office painless procedure is very effective and can restore moist eyes for 7 days up to 6 months.
Inflammatory dry eyes disease is also prevalent. We prescribe an eye drop medication to reduce inflammation, allowing your tear and oil producing glands resume normal metabolism. The meds are usually short term, but some patients will need ongoing or chronic eye drops to prevent a relapse
Your eye doctor can evaluate and diagnose the cause/s of your specific dry eye disease, and direct your best treatment. Be aware that a full dry eye examination may require a tiny sample of your tears, and often cannot by completed during your “regular” annual eye exam Truly finding and treating the cause is vastly better than buying and using OTC eye drops every day