Dry Eyes

The eyes feel a burning, sharp stinging, or gritty/grainy sensation

Some patients only notice redness and watering without any pain

The quality of life may be reduced in patients with dry eyes

Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) is the most common cause of dry eye and it can be treated with a warm compress

How to make a warm compress at home

Take a cotton sock and fill it with 1 cup of (uncooked) dry rice

Rubber band or tie the end of the sock

Microwave the sock and rice for 30 seconds

Make sure it is not too hot by touching it with the back of your hand

Place the warm sock over your closed eyelids and put light pressure for 10 minutes

Repeat this 2 times per day

Continue this for 1-2 months

Purchase a Bruder Mask

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Other Treatments

Artificial tears can be used 4-6 times per day for 2 weeks

Followed by 3-4 times a day for 4 weeks

Then 2-4 times a day as needed indefinitely

Any brand of a lubricant eye drop works better than nothing (Refresh)

Treatment of lipid deficient dry eye begins with the use of a lipid based artificial tear as initial and maintenance therapy

Refresh Optive, Retaine MGD, Soothe XP, Systane Balance

Rx steroid eye drops can be used 4 times a day for 2 weeks, followed by 2 times a day for 4 weeks

These drops can cause cataracts or glaucoma when used long term

Essential fatty acids (fish oil, krill oil or flaxseed oil) might help dry eyes (conflicting study results)

Cleaning of the eyelids and eyelashes with a hypochlorous acid solution spray (such as Ocusoft Hypochlor) will help

Your eye doctor can scrape the lid margin, which may relieve symptoms and improve function of the Meibomian glands

MGD can also be treated with 50mg daily oral doxycycline

Ranking the discomfort of dry eyes by filling in one a questionnaire can help identify which treatments are working for you

Untreated MGD Can Lead to Internal Hordeolum (Stye)

A painful, tender, red, elevated lump on the eyelid

This will require time and lots of warm compression

Sometimes an oral antibiotic helps

Untreated Internal Hordeolum Can Lead to a Chalazion

A painless hard nodule within the skin which can give a deformed appearance to the eyelid

These can be small enough to ignore

With time they might get smaller

Or we can have a surgeon cut it out or inject it to shrink it