So in this video we're gonna be covering some of my favorite dry eye remedies that don't require any prescription medications or Eyedrops, so let's take a look Hey, what's up everybody, this is dr. Joseph Allen from dr. Eye health. Thank you for joining us and in this channel You're gonna find different educational videos all about the eyes vision as well as vision product reviews just like this one simply new here because I hit that subscribe button down below and ring the Bell so that you don't miss any of our future videos also If you check out the show notes and the links in the description below You'll find additional information About anything that we mentioned here as well as some time stamps so that you can jump around and review your favorite parts in today's Video.
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So thank you for your support Now dry eyes is a very complicated topic and there's no way that we're going to be able to cover all of dry eyes in Just one quick video However treatments for dry eye can be very expensive whether you're using a prescription medication That goes can cost four to five hundred dollars a month And then there's some in office treatments that can cost anywhere from one hundred to two thousand dollars for a single treatment And that doesn't even include any of the office visits just to see the doctor So a lot of people are coming to me asking Hey Is there a way I can Naturally kind of curb my symptoms whether that's with a lifestyle change or is there a product I can use? That'll help improve my dry eye symptoms? Let's go over my four favorite ways to help with dry eye So my first tip is to simply drink more water, and I know that sounds almost too simple But the reality is that we just tend not to drink enough as humans We kind of confuse our feelings for hunger and thirst.
So a lot of times you'll be snacking thinking Oh, I'm really hungry But the reality is you might just be really thirsty Maybe grabbing an extra glass or two a water is actually gonna help not only your appetite but it's gonna help your symptoms of dry eyes Additionally, we always have to be drink some sort of diuretic whether it be coffee tea or soda drinks These all tend to pull water out of our systems and that can help increase your symptoms of dry eyes and Then on top of that we all tend to be taking some type of medication whether that be for high blood pressure Or if you're taking an oral antihistamine for allergies, these are notorious medications for causing dry eyes So perhaps just drinking an extra glass or two a water throughout the day will help you with your dry eyes Now tip number two is to blink more often. I know that sounds really simple as well But the reality is a lot of our lifestyles that we're living include digital devices so we're all just about on our phone all day or on some sort of a laptop screen or a computer screen and When we're in front of these devices we tend to be so focused We don't blink as much and so on average when we're walking around we blink about 20 times a minute But when we're focused on something like your phone or even a book our blink rate drops to about four and a half to five Times a minute that's a huge reduction in blink rate and so when our eyes that you left open and exposed to air longer the Tears will evaporate a lot faster and that's gonna cause those dry eye symptoms So just by doing some blinking exercises throughout the day by either closing your eyes completely one two And then maybe on the third time holding your eyelids shut That will help encourage you to not only blink more often, but then that's gonna help Encourage you to completely close your eye and that's gonna help coat your entire ocular surface in new tears And the reality is a lot of us just don't completely blink I myself I am an incomplete blinker and if you look closely enough throughout any of my videos You'll notice that I don't completely close my eye while I am blinking.
I only close at about 70% And that leaves this perfect dry area on the lower 1/3 of my cornea So during my exams my doctor will even say hey you have these dry spots on your cornea And that's a significant sign of dry eye disease so again just blinking more often can often help and my third tip is to consider doing warm compresses with a Bruderr eye mask and Warm compresses work because that helps with evaporative forms and dry eye the evaporative form of dry eye Often comes because we have issues with our oil glands and our oil glands called meibomian glands Are these little vertical glands that run on both top and bottom portions of our eyelids. And if you fold down your lower eyelid You might be able to see them these oil glands produce a very thin layer of oil that sits on top of your tears and prevents them from evaporating so if these oil glands start to break down or become clogged up whether that's through aging changes genetic factors or inflammation, then the oils can no longer run smoothly under the surface of the eye and our tears just evaporate within a matter of seconds, so by doing a warm compress you can melt those oils and Get it to start to run more smoothly onto the surface of the eye and if you check out my oil Glands on one side that the oil glands look great But if you look on the other side I actually have one of my glands blocked up right now and I can actually show you this picture here from the clinic Where you can see more distinctly that blocked up gland and that means that I'm going to be doing these warm compresses tonight for sure now one of the major pitfalls that people tend to fall into is that they try to use a warm washcloth and Warm washcloth doesn't work in this scenario.
The washcloth will end up cooling off in just a matter of seconds And that doesn't do anything for you Really you need heat supplied to the oil glands for at least around 10 minutes at a time and That's going to give you the desired effect that you need and this is where the brooder eye mask comes in because they designed it So that you can put it in a microwave Heat it up for 20 seconds And it holds the perfect amount of heat to your eyelids and it holds it for over 10 minutes at a time So really one of the best things you can do is after you heat it up You close your eyes you put it on you can strap it to the back of your head and You can just relax you can sit there and it's almost like a spa treatment I personally like to meditate with the brooder mask on and while I'm doing that I'm basically chop treat my own dry eyes and what I really love about the brooder brand is that they're both reusable and washable That means that you can use it three four or five times a day if you wish and if it ever gets dirty whether it's from your oils from your skin getting on to the back of it or maybe makeup you can just hand wash it let It dry and then keep using it.
I think that's a really awesome value I think that makes doing warm compress is one of the best natural Dry eye treatments that doesn't require any prescription only caution I would give is that if you heat it up too much and if you read the instructions It says don't overheat it more than thirty seconds in the microwave Because if you heat it up too much, you could potentially burn your skin. Remember the eyelids are very thin So be careful about them now tip number four is to consider taking a high quality Omega-3 supplement and although there are many different Nutrients out on the market that may benefit dry eyes and omega-3 certainly get the most attention and that's because of its strong Anti-inflammatory effects, the main three components of omega-3s are ALA, EPA and DHA Ala you get from mainly eating vegetables different nuts and seeds and then EPA and DHA you get from eating oily Fish as a main source Ala the vegetable source can convert into EPA and DHA, but it's a very low efficiency It's around like a 1% efficiency and just isn't enough to get a clinical benefit and then EPA and DHA When those two chemicals those assets come in contact with what's called cyclooxygenase an enzyme it creates prostaglandin 3 Prostaglandin 3 again, is that really potent anti-inflammatory.
And that has been proven to be effective in treating both Different types of arthritis as well as preventing Alzheimer's disease now, I personally use the PRN brand of Omega 3 supplements I find that there are a very high quality brand. They actually have a very high percentage of Omega-3 versus the fish oil content of their capsules. I don't get any sort of fishy taste when I eat them I don't get any burping and they even include vitamin D in their formulation So I don't need to take any additional supplements for vitamin D now an extra pro tip is that when you're taking omega-3 whether it's the and brand or maybe an off-brand or anything make sure it says triglyceride form Triglyceride form is going to be way superior than the ethyl ester form of omega-3s our bodies Just don't absorb ethyl esters as well as triglycerides So you will actually get better absorption and you'll actually be getting a better bang for your buck So to speak now because you don't absorb ethyl esters as well.
You actually end up having to take almost 2 to 3 times more Servings of those Omega threes to equal just the single serving of a high-quality Omega 3 like PRN and although you don't need a prescription to take omega 3 supplements or any other Multivitamin here in the United States because it's not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration You should consider consulting with your physician whether it's really good for you or not If you're a pregnant or nursing or maybe you're allergic to these supplements, it could have negative effects And I think it's best for you to consult with your doctor before taking any supplement. All right Those are my four favorite ways to soothe dry eyes naturally Hopefully you can use this video as an educational tool to help with your dry-eyed journey so question of the day What are some of the tricks that you're using to help manage your dry eye symptoms? Naturally without using medications go ahead and comment in the section below To let myself and all the other members of the doctor eye health community know exactly what you're doing.
What's working? Alright, that's the video. Thanks so much for watching. If you haven't done so already hit that like and subscribe button down below Otherwise if you'd like to catch other cool videos from dr I help I'll hook you up with another one up over here and another one down over here. Again, this is dr Joseph Allen from dr Eye health bringing you the very best and tips and education about the eyes and vision keep an eye on it I'll talk to you soon.
