Complete Daily Dry Eye Treatment Guide & FAQ for Treating Dry Eyes
**Prescription Eye Drops / Medications & In-Office Procedure Options Can Be Found at The Bottom of The Page**
Dry Eye Treatments to Add to Your Morning Routine
Warm Compress For Eyes
Use a warm compress to open up your glands, and help balance the lipid layer of your tear film. Perform a 10 minute compress every morning when you wake up. View my blog post on warm compress benefits for MGD and dry eyes.
Eyelid Wipe/ Scrub
Use a high quality eyelid wipe to remove dirt, debris, bacteria, allergens to help improve you blepharitis symptoms. This is one of the most important treatments to add to your dry eye routine. Look at using an eyelid wipe as you would like brushing your teeth. Eyelid hygiene should be performed daily. View my top 5 eyelid wipes for relief!
OTC Preservative-Free Eye Drops
Hydrate your eyes in the morning with the use of an OTC preservative-free lubrication eye drop. Quality eye drops can also protect your eyes from ocular surface damage and help heal your cornea. Remember to wait 10 minutes between eye drops! View my top top 5 OTC eye drops!
Anti-Inflammatory Breakfast
Have a breakfast low in sugars, and avoid dairy. View some quick anti-inflammatory breakfast options that I use frequently here.
Manuka Honey Products for Eyes
Optimel makes extremely beneficial manuka honey products for your eyes. Optimel makes a manuka honey eye drop and gel for more severe cases. These products are beyond amazing for various reasons. These products will lower inflammation, kill bacteria, protect against allergies, lubricate your eyes, and more. This makes manuka honey products beneficial for anyone with MGD, blepharitis, eye allergies, or aqueous deficiency. View my post on Optimel manuka honey products for more in depth information and how to purchase.
Omega 3 Dry Eye Supplement
Omega 3 dry eye supplements help lower inflammation, and improve the smoothness of the surface of your eye. They are very important in also treating the lipid layer of your tear film. View my top dry eye supplements for relief.
Hypochlorous Acid Eyelid Cleanser
One of my favorite dry eye products. Simple to use, and can be used as many times throughout the day as needed. Simply spray Heyedrate solution on your closed eyes to kill any bacteria or allergens that may be present. Heyedrate will also leave your eyes feeling lubricated and fresh! Purchase Heyedrate on Eye Love The Sun.
Foaming Tea Tree Oil Face Wash
Heyedrate makes a tea tree oil face wash that can kill demodex, and leave your eyelids feeling moisturized, and fresh. This face wash is also paraben and allergen free! Click here to purchase Heyedrate face wash!
Other Supplements
Other supplements I would recommend to take in the morning to benefit your dry eyes and overall life are probiotics and multi vitamins. Read why these supplements are important in my supplementation list, and what other supplements you could add to your morning routine.
Quality Contact Lens Hygiene & Care
If you wear contacts, it is important to have quality contact lens hygiene. You can also get special contacts formulated for dry eyes. Make sure not to over wear your contact lenses as this can introduce a variety of problems. Visit my page on quality contact lens hygiene and what contacts are best to wear with dry eyes.
Treatments to Benefit Your Dry Eyes Throughout the Day
Staying Hydrated
Staying hydrated throughout the day is important in ensuring that your lacrimal glands can produce a healthy volume of tears. Aim for 8-12 glasses of water daily!
Avoiding Touching Your Eyes
Wash your hands frequently in case you do touch your eyes. However, try to give your best effort in avoiding touching your eyes throughout the day. Touching your eyes can irritate them and add bacteria.
Using Eye Strain Tips With Screen Use
When using a computer or any type of screen for long periods of time, it is important to follow tips for eye strain relief. One of the most popular is the 20/20/20 method. Every 20 minutes, look at an object 20 feet away, for 20 seconds. This will give your eyes frequent rest breaks. Visit my blog post for more tips to protect against computer vision syndrome.
Anti-Inflammatory Lunch, Snacks, & Foods to Avoid
View my post for anti-inflammatory lunch ideas.
View my post for anti-inflammatory snack ideas. Reach for one of these when you are needing a quick snack instead of chips or candy.
Visit my post for foods to avoid with dry eyes throughout the day.
Wear Eye Sealing Glasses In Harsh Environments
Eye sealing glasses such as Ziena can help protect your eyes in harsh environments. These environments would include smoky, dusty, pollen, or windy.
These glasses are also great at helping retain moisture in your eyes, making them feel more lubricated throughout the day.
Using Allergy Eye Drops
Use an antihistamine eye drop when your eyes itch, to prevent further irritation from rubbing them. Visit my allergy treatment page for more tips and tricks to treat and prevent ocular allergies.
Practicing Complete Blinking
Download a blinking app, and focus on your blinking. After consistently performing blinking exercises for a few months, you should be able to fully blink without conciously thinking about it.
Using Preservative-Free Eye Drops as Needed
Preservative-Free eye drops are wonderful products because you can use them as many times throughout the day as needed, without harming your eyes. Whenever your eyes are dry, use a preservative-free lubrication eye drop to relieve your symptoms and prevent further damage/ irritation. I also like to use Heyedrate hypochlorous acid spray for a quick spritz of hydration throughout the day. View my favourite preservative-free eye drops here!
Build an Emergency Dry Eye Kit & Take It With You Where You Go
Visit my blog post on what to include in your emergency dry eye kit. Take this kit with you where ever you go in case various dry eye symptoms arise.
Try to Get 30-45 Minutes of Exercise Daily
Adding 30-45 minutes of exercise a day will improve your overall health and stress levels. Stress can make your dry eye symptoms worse, so it is important to try and keep your stress levels down. Exercise will also help lower inflammation in your body which can have a positive affect on dry eyes. View my post on using exercise to benefit dry eyes.
Evening/ Night Time Dry Eye Treatments
Night Gel Lubrication Eye Drops
It is important to hydrate and protect your eyes overnight. You should use a thicker gel drop as it will stay in your tear film for much longer compared to regular eye drops. These drops can blur your vision for a little bit, so they aren't as good to use during the day. View my top 5 night time gel eye drops here!
Night Time Lubricant Eye Ointments
Night time ointments are paste-like products that are designed to keep your eyes lubricated and comfortable while you sleep. I personally like to use a night time gel drop followed by an eye ointment for maximum ocular hydration overnight. View my top 5 night time lubrication products!
2nd Eyelid Hygiene Routine & Warm Compress
Before bed, it is also important to complete another eyelid hygiene cleaning routine. You want to ensure your eyes are free from bacteria, allergens, debris, and anything else that may irritate them throughout the night. Visit my eyelid hygiene routine webpage for help in building an effective eyelid hygiene cleaning routine. Prior to completing your 2nd eyelid hygiene routine, complete another 10 minute warm compress.
Wash Face & Remove Makeup
It is important to wash your face and hair prior to bed to prevent dandruff and debris from reaching your eyes. Heyedrate's tea tree oil foam wash will also help kill demodex. If you wear makeup it is also important to remove your makeup before bed. Heyedrate makes an amazing makeup remover formulated with tea tree and vitamin E. Heyedrate's makeup remover will also help moisturize and hydrate your eyelids for fresher feeling eyes overnight. Purchase Heyedrate makeup remover here!
Get 8 Hours of Sleep!
Make sure to get a quality 8 hours of sleep every night! This will result in better blinking, and better consistency in your routine! Physical exercise and quality nutrition can help you achieve a quality sleep.
Eye Sealing Night Goggles
The last step in your night time routine should be to wear night sealing goggles. They can prevent debris from entering your eyes in the night and help your eyes retain moisture. I love wearing these goggles to seal in the moisture from my eye ointments/ gels to ensure I get the full benefits from them. Shop Tranquileyes Night Goggles On Dry Eye Rescue.
Anti-Inflammatory Dinner Ideas
It is important to have healthy suppers. Try to have fatty fish in the evening to get a natural dose of Omega 3's that will benefit the lipid layer of your tear film, and lower inflammation. View some dry eye anti-inflammatory dinner ideas here!
Manuka Honey
Products
As seen in the morning routine, I think it is also important to use manuka honey products at night before bed. I started using Optimel manuka honey gel as my night time ointment, and also use manuka honey eye drops 15 minutes prior to the ointment for full effects of the honey. View more on Optimel Manuka Honey products.
Use an Eyelid Moisturizer to Lubricate Your Eyelids Overnight
Heyedrate has just came out with a new eyelid and face moisturizer that only contains quality ingredient such as Shea butter, almond oil, and green tea leaf extract, just to name a few. This cream will help improve fine lines, wrinkles, dark circles, and itchy dry skin. Heyedrate face and eyelid cream is gentle on all skin types.
Purchase Heyedrate Face And Eyelid Moisturizer Cream On Eye Love The Sun
Bonus Tip!
Be Consistent & Organized!
The most important step to finding relief in your dry eye symptoms is to make sure you are consistent. Most dry eye treatments take 3 months of daily use to see full benefits. I truly believe to see benefits you need to treat dry eyes from multiple angles. To achieve this, it is important to keep a daily dry eye checklist to keep track of your steps and progress. View my dry eye checklist for the daily steps that I followed to find relief. Read my blog post on tips on how to stay consistent and organized in your dry eye program here. Remember to stay patient and motivated!
