My Dry Eye Program
Improve your dry eye symptoms, while improving the rest of your lifestyle with my free, easy to follow, in depth checklists, tips/tricks, and shopping lists. View the steps for my program further down the page.
Why My Program? Who Can Benefit?
Why To Start My Dry Eye Program, & Who Can Benefit From Using It
I'm excited you are all interested in starting your journey to fresher, healthier eyes!
My program will effectively attack your symptoms of various dry eye conditions such as MGD, blepharitis, and aqueous deficiency from multiple angles to ensure you're getting the most effective treatments, and use of your dry eye products. While finding long-term everyday comfort from your dry eye symptoms, you can also use it as an oppurtunity to improve your entire lifestyle! I'll talk more about what other areas of your life you can benefit in my lifestyle improvements blog post found below.
The steps to my program are found below these blog posts.
The first thing that you are probably wondering is if you can benefit from this program.
Read my blog post on who can benefit from my program, and how long you can expect to see results.
Read my blog post below on why my program is effective.
This post will explain to you how my program effectively will attack all dry eye conditions from multiple angles to find long-term relief. It is the daily routine I followed to find relief in my own severe dry eye symptoms
Read my blog post below on what other areas in your lifestyle you will see improvement from following my program.
I improved many other aspects of my lifestyle while also finding long-term everyday comfort in my dry eye symptoms. Get motivated before starting my program to see how you can improve so much more than just dry eyes!
Read my blog post on how to prep for my program
Important Blog Posts to Read Prior to Starting My Program
How to Follow My Program
I have laid out steps below on how to follow my program. This will easily lay out step-by-step directions on how to use my routine and checklist effectively.
This is my program and daily checklist that I specifically used to improve my symptoms, along with the rest of my lifestyle. I created this program to help other people stay organized, and their hit dry eye symptoms from all angles, inside-out, while becoming healthier in all other aspects of life!
I hope you are all excited to alleviate your dry eye symptoms, and get back to enjoying your life before dry eyes were a problem! :)
Step 1:
Follow My Checklist Daily
Print copies of my daily checklist, grocery list, and supplementation list by clicking the links. My Daily Checklist will be your routine to follow. It hits dry eyes, blepharitis, allergies, and MGD, from all angles, inside-out. The combination of everything creates a recipe for success.
To have the most benefits, and improvement in your symptoms you must follow each checklist item consistently everyday.
Each checklist item has in depth posts I made about them found in my blog section below Step 5, or in my various web pages. Below are steps on helping you break down my daily checklist, and select products that will best suit your needs. You can also view my dry eye care page for a list of treatments to add to your routine, and when to use each treatment.
All meal/ snack options can be found under my nutrition section here.
Building a Daily Dry Eye Routine to Success
Build an Effective Eyelid Cleansing
Routine With These Steps
Perform these steps (in order) for quality daily lid and lash cleansing. Having quality eyelid hygiene will improve symptoms of dry eyes, blepharitis, Demodex, and itchy, dry, inflamed eyelid & skin conditions. Try to consistently follow an effective eyelid hygiene routine daily (morning and night) with the steps below to improve your blepharitis symptoms, improve the effectiveness of your tears, and keep the skin around your eyes comfortable and healthy.
View my eyelid hygiene product page for a list of 40+ effective lid and lash hygiene products that you can add to your routine for success and improvement.
Wash Your face
Wash your face with a good quality face wash such as Heyedrate Tea Tree Foam Cleanser. Performing this step will help clean your face free of bacteria and dandruff that could end up in your eyes. This step will help with blepharitis symptoms and improving the appearance of the skin around your eyes.
Use Heyedrate Hypochlorous Acid Spray
Using Hypochlorous acid spray is the cherry on top of a good eyelid cleansing routine. Using this spray will leave your eyes feeling refreshed and hydrated. This spray will help improve the skin around your eyes, remove any debris/bacteria that your lid wipe may have missed, and leave your eyes feeling ready to take on the day!
Choose a Quality Eye Drop
to Hydrate Your Eyes Whenever They Feel Dry or Gritty
Eye drops can improve your dry eye symptoms in a variety of ways. There are many Over-the-Counter drops to benefit different dry eye conditions. Visit my A-Z eye eye drop list for blog posts on all common OTC eye drops you can purchase, and in-depth information on each eye drop.
This will help you select an eye drop that will best suit your needs. My list includes various different quality eye drops for lubrication, allergies, night time relief, lipid-layer relief, and which eye drops to avoid.
I think it would also be very beneficial to add Manuka Honey Eye Drops, day and night, to your dry eye program/ routine. This will help improve blepharitis, MGD, and dry eyes. Read my blog post on why manuka honey is beneficial for your eyes here.
Visit my Over-The-Counter eye drop website page for information how often to use eye drops, when to use them, and how to use them effectively to find long-term relief in your dry eye symptoms.
It is important to find a quality day time eye drop that helps comfort your eyes throughout the day, to use and find relief whenever your eyes feel gritty, dry, or uncomfortable.
It is also important to find a night time ointment or gel drop that will stay in your tear film for an extended period of time, helping to soothe and comfort your eyes overnight, while also protecting them from further damage.
Allergy eye drops can also be beneficial to have on-hand when you have itchy eyes due to allergies. These antihistamine drops can help fight off the itch, preventing you from rubbing your eyes and causing further damage.
Times of The Day to Use Specific Eye Drops
Preservative-free Lubrication Drops
-Use first thing in the morning (before you do anything else)
-As many times throughout the day as needed (Whenever you feel dryness/ discomfort)
-Most are safe to use with contacts if not lipid based.
**TIP** Keep a bottle by your bedside for quick relief in the middle of the night.
Eye Drops For seasonal allergies
-Use Preservative-Free antihistamine eye drops everyday in the morning. This will build-up the drop in your eyes to prevent future eye allergies throughout the day (Alaway PF)
-Take your preferred antihistamine eye drop with you wherever you go for relief of itchiness whenever your allergy symptoms arise.
Night time eye drops
-Use everyday before going to bed for relief overnight by preventing the evaporation of tears.
-For the most relief and retained moisture to your eyes overnight, I found using both a gel drop and then an ointment to seal in the drop gave me the best results. (I personally use Hylo Gel and then Ocunox ointment).
After doing this for the first time, I woke up with much better feeling eyes opposed to previously when just using one or the other.
Manuka Honey Eye Drops
-Consistently use Optimel Manuka Honey eye drops morning and night for the best results! (everyday)
-Optimel also makes a gel for overnight use with a stronger formula for more severe dry eye cases.
(96% manuka honey, compared to 17% in the drops)
Using Manuka honey eye drops consistently will help your eyes control bacteria, lower inflammation, and stay lubricated!
Healing Your Eyes From the Inside With Nutrition
Anti-Inflammatory Diet
Having an anti-inflammatory diet is one of the most important steps. Trying to treat dry eyes without nutrition is like trying to lose weight without nutrition. You need to lower inflammation from the inside in order to find relief. Build your anti-inflammatory diet by visiting my dry eye nutrition page for meal ideas, and an example of a quality grocery list.
Remember to stay hydrated! You can also view my daily nutrition plan that helped me find relief here!
Dry Eye Supplements
Dry eye supplements can be very beneficial to get important nutrients that are hard to take in from diet alone.
Having a consistent daily dose of omega 3's is vital for treating dry eye and MGD symptoms. Omega 3's are hard to get daily from diet alone, as high-levels are only found in fatty fish and some nuts.
Remembering to Blink and
Prepping Your Environment!
Remember to Blink!
Forgetting to blink, especially form prolonged computer use is one of the most common underlying causes of dry eyes.
View my blog post on protecting your eyes from prolonged screen use.
Download a blinking app, and complete blinking exercises a few times throughout the day to help you blink fully. Consistently performing blinking exercises for a few months, will have your eyes close fully on a blink, without consciously thinking about it.
Prep Your Environment!
Read my blog post on prepping your environment for dry eyes by clicking this link.
This is an important step in treating dry eyes. Make sure any room that you spend lots of time in has good moisture levels, and that you avoid harsh environments without the use of eye protection. (Ziena glasses)
Beginner's Blinking Exercises - Perform Multiple Times Per Day for Complete Blinking
Step 2:
Practice Consistency and Organization
Consistently follow my daily checklist by following an eyelid hygiene routine to cleanse your eyes, the use of various Over-The-Counter eye drops to lubricate your eyes, and an anti-inflammatory diet with beneficial supplements to lower inflammation and heal your eye conditions from the inside.
To find long-term relief from dry eyes, hitting your conditions from all-angles and with consistently is key. Without consistency, your eye treatments will never be able to see their full long-term benefits.
Step 3:
Get Together the supplies you will need for an effective routine
Use my grocery list, supplies and drops list, and supplementation list to get together what you will need so that you can follow your daily checklist/ routine consistently and effectively. Preparation will lead to consistency, which will then lead to a successful dry eye program. View my top products page to discover what quality dry eye products I benefitted from, that you can add to your dry eye routine to benefit from as well.
Step 4:
Follow Symptom treatment list/ Add prescription if needed
Print my Symptom Treatment List as a guide to how you are hitting each of your symptoms. Use prescription treatment options from this list to add to your routine if your dry eye symptoms persist 3 months after consistent eyelid hygiene, the use of OTC eye drops, and changing your diet. I would recommend that if your symptoms are mild you may only need those treatments to find relief. This list will tell you what prescriptions and procedures work best for each specific dry eye condition, if you are requiring further treatment.
You can also view Dr. Sandra Lora Cremers dry eye step ladder below, as a guide for what prescriptions/ procedures are out there, and what order to try them in.
Use This Dry Eye Step Ladder as a Guide for Steps on Which Prescriptions to Use to Benefit Your Eyes, and Which Order to Try Them In. Thanks to Sandra Lora Cremers for This Amazing Guide! (Click to Expand)
Step 5:
Continue Program for results
Continue my dry eye daily checklist with consistency, and improve your dry eye symptoms, skin/hair/nails, physical health, stress, anxiety, energy, sleep, quickly!
Don't wait, and start your first step towards a better lifestyle with fresher, brighter eyes today!
The Daily Checklist Blog Posts
(Complete morning routine here)
1. Warm compress post here
2. Lid massages/Lid Hygiene post here
3.Prescription eye drops post here
4.Anti-inflammatory breakfast options post here
5. Dry eye supplements post here
6. Over the counter eye drops post here
7.Anti-inflammatory lunch options post here
8.Anti-inflammatory dinner option post here
9. Anti-inflammatory snack options post here
10. Night routine post here
11. Foods to avoid throughout the day post here
12.Further procedure options post here
Tips For Eye Strain & Dry Eyes From Computer/Screen Use Here
Preparation
Be prepared for your dry eye routine, and have all of your supplies ready. Also Have a dry eye checklist, and a meal plan.
Being Prepared and organized will lead to consistency in your routine
Consistency
Being consistent in your dry eye routine will lead to improvement in your dry eye symptoms. Following my program consistently, and hitting your symptoms from all angles will lead to dry eye success.
Success
Following preparation, will lead to a consistent routine, which will then lead to successful treatment of your symptoms. Start building your dry eye routine today!