In order to protect your eyes & have healthy tear film, you need to have healthy eyelids so today’s message is about what you can do to keep your eyelids healthy. It is one of the many challenges that we face in our daily dry eye treatment program.
Daily use of warm compresses helps to lower the inflammatory oils & keeps your tear glands open. However, we must be concerned that the prolonged exposure to warm water of warm compresses can dry out the lids. It is similar to what happens to our hands when they are immersed in warm water (“dish water hands”) for long periods of time, except it occurs more quickly & severely to the thin layer of skin that is our eyelids.
In order to prevent this from happening, you need to moisturize your eyelids after using your warm compresses. There are two products that we offer for purchase and recommend to make this job easier. One is a spray lubricant called Tears Again by Ocusoft. Simply spray a couple of spritz over your eyelids and gently massage it into the lid skin. This should be applied after every warm compress, and is even safe to use frequently during those really bad dry eye days.
Another product that we offer is by Oasis; yes, the same manufacturer of those great artificial tears that I recommend.Oasis LID & LASH Gel Cleanseris a cleanser/moisturizer that you massage into your lids and lashes before you bathe. It helps to safely loosen the granulated material from the lashes, and leaves behind a non-greasy protective moisturizer that lasts for hours. The Oasis cleanser is particularly helpful for those of you that wear make-up. Vaseline can still be used, as it is a safe & less expensive option, but the Oasis product is quickly replacing Vaseline due to its ease of use and effectiveness. If your eyelids do not improve with these products, then surgery may be needed to lift and tighten the lids so they offer your dry eyes adequate protection.
As always, your dry eye coach, Dr. Richard Hector
