What Can I Do About Dry Eye?

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What Can I Do About Dry Eye? This is JJ Virgin, four time New York Times bestselling author, celebrity nutrition expert, and Fitness hall of Famer. I've been on a lifelong quest for answers to the toughest health questions and now I'm sharing what I found with you. You welcome to Ask the health expert. Lori M2 from Facebook asks what can I do about dry eye? Hey, it's JJ and I've got the perfect person to answer this question. It's Dr. Ronnie Bonick. She's board certified neuro ophthalmologist and an associate professor at Mount Sinai in New York City. And when she's not in New York City, she's off the beaten path exploring far off places like Rwanda or Namibia. Or maybe she's on the dance floor doing everything from salsa to classical Indian dance. Luckily, she's with us today. Stay with me. She'll be right back to answer this question.

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So dry eye is practically an epidemic in our world today.

And it affects people of all ages. So not just people who are older.

Or, you know, getting into their, into their late years. I've actually seen it very commonly now.

In children, even teenagers.

I do have to say, though, that.

Dry eye is more prevalent in women, especially women after the age of 50.

And these women are typically in the.

Perimenopausal or postmenopausal stage of their life. And so there is definitely a hormonal influence on the prevalence of dry eye and the incidence of dry eye.

And it has to do with changes.

In estrogen, progesterone, and perhaps even testosterone.

And so, you know, in terms of.

Treating dry eye, because it is so.

So common, there are some very many.

Simple options to treat dry eye. The first thing I would say is the reason why people have dry eye is because the tears which are on the surface of the eye tend to evaporate quickly and it dries out the eyes and it leads to dryness. So because the eyes are dry, the number one thing you can do is to moisturize.

So there are many different companies that make moisturizing drops.

There are many manufacturers. If you go to, for example, your local health store or your pharmacy, you'll.

See that there's a whole, maybe two.

Or three shelves of different types of drops you can choose from. So which is the best type of drop?

Well, I would say that there are.

Many well known companies out there. But make sure that the drop does not have preservatives in it. That's the first thing. The second thing is many generic drops will use an ingredient called polyvinyl alcohol. So if you see anything that says alcohol in terms of the ingredient, do.

Not buy that, because that is put.

In there because it's a cheap ingredient. But unfortunately, it can actually lead to worsening of your dry eye. It's actually toxic to the surface of the eye.

So even though it's an ingredient that's used in Many of these products, it.

Is not really the best thing for your eyes. So look for something that does not have alcohol in it. And then the other thing you can do is you can use the drops pretty frequently.

Actually, you can use them several times a day.

Or I even have some patients who feel so dry, their eyes are so dry that they have to use them every hour or every two hours. And that's perfectly safe, as long as it doesn't have that alcohol ingredient in it. Some people also like to use an ointment at bedtime.

And the reason is because when we're.

Sleeping at night, we're not blinking, and our eyes tend to dry out even more at nighttime. So they. Many people wake up with very, very dry eyes, particularly in the morning or even crusting of their eyes. So you can use an ointment at night. There are, again, many companies that make these ointments. They come in little tubes that they almost look like little tubes of toothpaste. And you just squeeze out just a little bit, maybe a quarter of an inch, and you put it on the inside of the lid right before bedtime.

Let it melt and get absorbed, and.

Coat the surface of the eye. And that will protect you throughout the course of the night. Another couple of tips I have to avoid dry eye is to stay away from direct vents or fans. For example, if you're sitting somewhere watching.

Television or at your workspace, try to.

Avoid any direct ventilation in that area, because it will definitely cause your eyes to dry out even more. Now, my approach, being an integrative ophthalmologist.

Is a little bit deep down different.

I go a little bit deeper into the root cause of dry eye. So I use the functional medicine root.

Cause analysis paradigm, and I try to.

Figure out, why do people have dry eye? Yes, it could be a hormonal issue.

Or it could be, you know, their workspace. You know, their direct workspace area is.

Exposed to a lot of ventilation.

But oftentimes what I found is that.

The root cause of dry eye has to do with the tiny little glands in our eyelids that actually make oils.

That contribute to the tear film.

So we have these tiny little glands. They're located right by our eyelashes. And these glands are called meibomian glands. And we have about 20 to 25 glands in each eyelid, and they produce healthy oils.

And the oils help our tears, help.

Prevent our tears from evaporating. And what happens in many people who have dry eyes, that these glands that produce the oils either get clogged or they get damaged. And what happens is they can't secrete healthy oils anymore. The glands get clogged. Sometimes they can even get infected, leading to a stye. But if the glands are not producing oils properly, then our tears tend to dry out even more because they simply evaporate.

So it's very important to promote healthy oil gland function. There's a couple things you can do to promote this.

The first thing I would say is to take omega 3s. And there are plenty of studies to show that people who have a higher level of omega 3 intake, either through diet or supplementation, have less incidence of dry eyes.

So in terms of what foods you.

Can eat that have these healthy omega 3s, they include fish. So salmon, trout. I would say if you eat fish, try to have fish at least three times a week and have fish that's low in mercury as well.

There are also some non fish based.

Sources of omega 3s. For example, flaxseeds or chia seeds are also rich in omega 3s.

So try to have some of those.

Options on a daily basis if possible, to provide your eyes with omega 3s. If you're going to be taking a supplement, an Omega 3 supplement, I usually start off with at least 1500 to 2000 milligrams a day of Omega 3. And some of my dry eye patients may have to go up to 3,000 or perhaps even 4,000 milligrams a day. Now, that higher dose may potentially increase the risk of bleeding. So make sure to check with your local doctor first just to make sure.

That that dose is okay for you.

Or just ask your doctor which dose of Omega 3 is really best for you if you're going to take a supplement. Now, as I mentioned before, in my.

Practice, I do go into the root.

Cause and so I actually image the glands within the eyelids. I have a non invasive imaging camera, which is an infrared light that can actually visualize the glands. So if you're seeing your local doctor, ask to get this imaging done. The name of the imaging is called.

Lipiscan and it will provide your doctor with an actual assessment of structurally, how.

Are the glands doing. And sometimes we can even see when the glands are clogged or plugged or destroyed. So it's very, very helpful. And then if your glands are clogged, then there is a treatment available called lipiflow, which is. Lipiflow is a thermal pulsation treatment that's done in the office. It applies high heat and a gentle massage to basically reset your glands first.

To remove any of the blockage, which.

Is within the glands. So if the glands are clogged, that heat and pulsation removes that blockage and it resets the glands. So hopefully they begin functioning properly again and secreting healthy oils again.

This is JJ with Ask the Health Expert. I do this five times a week, so make sure you never miss a show by going to subscribetoj.com.

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