Night time eye lubrication

Many dry eye sufferers find using an eye lubricant at night is the key to comfortable eyes when they wake up during the night, or in the morning. Gels and eye ointments are thicker textures and will stay on the eye for longer than an eye drop. The disadvantage, vision will be blurred once the gel or ointment is on the eye - best applied immediately before going to sleep rather than before you pick up your bedside book.

Here are our favourites:

Polyvisc Ointment - preservative free and lanolin based, this comes in a small tube 3.5gm tube and is safe to use for up to 4 weeks after opening.

VitA-Pos Ointment - a smooth preservative free ointment with healing Vitamin A, VitA-Pos can be used for 6 months after opening.

Viscotears Gel - as the name suggests this is a gel which is less thick than the ointments. Available in a 10ml tube, which can be used for 4 weeks after opening, or now available in convenient individual minim dose units.

Systane Gel Drops are a thicker formulation of hypromellose, the soothing ingredient in Systane Hydration eye drops. The gel comes in a 10ml bottle and can be used for up to 3 months after opening.

Gels are applied like an eye drop, just a more viscous version. The ointments are thicker and it can be easier to apply with the finger tip to the lower eye lid rather than directly from the tube.

If you would like more information on any of these products please get in touch.

TheraTears® Drops are back!

After a long break we now have TheraTears® Eye Drops back on our shelf. The options for dry eye drops can seem overwhelming, but we have found TheraTears® Eye Drops have a loyal following. Our TheraTears® users have had to use other drops for the last while, but most are switching back again. 

Successful products are often developed by someone trying to find a new solution. In this case it was a young medical student at Columbia University.  Dr Jeffery Gilbard was astonished by the lack of dry eye treatments available in 1976. He was the youngest scientist in history to receive project grant funding from the National Eye Institute, and his summer research project turned into one of the most productive dry eye research programs in the world.

Dr. Gilbard’s research program had one goal: to develop a profound understanding of dry eye and a treatment that could offer true relief. After completing his ophthalmology residency at Harvard Medical School in the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Dr Gilbard remained as a Head Fellow in Cornea. 

His light-bulb moment came in the form of a question: “Why do the living cells on the eye surface need a tear film–and what do they need from the tear supply?” The answer: oxygen and electrolytes. Supplying oxygen and electrolytes restores the eye’s natural balance, called Osmo-Correction® (read more about Dry Eye). This discovery led to TheraTears® Eye Drops.

How fortunate we are today to benefit from his research and being able to use these drops.     

          **********************

We have been sending TheraTears®  Eye Drops sister product TheraTears® Eye Nutrition Capsules around the country, through our online shop, this may offer a more convenient option for you.

Relief for Dry Eyes

Many things can cause dry eyes - the environment, medication, surgery, nutrient deficiencies and hormonal changes are some examples. And as we age our tear volume also decreases. There are two ways to approach dry eye treatment; 1) improve natural tear production, the tears your eyes produce, and 2) use supplementary eye drops, gels, sprays and ointment.

To improve your natural tear film we now have a new product - Lacritec.

Lacritec is a supplement so it works from the inside out, targeting the root cause of dry eye. It contains a patented blend of DHA & EPA Omega-3 essential fatty acid from Fish Oil, ALA Omega-3 sourced from Flax Seed oil, and gamma-Linolenic acid (GLA-Omega-6 faty acid) from Borage Oil. GLA cannot be easily obtained from diet alone.

Taking this supplement may replace the need for eye drops. Available in the practice now.  $45.90 (3 or more $37.00)