#123: Comparison Can Kill even the Best Dry Eye Plan

I want to talk about something very important having to do with your dry eyes.  Comparison.  Comparison can kill even the best intended hopes and dreams.   Often, my patients will ask me to prescribe something for them that worked for their: mom, sister, best friend, or the girl down the street.  Because, they will tell me, it works so great for that other person.   Or, they may ask me about a treatment that their best friend tried and want to try it themselves. 

However, the cause of dry eye is "multi-factorial"  This means it can come from many different sources.  Both men and woman can have dry eyes, but the cause of the dry eye and thus the way we treat it will be significantly different. 

So comparing other people's treatments to your own is not useful.  Or wanting your outcome with a certain treatment to be exactly the same as someone elses isn't useful.  It's true that you may both benefit from the same treatment, but one person may see success sooner or with a less dose of the same medicine.

One of my favorite people to follow online is Marie Forleo.  She calls comparing your situation to someone else's situation, Compare-Schlager.  You're gonna end up in a bad, bad place when you compare yourself to others.  It's the same as drinking too much Goldschlager when you were in college. Right?

If you don't know who Marie Forleo is, she's an American entrepreneur, the founder of B-School, and the Best-Selling author of Everything is Figureoutable (a book I highly recommend)  I love Marie Forleo.  When she says that comparison is kryptonite.  I have to believe her.

This is not true just in dry eyes, but other places in our life. I know we have all fallen victim to comparison in the past.  But, I just don't think it has a place in your dry eye treatment plan.  If you've been hanging around my circle for a while, you know that I treat dry eye in three phases.

Phase 1 - Eyes

I advocate using four simple steps to treat your dry eyes.  These steps are hydrate, harmonize, heat, and heal.  Like I said they are very simple.  Here's how it goes:

• Step 1: Hydrate your eyes by adding preservative-free artificial tears to your eyes.  This adds moisture to the eye and rinses away inflammation.   I recommend Optase Dry Eye Intense Drops because they contain Hyaluronic Acid and last longer on the eyes.  
• Step 2: Harmonize the eye lids by cleansing them.  Generally, I recommend Hypochlorous Spray.  It is gentle to your skin, but it does a great job at killing the bacteria living in your eye lashes.  Too many of these bacteria in your eye lashes and your eyes will look red and irritated.  Currently, I'm using a Hypochlorous Spray from Twenty/Twenty Beauty.
• Step 3: Heat: Use a warm compress mask to heat the oil trapped inside the oil glands that line your eyes.   I love to recommend the UNClog mask for this.  This mask utilizes Infrared technology to effectively heat the glands, and it plugs in with a USB charger.  Once the oils are released from the glands.  They bathe the front surface of the eye and lock the moisture in.
• Step 4: Heal: A dry eye supplement gives the body the nutrients it needs to produce healthy tears.  HydroEye has a blend of Omega-3 Fatty Acids, vitamins, and minerals to provide the building blocks for a robust tear system.

 Phase 2 - Your Health

This second phase has everything to do about you: your body, your systemic health, what makes you you.  In this phase of treatment, we take a deep dive into systemic diseases, the effects of prescribed and over the counter medications, sleep habits, and diet.  This is where comparison needs to leave the building.   

You need to understand how your systemic health and self care habits are effecting your eyes.  Comparing your dry eye treatment to your best friend's treatment isn't fair.  This is especially true when one of you takes allergy medication daily and the other of you has diabetes.  The causes of your dry eyes are not the same even if you are both the same age and wear the same brand of contact lenses.  There are so many things to consider in this category.  All of these things are going to come into play.

Phase 3 - Environment

The things that we put in and around our eyes, like contact lenses, makeup affect our eyes.  Then, you also need to consider the world around us, our digital devices, and the great outdoors.  These all have an affect on our eyes.

In my Alleviate Dry Eye Course, we take an in depth look into all of these factors.  We exam each of the situations we are putting our eyes into on a daily basis.  And, we make modifications to our surrounds or how we interact with our surroundings to protect our eyes.

Comparison has no place in your dry eye treatment.  Each patient's dry eye is as unique as their fingerprint.  There are so many different ways that your eyes are different from your friend's eyes.  That is exactly why I advocate having a treatment plan that is personalized to your specific problem.   I break all of this down in my Alleviate Dry Eye course and exactly how to tailor the treatments specifically for you.

In the course, you will also customize your treatment protocols to your exact level of dry eye disease.  Depending whether your dry eyes are mild, moderate, or severe, you should alter the treatment plans.  

Maybe your best friend has severe dry eye disease.   She may need to use eye drops several times  a day, but your dry eyes are only mild, so you use the tears only twice.  That's okay.  Each portion of your treatment is specifically adjusted to you.

 CONCLUSION

Dry eye is a multifactorial disease. It comes from within us.  And, it also can be exacerbated by the surrounding environment.  For instance, your eyes may be more dry if you live in Tucson, Arizona than if you did live in Seattle, Washington

I want to encourage you not to compare your dry eyes with other people's treatments of their dry eyes.  Even the experiences you have with the same treatments may vary wildly.

Everyone's journey with dry eye treatment is unique and personal.  The important part is that you keep going and get the relief you deserve to have eyes that normal comfortable again. 

If you'd like to know exactly what goes into a complete dry eye treatment plan and how you can get the relief you crave for your dry eyes in less than 60 days, sign up for my Complete Dry Eye Makeover webinar.  Click here to register.