Artificial tears are used to refresh, restore and repair the front surface of your eyes. There are many different types of artificial tears on the market, so it can become confusing as a consumer to know which ones are best.  If you have you ever stood in the artificial tear aisle and didn’t know what to do, this article is for you. 

When you suffer from dry eyes, your tear film is lacking to nonexistent.  Many of the treatments your eye doctor will prescribe for you will help you to improve both the quality and the quantity of your tears.  While you work to get your body to produce tears again, you will need to supplement your tear film with artificial tears.  Here I will break down the different categories of artificial tears for you. 

Categories of Tears: 

There are two major categor...

The Best Technique for Drop Instillation 

Patients often tell me they have a hard time putting drops in their eyes. They complain that they waste expensive medications by dropping it onto their face.  

The problem with the way most people insert eye drops is that they hold the bottle over their eye and don’t have very good aim.  When you hold your hand above the eye there is nothing for you to use as a reference.  You don’t know how far below to the right or left your eye is from where the bottle drop is aligned.  

The Bridge Method can be used with any type of bottled eye drop, medication or an artificial tear, it doesn’t matter. This technique is a little harder to perform with the preservative-free vialed drops that I ask you to use, but it can still work.   

Currently, my favorite ...

At masquerade parties, mystery can be really fun.  Mardi Gras is an awesome time of year to wear a costume, crazy hat, or a mask.  But, I am not a fan of mystery in my clinical practice.  Dry eye disease can often masquerade as something else because there are other diseases that have the same symptoms.  And unfortunately, patients will sometime self-treat the wrong disease for weeks or months before coming in to see me. 

One of the biggest masqueraders of dry eye disease is allergy symptoms.  Here in Louisiana, my patients will blame everything that happens to them on allergies.  And because our winters are fairly mild, something is blooming here year round.  Allergy season can really be any season.   For instance to my patients a headache = allergies, dry cough = allergies, watery eyes ...

My patients often ask me why their eyes are so dry.  They feel like the symptoms may have come on suddenly, but the truth is that it was more likely to be a lot of little things that added up over a long period of time. 

Our bodies are very complex organisms. They have tasks that are being done all day long without us even thinking about it.  In our eyes, the tear film needs to be replenished constantly.  This means that you are continuously producing tears, and they are flowing out of your eyes all day long.

However, there are many reasons why your body will slow the production of the tears it needs.  In my book, Alleviate Dry Eye, Chapter 1 reviews the reasons for not producing enough tears extensively.  If you haven’t done so yet, you can get your copy here.   

There are several mai...

After the age of 40, have you noticed you are having a hard time putting your makeup on in the morning?  You used to be able to see yourself clearly in the mirror, but now your eye is a blur.  As an eye doctor and a woman over the age of 40, I know how frustrating this can be.  We all deserve to have clear, comfortable vision, and we don’t want to feel less put together because of our age. 

You are not at fault for this change in your vision.  Most patients describe it to me as something that happens all of a sudden.  One day, they are putting their makeup on in the bathroom, and the next day they can’t.  Let me assure you, it was not something that you did which caused the change.  It is simply a part of our aging process.  Watch the video above to see an explanation of this aging proces...

What! Dr. T, what are you talking about now? I know you must think I’m crazy (or maybe that I’ve just move back to Syracuse), but today I’d like to talk about snowballs. I’m not speaking of the fluffy white snow packed into a perfect round ball kind of snowballed though. I’m talking about small events that happened one after another that add up to something bigger. 

Several years ago, my husband learned about Dave Ramsey. Dave Ramsey teaches financial peace. He has a radio show, books and courses all about getting people out of debt and achieving financial peace.  One of his methods is something he calls the debt snowball. 

Debt snowball in a nut shell: 

1) Line up all of your debts from smallest amount to largest amount 

2) Pay the minimum payment to each item, except for the smallest...

The spring season is also bringing us longer days.  Longer days mean more exposure to UV light.  And, as you know, UV light can be harmful to our eyes.  It can lead to the formation of cataracts and macular degeneration.  Protecting our eyes and our skin from these harmful rays is very important.   

Acuvue Oasys just launched a new line of contact lenses with Transitions technology.  The transition technology means that the contact lens darkens when UV light hits them.  We were one of the first offices in Shreveport to be able to try the lenses for ourselves and our patients.  Acuvue Oasys with Transitions lenses contain the light changing technology you have in your favorite transition glasses but now in a contact lens.   

These lenses are fabulous for several reasons.  The new transiti...

Spring is such a nice time of year to enjoy the great outdoors.  However, in many places in the U.S., the pollen counts climb very high this time of year.  Eye allergies can be a burden to your eyes especially if they are already dry.   

If you want to continue wearing your contact lenses, you may have to do a little extra work this time of year.  Here are three steps you can take to keep your eyes happy while wearing contact lenses.  

No. 1) Wraparound Sunglasses 

Wear wraparound sunglasses when you are outdoors. When you are wearing your contact lenses outdoors, it is best to protect your eyes with sunglasses.  In the springtime, wraparound sunglasses will decrease the amount of pollen getting to your eyes. This type of sunglasses has shields, or coverage, on the sides.  So, wind and ...

Contact lenses wear can bring us both utter joy and misery.  Many of us feel uncomfortable in glasses, whether it is the way you look in them, or how you see out of them.  In some of us, our vision is distorted with glasses, because of higher prescriptions usually.  So, we want to wear our lenses the majority of the time. 

Unfortunately, contact lenses are not always comfortable, especially when you already suffer from dry eyes.  The lenses will sting and burn by the end of the day.  You may have to take them out before you are ready for bed.  Or, you feel like you are dumping tears over them all day to keep them comfortable. 

Follow these simple and (mostly) FREE steps to keep your contacts more comfortable:   

Always wash your hands before touching your contact lenses. 

The dirt, dus...

Red, itchy, watery eyes can make anyone miserable.  Spring is a great season to be outside. However, for allergy sufferers, this time of year can be agony.  And, when you add dry eyes to the mix, spring allergy symptoms worsen.  Here are some tips to keep you as happy as the sunshine this time of year: 

Know your Allergens 

In this case, knowing what you are allergic to can be game-changing for how you navigate this allergy season.  If you don’t know what you are allergic to, schedule an appointment for allergy testing.  The American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology has a great tool to help you find an Allergist in your area: https://acaai.org/locate-an-allergist. 

Once you know your allergy triggers, it is easy to check the local pollen counts.  Check out: www.pollen.com and ...