What types of over-the-counter medications are available for dry eyes?

There are many over-the-counter medications for dry eyes. Ophthalmologist David Demartini, MD offers his recommendations for over-the-counter solutions.

Transcript

00:00

The thickest modality we have is ointment. Ointment is oil-based. It's really like petrolatum or, in a common phrase,

00:09

like a Vaseline type. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:20

There are many over-the-counter medications for dry eyes. Artificial tears-- and artificial tears

00:28

come in varying thicknesses. Some of them are very thin. And patients like that because they feel good.

00:37

But the problem with them is they don't last very long. So then there are thicker choices for that.

00:43

The thicker the choice, the more it protects. But then on the other hand, the more it blurs vision.

00:50

And so a lot of patients don't like that. Even though it lasts a lot longer, if they can get through the first 5 or 10 minutes

00:56

when it's really thick and blurry, then it will last a lot longer. Even thicker than tears are artificial tear gels.

01:05

Gels are water-based and they're thicker. And they stick around even longer than any of the tears

01:12

would be. But they often will blur vision even worse.

01:18

But some of the very dry people need to go to those thicker modalities. The thickest modality we have is ointment.

01:26

Ointment is oil-based. It's really like petrolatum or, a common phrase,

01:33

like a Vaseline type thickness. And that's very noticeable when you put it in your eye.

01:40

Most of the time, we use that at night when people with dry eyes can sleep with it and be comfortable. And by the time they wake up in the morning,

01:48

they're not bothered by the blurring as much. [AUDIO LOGO]