[Product Review] Eye Drops

[PaulaO2]

I've tried a variety of eye drops to help with both my regular dry eyes as well as the eye issues from using a FFM. Here is what I am currently using.

Systane ultra
Systane Gel drops
Systane Night time Lubricant ointment

The Ultra is regular eye drops one typically uses during the day. On the whole, they seem to work well although I wish it lasted a little longer sometimes. But since there are no preservatives, you can use eye drops as often as you feel the need.

The Gel drops are quite thick and one drop per eye is enough. It can be quite gooey if I miss and use more than that. I try to not use it during the day because of this. The Gel is what I use nearly every night. Even though my mask is not leaking much anymore, I still have issues and it lets my eyes fully rest.

The Nighttime ointment. Oy, what a mess. I used it once. I woke up with it all over the place. My eyes were gummed up with it all day. Even after I washed my face with a warm soapy wash cloth.

And I use an adapter on the eye drop bottle to help me with the drops. I can't hit my eye with drops no matter what. This adapter helps with that. Google "Autodrop" or "eye drop guide".

I have tried other brands over the years, mostly anything that said "Artificial Tears". Some were good, most were useless (at least for me).

[SuperSleeper]

Thanks for these reviews. I will definitely show this thread to my wife who struggles with dry eyes a lot.

[OpalRose]

I also use The Systane Eye ointment, and the Systane Balance Eye Drops.
The Systane Balance is more of a milky consistency. My Eye Doctor recommend this brand, as I have suffered from dry eye for years. Great Product Line.

[justMongo]

Thanks Paula from another dry eye sufferer.
Going to try the gel and the ultra.

[PaulaO2]

As an update, one of our dogs just had eye surgery for cancer. She had to have her third (inner) eyelid removed. As a result, we're going to need to use eye drops for dry eyes for the rest of her life. Hey, the cancer is gone and she got to keep her eye. I can handle eye drops!

Apparently dogs need thicker eye drops so we have to use the gel. And because Whisper will be using it daily for many years, we wanted to confirm the Systane gel was indeed preservative free.

I just researched all this.

Unfortunately, very few eye drops are truly "preservative free". Because we only use a drop or two at a time, it takes a while to go through a bottle, even the small one, so they add the preservative to keep it fresh. Only the individual packets and a few very small bottles are preservative free (and even then it just means "fewer" and not necessarily "free").

Mayo Clinic says:

There are two categories of artificial tears:

Eyedrops with preservatives. This type often comes in multidose bottles and contains chemicals (preservatives) that discourage growth of bacteria once the bottle has been opened. The preservatives may irritate your eyes, especially if you have moderate or severe dry eyes.
Preservative-free eyedrops. This type has fewer additives and is generally recommended if you apply artificial tears more than four times a day, or if you have moderate or severe dry eyes. Preservative-free eyedrops may come in single-dose vials.

Everywhere I researched though said the same thing. That the concern was only if you needed to use eye drops more than 4 times a day. That if you used less, like most of us only use it at night, then there are no worries.

I believe, for me, in the spring and summer when my daily dry eyes are at their worse, I will be using the preservative free ones during the day. I will continue to use the gel ones at night. As for Whisper girl, we'll use the Ultra packets we picked up until I can talk to the vet about it.

- Systane has a preservative free "Ultra" in individual packets. They do not have a gel in a packet.
- Baush & Lomb have preserv. free drops in packets called "Soothe". They do not have a gel at all from what I could find on their website.
- Refresh has a preserv. free gel called "Celluvisc" and regular drops called "Optiv" and another called "Plus", all in packets.

[Mosquitobait]

I have to agree with you Paula on the Systane Night time Lubricant ointment being gooey. Unfortunately, it's what I have to use for severe dry eye. During the day, I use preservative free eye drops that come in those little individual containers.

[green wings]

This thread caught my eye because the current stuff I'm using for my dry eye problem isn't working so well since spring pollen started.

Thanks for the info about when it's better to use drops in "single serving" vials, Paula.

This time of year I feel like I need some of those prescription goggles from The Dry Eye Shop. Arrgh.

[PaulaO2]

MosquitoBait, what brand do you use?

[B1Sailor]

I was reading this old thread looking for recommendations for the night time gels which was covered.  I also see fellow severe dry eye talking about regular drops. 

I have very severe dry eye. I have had doctors repeat the Schirmer's test because absolutely nothing registered. No moisture means several calcium deposits in each eye constantly. They have to be scrapped at times when the deposit starts to stick up from the eye.  For me nothing beats FreshKote. It is expensive but the only one I have found to help me for 8 hours and to soothe my calcium deposits.  

Back when this thread started in 2016, FreshKote was prescription only. It is now OTC but not available at most stores because it is expensive. I get the 2 bottle packs mostly from Amazon but have used Walmart online ordering when their price is lower. When I started it was more reasonable. Now it is about $80 for 2 bottles online ordering. 

I also use the prescription Restasis single vials most doctors prescribe. They are a pain to get also. 

So I just added this to the reviews for the daytime drops if anyone is having really bad dry eyes for me. For night as stated by others, it requires the goopy stuff.

[PaulaO2]

My CPAP eye leaking has increased over the years and I'm about to start using the ointment vs the gel. Don't like it but there ya go.

I need to see the eye doc soon and I'll ask about FreshKote. Thanks for the tip.