Welcome to our Educational Resource (E-Source), an informative newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on current nutritional supplement information and gives you advice about use and effectiveness from a physician.

Complaints about dry eye are probably the most common complaint in an eye office. “Doctor, my eyes are scratchy, feel like there is sand in them, and they burn most of the time.” Most of the time when we examine these eyes with the slit lamp microscope, they look normal, unless the condition is severe and has lasted a long time. For years, the only thing we had to treat these patients was lubricant eye drops, which were not very effective. Patients would come back time and time again, then finally stop coming, knowing that we were not relieving their symptoms.

Researchers studying dry eye came to the conclusion that the condition was a result of inflammation. Inflamed eyes to ophthalmologists appear as red, irritated, angry eyes. Dry eye patients exhibited none of this. We found the research hard to believe because of this. Yet the research consistently came back with the same result—inflammation. We finally had to believe them.

Now that we knew the source of the problem was inflammatory, we had an avenue to treatment that we lacked before. “Let’s use an anti-inflammatory approach to dry eye.” My treatment of dry eye begins with a gel lubricant called Genteal Gel. I like the gel because eyes remain comfortable for 3 to 4 hours. This is opposed to lubricant drops that only last for several minutes. This gets patients immediately more comfortable and happier. For long-term relief I recommend cod liver or fish oil for their omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids act to moderate the immune system which is responsible for inflammation. This usually takes several months, and is so slow it is difficult for patients to know that they are better. Omega 3 oils are called essential oils for a reason, we do not make these oils ourselves, they must come from the diet, and they virtually only come from cold water fish, such as salmon, cod, herring, and sardines. As most of us do not get enough of these fish, supplementation with liquids or capsules are required. I recommend Cod Liver Oil over fish oil because cod liver oil has vitamins A and D that fish oil lacks.

Liquids are a better value than capsules. A caveat about liquids is if you ever buy an oil which has a strong taste, or that you are burping fishy tastes, do not buy that brand again. good oil is flavored with lemon and orange, and should be reasonably palatable. If you must take capsules, Omega Synergy by Designs for Health is a good one. I can special order this for you if you are interested.

Using a hot compress on the eyes several times a day is a good adjunct to help eyes feel better during the early going.

For those patients who after 2 or 3 months are slow to respond to the above regimen, I recommend a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical drop called Restasis. This is a six month course of twice a day drops that will usually cure the remainder. Finally, I have patients coming back who actually say “Thank you Doctor, my eyes are cured." What a nice feeling for me. If you have dry eye and have given up on your eye doctor, try this regimen. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Jim McNabb, M.D. Eye Physicians of Austin