Three leading eye doctors explain three important steps patients can to take to keep their eyes healthy between eye exams.
Dr. Brujic: Daily lid hygiene is recommended for everyone, especially dry eye and blepharitis sufferers, contact lens wearers or those use the computer or electronic devices several hours per day. Due to the pandemic and waiting room restrictions in some areas, it also may be harder than it used to be to schedule an eye appointment. Although it is essential to keep up with regular eye exams, many have been rescheduled out of necessity. With this in mind, it’s important that patients be more proactive and take all the necessary ocular wellness steps.
Dr. Kabat: There are certainly some unique challenges that patients may be facing, and as our offices start to re-open, many doctors have packed schedules, pushing non-urgent appointments out even further. This makes an at-home hygiene and wellness routine more important than ever. A comprehensive wellness routine for your eyes is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. We want our patients to be extra careful right now so they stay healthy.
Dr. Brujic: What regimen do you recommend?
Dr. Barnett: Three easy steps—wipe, spray and warm—are all that’s needed to get on the right path. This can be achieved with the Bruder Hygienic Eyelid Care Kit. First, use Bruder Hygienic Eyelid Wipes to wipe away debris. Second, apply one to two sprays of Bruder Hygienic Eyelid Solution to closed eyes. No rinsing is required. Simply spray and let dry. Finally, the Bruder Moist Heat Eye Compress can be used morning, noon or night — whatever is most convenient. Hygienic Eyelid Sheets can be used along with the compress to keep it clean between washings. These untreated, micro-fine sheets allow moisture to pass through without breaking down and are also convenient if the lids secrete any oils during therapy.
Three easy steps—wipe, spray and warm—are all that’s needed to get on the right path. This can be achieved with the Bruder Hygienic Eyelid Care Kit.
Dr. Brujic: Let’s talk about each of these components in a little more detail. For example, why are the wipes important?
Dr. Barnett: The Eyelid Wipes are very effective at removing anything on the lids and lashes, including makeup, so they are an obvious first step in a hygiene routine. But more importantly, clean lids and lashes are more receptive to the benefits of the antibacterial Bruder Hygienic Eyelid Solution.
Dr. Kabat: In my opinion, the hypochlorous acid is the most important part of the hygiene routine at present because it demonstrates broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity.* Importantly, several hypochlorous acid preparations are currently listed on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s list of disinfectants for use against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19**. The. Bruder Hygienic Eyelid Solution Spray is pure 0.02% Hypochlorous Acid solution, one of the highest concentrations available for use near the eyes.
Dr. Barnett: Since my practice is comprised of many contact lens patients, the compress is the cornerstone of the kit. Even soft, daily disposable lens wearers need to stay comfortable if they are sitting in front of a computer all day. Oftentimes, my patients are using two to three digital devices at a time.
Dr. Brujic: I’d just like to close our discussion by mentioning how much greater digital device demands have become as we spend more time at home. Kids, in particular, who may now be attending online school are spending countless hours per day using digital devices, and when summer comes video game usage may skyrocket. This can cause dry eye, discomfort and other forms of ocular surface disease. The all-in-one Bruder kit is a very useful treatment that can help keep eyes healthy in spite of these significant visual demands.
Authors
Salus University
