Home Remedies for Dry Eye

Home care is genuinely first-line for most dry eye - the everyday measures below are not soft advice, they are what eye doctors themselves prescribe for mild and moderate disease.

• Warm compress and lid massage. The single most useful home treatment, because most dry eye is evaporative. A clean cloth or eye mask warmed comfortably (never hot) rests over closed lids for 5-10 minutes to melt the thickened oils in the lid glands; then gentle massage along the lid margins - rolling toward the lashes - helps express them. Once or twice daily. This one habit changes more dry eyes than any bottle.
• The 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes of screen time, look at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. It forces real blinks and breaks the stare.
• Blink on purpose. Screens cut blinking by more than half. A few slow, complete blinks every few minutes - close fully, pause, squeeze gently, open - re-spreads the tear film and the protective oil layer.
• Fix the air. Don't sit under a direct fan or AC vent; point car vents away from the face; a humidifier (or even a bowl of water) helps in dry, air-conditioned rooms.
• Position the screen lower. Looking slightly down at a screen means the eyes open less wide, so less tear film is exposed to evaporation.
• Wraparound sunglasses outdoors against wind and dust.
• Contact lens discipline. Reduce wearing hours on bad days, never sleep in lenses, and keep lens hygiene strict.
• Sleep enough - tired eyes are drier eyes.

What NOT to do, stated plainly: