Vitamin Therapy

Further studies are needed, but some alternative medicine approaches may help relieve your dry eye symptoms. Discuss the benefits and risks with your doctor.  There are many studies suggesting vitamins are important in maintaining proper tear function. The list below are the most popular, but having a quality multi-vitamin as your base is essential.  Healthycell’s AM/PM Healthspan System is the most comprehensive vitamin we have found to set the foundation for vitamin therapy.  It has many of the essentials needed for proper eye health, thus reducing the need of taking dozens of different pills.

• Omega Fatty acids (DHA and EPA).  Adding omega fatty acids to your diet may help relieve dry eye signs and symptoms. These are available as supplements and in foods such as flaxseed, fish and sardines.  PRN vitamins therapy is probably the most popular dry eye omega 3 supplement on the market with the highest concentration of DHA and EPA.  Studies show that long-term consumption of EPA and DHA in the re-esterified triglyceride form, may help to maintain a healthy tear film and assist in overall eye comfort¹

  ¹ Epitropoulos, Alice T. Donnenfeld, Eric D. et al, Effect of Oral Re-esterified Omega-3 Nutritional Supplementation on Dry Eyes. Cornea 2016.

GLA Black Currant Seed Oil.  Vitamins such as HydroEye, have been clinically tested and found to support eye comfort, reduce eye irritation and help maintain smoothness in a double-blind, peer-reviewed controlled study.  This omega is not easily obtained in an everyday normal diet, and not found in flaxseed or fish oils, thus best taken as a supplement.

Vitamin A Therapy.  Vitamin A therapy has shown to be an essential vitamin for maintaining corneal surface integrity.  Meibomian glands, conjunctiva, lacrimal glands and mucin layer of the tears all benefit from proper Vitamin A levels in the body.  The most common animal sources for vitamin A are cod liver oil, liver, butter, cheese, eggs, and fish, whereas the most common vegetable sources include sweet potato, carrot, broccoli, sweet red pepper, spinach, and lettuce.

Sea Buckthorn Oil.  New vitamin supplement by Eyetamins, called Dry Eye Comfort, has recently been used by many dry eye sufferers with much success.  This most likely due to the anti-inflammatory properties of the sea buckthorn oil extracted from the berry.  These berries contain Linoleic acids, vitamin E and plant sterols.

Vitamin D.  Patients with Vitamin D deficiency have been shown to have increase tear osmolarity, which results in tear film dysfunction.  Therefore, patients should be advised to supplement Vitamin D if they show signs and symptoms of dry eye.