In the comments from netizens, people often ask me, how effective are ** eye drops, ** eye patches, and ** eye patches in treating visual fatigue and dry eye disease? I was often confused and had no idea what was being said.
I can confidently say that if there is a breakthrough in related fields, I will be one of the first people to know about it. However, when I opened Taobao and entered several keywords such as visual fatigue, dry eyes, etc., I saw a dazzling array of products with more than 100 pages, which gave me a hard experience of what “science limits my imagination” means.
Let’s talk today about the pitfalls of these products. In order to avoid being hunted by transnational authorities, we only talk about mechanisms and ingredients, not specific products.
- Various eye drops containing “pearl” ingredients
To be honest, I was a big fan of some kind of eye drops containing pearl ingredients when I was in college. The refreshing feeling when it was first dropped into my eyes was irresistible. Especially during the review period for exams, this type of eye drops is a great savior for students who stay up all night reading.
However, the main component of pearls is calcium carbonate that is insoluble in water. Even pearls contain certain proteins and amino acids claimed by some manufacturers. Why not directly use the mussel meat of pearl mussels to extract a higher concentration? After all, pearls are the product of the secretions of pearl clams. Is it because the clam meat extract is not as superior as the pearl extract?
Moreover, such products do not label the concentration of pearl ingredients at all, and there is currently no evidence that pearl ingredients can improve eyesight, relieve visual fatigue, and treat dry eyes. Many of the reasons why these potions have a cooling feeling are due to the addition of “borneol”. However, borneol is not approved by the FDA for use in medicines because of its certain toxicity.
- Various “Red Blood Removal” Products
First of all, we need to understand what “red bloodshot” is. The so-called “red blood filaments” are blood vessels! The conjunctiva on the surface of the eye has many blood vessels under normal circumstances, but they are usually invisible to the naked eye. When the eyes have infection, inflammation, or fatigue, the blood vessels become congested and swollen, which becomes obvious and visible to the naked eye.
The so-called “red blood filament removal” products only use various vasoconstrictors to temporarily shrink blood vessels and return them to a state “invisible to the naked eye”. They do not make the blood vessels truly disappear. This means that if the original cause of the disease is not removed, such as infection, inflammation, fatigue, etc., the “red bloodshot” will still come back.
Therefore, this type of product only temporarily treats “red blood streaks” caused by various reasons, that is, conjunctival congestion, and cannot treat the disease itself. Are you sure you want to use this method of treating the symptoms rather than the root cause?
- Wolfberry
In 2017, wolfberry suddenly became popular in the United States. This mysterious red fruit from the East became the favorite of major fitness and food bloggers. This wolfberry craze has also spawned a number of studies on the effects of wolfberry on various diseases, including an article on the therapeutic effect of wolfberry on dry eyes.
However, this article is an experiment on animals, not for humans, and there are major problems with the design and data of the article. There is currently no good evidence that wolfberry has special value for eye health. Wolfberry may be used as food. It has some nutritional value, but if you are eating wolfberry to treat eye diseases, it is not necessary.
- Various “Eye Washes”
This is the most incredible product to me. No matter what ingredients these products contain, eyes really aren’t “healthier by washing.”
There is a thin liquid film on the surface of the eye itself called the “tear film”. The tear film is mainly composed of oil, tear fluid and protein components, and it is continuously and evenly coated on the surface of the eye with the blinking action, which moisturizes and lubricates The role of the eyeball. All the artificial tear drugs currently on the market for treating dry eyes hope to be as close as possible to and simulate the function of this tear film, but you want to wash it off?
In medical work, doctors will also rinse the patient’s eyeballs under certain special circumstances, such as if a foreign body enters the eye, or there is a large amount of secretion, etc. In this case, normal saline with a composition close to tears will suffice. If a certain product is really effective, doctors will not deliberately hide it for everyone to use, let alone ask people to buy it on their own online shopping websites.
- Various “eye patches” for treating visual fatigue and dry eyes
I can’t even understand this type of product. I especially want to know how the ingredients in these eye patches cross the skin, subcutaneous tissue, tarsal plate, palpebral conjunctiva, bulbar conjunctiva, and eyeball wall layer by layer, and then enter the eye? Not to mention the difficulty of passing through these tissues, just this distance is equivalent to running an ultramarathon for those “active ingredients”, right? Moreover, even if you really run through all the hardships, how much concentration is at work?
- Anti-blue light glasses
I have mentioned this in my previous article and will not go into details. In short, it has not been found that wearing anti-blue light glasses can improve vision, improve sleep quality, relieve eye fatigue or protect macular health.
- Eye exercises
Speaking of which, the school is quite concerned about our eye health. We have been organized by the school to do eye exercises during class since we were young. The theoretical basis of eye exercises is to achieve some effects by massaging acupuncture points around the eyes.
Rubbing around the eyes may have a certain effect in relaxing the muscles outside the eyes. However, visual fatigue is mainly caused by the long-term contraction of the ciliary muscles in the eyes. “Acupoint massage” cannot help relax the ciliary muscles, so it cannot help. Relieves eye fatigue.
The currently known methods of relaxing the ciliary muscles are looking into the distance and using atropine-type drugs. The only function of eye exercises may be to close your eyes and rest during exercises. On the contrary, if the improper technique causes fingers to poke into the eyeballs, or the hands are unhygienic, it will increase the risk of spreading germs.
This doesn’t work, that doesn’t work, so how can we relieve visual fatigue and dry eyes? I will repeat the advice of the American Academy of Ophthalmology:
Sit about 25 inches (arm’s length) in front of a computer screen.
It is best to adjust the screen so that you are gazing slightly downward, as this can reduce the area of your eyeballs exposed to the air and prevent tears from evaporating too quickly, causing dry eyes.
Take regular breaks using the 20-20-20 rule: Every 20 minutes, look at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
When your eyes feel dry, you can try using a humidifier to increase the ambient humidity, reduce the rate of tear evaporation, and use artificial tears.
Finally, remember: There is no magic cure for eye strain.
