Top Natural Remedies for Dry Eyes - Internal and External Applications

The symptoms of my dry eyes are watery eyes. I live in LA, where the air has been dry, hot, and polluted. I notice that every time I leave town to go up to Northern California, my dry eyes goes away. I've made about four trips this month to visit my mother and sisters. I also notice that using my humidifier has also made it all but disappear.

I would also like to know about alkaline drops for eyes, I have dried eyes but prescription eye drops don't do much for me. Thank you

A natural treatment for dry eyes that your doctor can prescribe is blood serum drops. Your blood is drawn, sent to a compounding pharmacy and is specific to you. The recommended dose is 4 times a day, but you can use as often as you like. The prescription is a 6 month supply, which is in a individual syringes and must be kept in the freezer. A syringe can be kept for a week in the refrigerator, using 4 times a day last about 5 days.

I have been using the treatment for 6 weeks. At my check up I had moderate improvement, at only a quarter of the way through the prescription. Our blood serum carries stem cells, so effectively we are healing ourselves.

The blood draw was $40 and the prescription was $265, even though it is spendy, at $50 a month it is certainly worth a try.

Judith

I have been cured of dry eyes now for several years. As a disease, it can really mess with your life. Physically, emotionally, even socially, it can be very distressing.

As others have mentioned here, natural cures for dry eyes can include fish oils, drinking more water, reducing caffeinated beverages and more.

My solution for dry eyes included some of the above plus the following which are key:

- balanced hormones. There are plenty of studies that point to imbalances between key hormones leading to meibomian and lacrimal gland dysfunctions. Menopausal women are especially susceptible to this.

- a balanced, whole foods diet. Cut the processed foods, add a detox. It works very well if you can stick to it.

- Vitamin C + magnesium. Again, studies and Opthalmology reports indicate Vitamin C is very beneficial and magnesium is not only of benefit to eye health but also a lot of Naturopaths secret weapon.

How old are you and what kind of joint pain is it ?

Unless injured, joint pain means you have an infection.

As an aside, I have had ME/CFS since very young. I have an upregulated immune system. I rarely got colds but had many internal infections.

That vitamin C should be OK but you may have to test many things to see what works.

There are many things to try for joint pain

Look into

1200 GDU ENTERIC Bromelain capsules.

Biocell

350mg of Lactoferrin helped my chronic dry eye from day one. For years I have been waking up with eye pain almost every day. I started taking lactoferrin for iron absorption and I noticed I didn't have dry eye pain for days. Looked it up and found a few mentions that lactoferrin helps. It has continued for weeks now, with only one or two days where I had pain. This is remarkable because I had the pain for probably two years daily.

Greetings Steve from N.J.,

I have another help for dry eyes; at least it sure helps me. Dry eyes have been such a plague to me over the years.

The very best thing that I've found is to take a half teaspoon of baking soda in a half glass of purified water and dissolve of course. With clean finger tips or paper towel just dab onto closed eyelids. Wipe clean and re-apply. The alkaline topical soothes the burning eyes. Almost instant relief. My dry eyes come, I believe, from an acidic condition overall and I can correlate the "burning eyes" to too much coffee or other acid foods, eg hot pepper salsa.

I just started using castor oil last nite after researching and stumbling upon Earth Clinic. Did you feel immediate relief or did it take a few applications?

I've been using castor oil--1 drop per eye at bedtime--for dry eyes. My contacts the next day are comfortable well into the evening, where before I was wanting them out by lunchtime. I just wash my eyelids w/ baby shampoo and blink several times to get some in my eyes and no problem w/ oil on contacts. Baby shampoo has something in it that numbs the eye so it doesn't feel the sting. Hate that for the kids (drug them) but I can do a drop or 2 per day and don't feel that's too much chemical. Had styes for years until I started washing w/ baby shampoo.

Hi Miracles - I was just curious whereabouts in Santa Monica you bought the oil with a dropper? I'm around the area a lot but have never seen castor oil sold that way and it sounds terrific. I'm longing to try this as nothing has worked for my chronically red eyes yet, but I maintain hope! Thanks so much for any info.

Hi Ignatz, you can purchase Castor Oil from Santa Monica Homeopathic Pharmacy or Pharmaca in Brentwood/Pacific Palisades or the Santa Monica Coop. Also, I've added another protocol to the system - a humidifier at night. Good luck!

The unknown is scary isn't it... lol

Your eyeball will just feel greasy otherwise you won't feel a thing. it's safe. 10 seconds after you do it, that fear will disappear. So go ahead.

Rebecca --- yes it is perfectly fine. I use it myself mixed with VCO. It removes eye diseases. One post here recently was by a lady who was cataract free after three years using it about five days a week.

Namaste, Om

Sauerkraut REALLY works right away to help with dry eyes!! Make sure the kind you get is RAW, Live, Organic, Unheated, and Unpasteurized with no vinegar. Most health food stores carry this kind. It really works!

I got rosewater, but not sure if my eyes would like, it is pretty strong, I've used Castor Oil a long time now, my retinas look weird, and still dry as hell, but eye doctor's just lie out of their bloody teeth, and apparently to them my eyes look fine. But after getting Mydfryin one day at a doc's office, my pupils were large for 2.5 weeks. Not one doctor at that office knew occasionally that happens, yet my doctor knew some guy tremors and heart problems from eye ointments though....(strange)! I can't even use Natural Tears, hate Refresh, gotta make my own saline solution, but using spring water, and not the Himalaysian Salt this time. I'll try the Black Cohosh. My eyes didn't take to the honey with ACV though. It's freaky how many people have eye problems from eye ointments, and toxic products like Purex and wood stain paint, yet the "doctor's" (eye doctor's) are NOT allowed to talk about that, and quite honestly they know shit according to me!

Kelly is correct that the castor seed contains the cytotoxin ricin. She is also correct that castor OIL does NOT contain ricin. But she is mistaken as to why.

Ricin is a water soluble protein and is partitioned out during oil extraction - whether hot or cold. That said, it is possible for small amounts of ricin to be present if the processing is not pharmacy grade, or therapeutic grade (such sub grade castor oils might be sold at a grocery store). So while it may seem obvious, if someone is looking to use ANY product in their eye (or body) significant thought and care must be taken to choose a quality product.

Note: Both the medical and natural health communities agree that (quality grade) castor oil is safe for use in the eye. And it has been literally used for millennia. Any of this information can be easily verified by doing very simple searches using your favorite search service (google anyone?). For instance, "Does castor oil contain ricin"?

I just reread my previous post. I didn't mean to discount the fact that the ricin protein can be denatured by heat - all proteins can be denatured (sorry Kelly). And that method is in fact used to destroy residual ricin in some (cost/quality trade-off) processing methods. I was too focused on addressing that therapeutic grade castor oil (cold pressed, hexane free, etc) use better processing methods for extracting the oil so that there is no need to use heat to "clean up" the oil.

Put some drops of honey in your eyes. You will fill irritation for few sec. and your eyes will become red but don't fear. It will sign of increase blood circulation in your eyes.After some time you will fill cool.This remedy is very useful for eyes.It has no side effect, no harmful.I always use the remedy for eye's health.

Please read up on cold pressed castor oil. Namaste, Om

Dry eyes and post-Lasix surgery, both my sister and step daughter were advised to use capsules of hyaluronic acid for approx. 6 mo. to alleviate the dryness.

For Dry Eyes, my ND suggested flax seed oil and it worked. I also later learned that anything that has omega 3 will do it. So fish or CLO should help as well.

Hello Jc: Do you mean application topically on the eyelid with an omega oil? Or oral consumpiton of an omega capsule? Years ago I read in the book "Vita-Nutrients" that Dr Adkins suggested the omegas be taken orally for dry eyes and so I tried two capsules of high quality Omega 3, 6 and 9 daily. It did not help. So I presume, since I was talking about topical application of aloe vera liquid, that you are suggesting the same, but with the Omega. I notice in this section that many people suggest the use of castor oil dropped onto the eyeball. I tried that too, and it was also beneficial.

As for the coffee elimination (or extreme limitation since I cannot completely do without fresh ground once or twice a week), the reduced consumption of coffee goes a long way in reducing the problem of "burning eyes. " Finally, try one teaspoon of baking soda three times daily to deal with systemic (total body) acidic condition. Thus, I have actually recommended four steps to get control of "dry eyes."

1. Eye-lid application of aloe vera liquid. (Buy a really potent brand. ) By the way, sometimes you will actually feel a kind of "grime layer" on the eye lids when you apply the aloe. If so, take a tissue and wipe off and reapply a light coating of aloe vera liquid. (You could use aloe vera gel too but I use the liquid and apply topically and then also drink four or five tablespoons of aloe in addition. Aloe is wonderful for you.)

2. A drop in each eye of castor oil at bedtime.

3. Avoid the acidic drinks and foods; coffee (de-caff too is acidic), too much tomato products, hot peppers etc.

4. Make sure your are alkalized. If your body condition is acidic, you will have all kinds of problems; dry eye, "irritable leg syndrome, " various skin irritations... So use baking soda three times daily/ one teaspoon with each dose until you can "feel" the difference. (You will find more discussion on acidic/alkalizing issues under the section in Ailments (Earth Clinic of course) "Cancer" wherein "Ted from Bangcok" writes quite convincingly.

Regarding using Castor Oil for dry eyes. Suggest The Palma Christi Castor Oil by Heritage Products. It's hexane-free, certified and Pure, Cold Pressed. Must buy at health food store like Whole Foods, not GNC or a drug store. I put a couple drops in each eye before bed, and it definitely helps with dryness. I also put it on my face and hands, as it's a wonderful emollient.

I have put castor oil on my eye lids many times to help me sleep and it works great. Any oil that leeked to my eyes cleared up by blinking or putting eyedrops to act as an eyewash. My eyes get polluted from air pollution and eye drops helps, also Dr. Shultz' Eyebright formula.

Don't use olive oil. Use castor oil.

I want to thank everyone for their comments, I finally cured my dry eye problem. I started drinking green tea 3-4 times a day as Ted noted. I alkalized twice a day (morning and night)Since putting castor oil directly into my eyes was drying them out and making my eyes worse, I decided to start using castor oil on my eyelids while taking a warm steamy shower in the evening, which I believed help the oil penetrate into my eyes and did not cause any adverse effects. I also started taking D3 soft gel 6000 I. U. a day, high potency LIQUID magnesium soft gel 500mg , 10 mg of DHEA ( women take 10 mg and men take 25 mg ) and I started taking 1 tablespoon of black strap molasses daily for my anemia. After years of suffering with dry eyes I finally found the cure. Now the whites of my eyes are clear and bright white. I believe my eyes are still slowly healing from years of scar tissue build up due to to dry eyes. I read that castor oil dissolves scar tissue so I believe the damage is reversible. Although I once heard a doctor say it is not but, I believe I'm seeing the full healing take place right before my eyes. I sincerely hope this helps someone else to end the dry eye problem.

Also warned me of ACANTOAM went over not to put water in your eyes due to I think she said Cantoamboea 'm finally after five years of severe dry eyes. I started drinking green tea three times a day, and started taking D3 and magneusuim. And when I showered in the evening I put castor oil on my eyelids and let the steam in the shower to soak it into the eyelids.

Zack, I still put castor oil on my lids because it makes my eyelashes longer and softens my skin, but I cannot tolerate castor oil directly in my eyes. Another thing I've noticed is that all green teas are not created equal some brands work better. I happened to stumble across the combination of the things that worked for me. I also forgot to mention that I take L-CARNOSINE and I snack on honey sesame almonds as a snack from T. Joes's and I think that has also helped. I used to buy my vitamins at the vitamin store, but I found it substantially cheaper to buy
On-line and have it shipped to me. I use the very safe website of A_ and they have Super Saver Shipping which is free shipping if you spend over $25.

John Doe, I know this is an old post however it may help someone reading more recent. First, no need to yell, second, Castor Oil, regardless where you buy or organic or not, etc., has always been used as a laxative, ask any one from days gone by, that and cod liver oil. I use Castor Oil for many things, (not as a laxative however, harsh) I have also not just taken the word of people, I do the real research. There is a lot of confusion about what it does, has in it, how its made, etc., and the way to know for sure is research (lots) yourself. I like Earth Clinic, it has lots of good remedies on the site, but always be safe and do the research first folks. yall have a good day

Regarding dry eye, I have used the honey, vineger and grape juice treatment and it has helped, no particular proportions. I find that when I eat seafood I do not suffer as much from dry eye. In addition, when I wake up with dry eye I do not open my eyes immediately. Instead I palm, meaning I cover both eyes with my hands cupped so I do not put pressure on my eyes. Then I continue to palm( read the Bates Method for improving vision) Soon I can open my eyes without pain. During the day I palm as much as possible. The other thing that helps is to blink frequently which lubricates the eyes. (also Bates) I do exaggerated blinking before I go to sleep, maybe thirty at a time a few times at least. I try to blink more during the day also. Is it possible that our low fat diets along with staring at the computer has caused much of this dry eye? Perhaps that is why the fish oil is noted as a help. Hard to know which of the above helps the most.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. My eyes hurt so bad I could barely read the instructions. Could not figure out if I was supposed to use recipe as an eye wash or wipe my eyelids with it. Tried as a wash (burned) added two more parts of water (still burned) then wiped on eyelid (did not burn). I continued wiping my eyelids with the solution and received soothing. Eye are still somewhat sore but will continue to use. Thank you to Earthclinic and all who reply and read. Thank you.

I suffer from allergies and asthma, and have to use artificial tears for dry, scratchy eyes due to the high pollen count here. The tears seem addicting ... the more you use ... the more you need. I haven't been able to get off of them. I read your comment yesterday, and bought some Fish Oil. I took two 1,000 mg capsules yesterday and this morning my eyes felt more lubricated than they have since I was a teenager. Thanks for the scoop! I will keep up the Fish Oil. I'm sure it will offer more benefits for me other than being able to ditch my "tears."

Flaxseed oil is amazing for dry mouth & dry eyes - I noticed a difference within just a few days - I highly recommend this remedy if you are suffering from these issues like I was.

Mama to Many thank you for your thoughts on my situation,

You know I never thought about that the change in the way I eat could be the problem. I do eat much less fats then I once did. Maybe that is why I am so dry. When mother was still here, I was patient to cook, or at least buy a decent meal. When I was running south, I had to cook real meals for my aunt. Now it's, whatever. The crazy thing I noticed is that I try to make up for the missing meal by eating candy. So I will pick some Spry mints to fill in that gap and to comfort my mouth. It will certainly cut down on the sugar intake. One of the things I realized is that when I started eating more candy, I drank less water. Regarding the Baking soda and water, I was drinking it at one time. I guess I will give it another go. I was looking at some other online reviews and interestingly, someone one on Webmed said when they starting take HCL their burning tongue situation went. So, if HCL can help perhaps baking soda or both together will do the job.

On the positive note, I am getting out to find the Spry mints. I going to start back drinking more water and I will add some olive oil to my food or at least take a spoon a few days a week. I am much encouraged.

Thank you again,

HisJewel

PS: Just to be clear, the HCL that I am talking about is Betaine HCL, spelled out it is Betaine Hydrochloride. Webmed used to have a list of what people were using a product for, most of that is removed. However, they do have quite a bit of helpful reviews. The review I mentioned is on the following page.

https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientreview-312-betaine-hydrochloride?drugid=312&drugname=BETAINE-HYDROCHLORIDE

Greetings Again EC,

Further regarding my Salty Mouth, my sinus may be continually draining.

As it turns out my Salty Mouth situation, could be a sinus problem, perhaps postnasal drip. I had read about the postnasal suggestion on the Healthline site when I was first checking into salty mouth, however nothing I tried at that time for post nasal drip fixed the salty flow. Anyway, how I figured it out, I happened to pick up some Vicks Sinus LiquiCaps on sale. I had the nerve to take the two in the blister square. They are strong! They dried up all the mucus. First I noticed that the salty taste was gone. Then I realized the leak had stopped, oh how nice. Then my mouth went extremely dry, "Out of the frying pan into the pot." I did not know which was worse. A few hours later the moisture slowly returned to my mouth with less drip. Well, at least I know what I am working with now. I would Not suggest the Vicks sinus liquicaps for seniors, it is too strong and drying.

Here is some interesting Salty Mouth information.

https://www.healthline.com/health/dental-and-oral-health/salty-taste-in-mouth

Thank you, Mama,

I was trying to figure out, what now.

I will order the Nettle and Coconut oil.

I have posted before that Organic cold pressed castor oil that I transfer to a dropper bottle has helped my dry eyes. Put in each eye when I'm ready to go to sleep, also if I wake up during the night. When I get up in the morning I use eye drops. Castor oil does not cure dry eyes but make it better, otherwise they water all day. I also mail dropper bottles to my 90 year old aunt. She said with this her eyes don't water all day. Keep the large bottle of castor oil that you purchased in refrigerator.

Could you please share what kind of lecithin granules and the brand? I ask because some are made from sunflowers and some from soy, etc. Thank you!

Thanks a lot, Coco.

I gonna try this. Bit I leave in belgium and don t know ig we have here Pakistan mangos. Normal mango also ok?

I have beautiful children a man and a house but the Pinguecula have worsed my live. I see everday people they have white eye only me I think. Can you send me a picture from you eye how they now.

Please. I put now lemon juice but I don t know if they work for me and my doctor don t won t remove it from my eye. That Pinguecula s. I have 4 Pinguecula.

My life gonna change if the Pinguecula gone forever. I hope whit power from god swt.

Art, Thanks very much for posting these studies; that took some time to do. I will be taking this information to my next ophthalmologist appointment next month.

I have two questions for you:

1. Are the borage oil capsules working for you?

2. Have you changed your diet based on the oils mentioned in the studies? If so, how?

1 capsule a day of Flax Seed Oil keeps dry eyes away for me.

Magnesium, potassium etc. are electrolytes. Dry eye is a symptom of hyperosmolarity, or low water=high salt, probably from evaporation of tear water and hence loss of electrolytes. So you are replacing them orally. Thera tears for contact lenses has electrolytes in it. Am using a drop, mother Oasis Tears Plus, one drop....has a lubricant and hyaluronic acid which attracts and holds water. This has worked.

I believe hyperosmolarity, and loss of electrolytes with Dry Eye mirrors what goes on in the lens that creates Cataracts. Can't figure out how to get the same cure to the lens. Suggestions?

Yes, I too find that castor oil burns a bit and blurs the vision because of the oil. By morning though it is not blurry.

You could try just putting the castor oil on your eyelids. It is quite penetrating and that may achieve your goal, even as well as putting it into your eyes.

Or try Dave's formula for dry eyes.

~Mama to Many~

Did you use hexane free and cold pressed oil?? If yes, and still burns it mean you have an issue in your eyes and it will go away. Give it a few days.

I put castor oil in my eyes at bed time. I love it. Just get Organic and Hexane free.

I've discovered that my dry eyes are hardly dry at all when I wake up in the morning as long as I eat Raw Sauerkraut. It has to be the Raw Sauerkraut form, not the regular kind you but at the supermarket. That kind can increase yeast, the raw kind actually helps to kill yeast. Raw Sauerkraut can be bought at health food stores and farms.

Elodie (Melbourne) dear Elodie, read up on Palma Christie which is a website on Edgar Cayce's healing remedies. Use it just to improve dry eyes and eyesight. My two dogs who are older have dry eyes. One of them has now shiny eyes and with time it will reverse cataracts or at least stop progression. On EC people have reversed cataracts but that takes about three years sometimes. Five days on, two days off. I also read that it favours eyelash lengthening. Put on the eyes it helps with deep sleep. Cold pressed castor oil is very good for aging skin and many conditions that is why it is called Palma Christi. Namaste Om

Hi Elodie, Diet has a lot to do with the problem of dry eyes. To make a very long story short of my experiences and what I have learned, spinach is the answer, but not raw. The best is the canned, without salt. That opposes what the majority are pushing but I used to wear contacts and eating that spinach helped promote the lubricant tears in my eyes. At the same time I was in the process of learning about hidden sources of MSG so I had been weeding those out of my diet too. The flowing agent in table salt is one. I use sea salt. Hope this helps you.