10 Best Eye Drops For Dry Eyes 2024 in the United States

Many professions nowadays require looking at a computer screen for long periods of time. But even during our leisure time, studies have found that Americans spend as much as 7 hours either on their phone, their computer, or watching TV. Looking at a screen for so long can lead to dry eyes, among other ailments. This is because you tend to blink less often when looking at a screen, than when engaged in other activities. Blinking your eyes stimulates tear glands to produce tears to lubricate the eyes. Fortunately, there are many over-the-counter eye drops for dry eyes that can provide relief.

But we’ll see that there are many causes of dry eyes, and a variety of over-the-counter products, and even prescription medicine, to treat it. They pretty much fall into two categories: There are two main reasons for dry eyes: Either your eyes don’t produce enough tears, or it’s an evaporative problem (which is more common), where your tears tend to evaporate too quickly. And dry eyes can vary in severity, from mild to very severe. If untreated, it can lead to more serious vision problems.

We’ll examine the different products in the MSN list of the top 10 eye drops for dry eyes. With a little help, you should be able to find a solution to dry eyes that fits your needs.

What Types of Eye Drops for Dry Eyes Are There?

We can divide OTC drops for dry eyes into two main categories:

• Liquid drops: These have a watery consistency, to relieve the burning, itching, and irritation with dry eyes. You’ll see them sold as “artificial tears”. They provide quick relief for mild dry eyes. An example is the TheraTears Lubricant Eye Drops for Dry Eye. This particular formula tries to add water and electrolytes to your eyes, to overcome any salt imbalance that could be causing dry eyes. You’ll notice that it comes in two forms: a 1-oz. bottle and 30 sterile single-use vials.

TheraTears Dry Eye Therapy, in a 1-oz. bottle and in single-use vials

Even though single-use vials might seem wasteful, we’ll see that some prefer it. Note that the single-use vials are “preservative-free”. Upon opening a large vial, bacteria may succeed in entering and spawning inside. Manufacturers may add preservatives to the eye drops in large vials to prevent that from happening. With single-use vials, you open it, apply the drops, and dispose of the rest. It reduces the chance of contamination or infection.

• Gel drops: There are also treatments in gel form, which form a film on the eye to keep your tears from evaporating. A gel is recommended for moderate to severe cases of dry eyes. One such product is Refresh Liquigel Lubricant Eye Gel. One thing to be aware of with gel is that it might make your eyesight blurry for a few minutes, but it will have a longer-lasting effect. It’s recommended to apply a gel towards the end of the day or before bedtime when you don’t need perfect vision like when working or driving.

Refresh Liquigel Lubricant Eye Gel

• Natural remedies: There are even dry eye treatments with natural plant-based active ingredients. One such product in the MSN top 10 is Similasan Dry Eye Relief Drops. It contains belladonna and mercurius sublimatus to combat dry eyes. Although the FDA hasn’t evaluated the effectiveness of this product, ophthalmologists are of the opinion that it won’t cause any harm, and may help lubricate the eyes.

Similasan Dry Eye Relief Drops

What Are Features of the Eye Drops for Dry Eyes?

There are some pointers that are worth noting about eye drops formulas for dry eyes:

• Preservatives: There are eye drops with preservatives to prevent microbial growth, such as potassium chloride as in Systane Ultra Dry Eye Care Symptom Relief Eye Drops. We mentioned that there are vials of single-use drops, which do not have any preservatives in them. They’re intended to be used immediately after opening them. Some patients have an allergic reaction to the preservatives in eye drops, so it would be preferable to buy a product without any preservatives. If you do choose to take a dry eye treatment containing preservatives, do not take them more than 4 times a day.

• Specialized products: You’ll notice that dry eye drops may be for specific causes of dry eyes. For example, the Bausch & Lomb Soothe Preservative-Free Eye Drops for Dry Eyes are recommended for people who have undergone LASIK surgery to improve their vision, and experience dry eyes as a result. If you wear contacts, the Systane Hydration Lubricant Eye Drops are suitable for use with all soft contact lenses, while the Systane Lubricant Eye Gel is intended more for “digital strain”: quick relief for people who have been in front of a computer screen the whole day.

What are Some Tips in Selecting Eye Drops for Dry Eyes?

Here are some important tips about applying eye drops:

• Avoiding contamination: You’ll notice that eye drops products will instruct you to dispose of the bottle a certain amount of time after opening. Also, when applying drops, don’t let the dropper touch your eye or any other surface. It’s also recommended to wash your hands before applying drops or gel. This is because there is a concern about bacteria contaminating the product.

• Don’t confuse with allergy eye drops: There are also eye drops for allergies or drops for red eyes. These aren’t the same treatment as for dry eyes, and it’s not recommended to take them for dry eyes. These allergy eye drops may contain antihistamines to reduce allergy symptoms. But, they’re only meant to be taken for a few days. Otherwise, you may experience what is called the “rebound effect”, where you get red eyes if you ever stop using them. On the other hand, eye drops for dry eyes are able to treat even chronic dry eyes and are intended to be taken for longer periods of time.

• Tips for contact lens wearers: If you wear contact lenses, and you apply a gel for dry eyes, it’s advised to wait 15 minutes after using the gel before inserting your lenses. This is to allow the drops to achieve their maximum effect, without the contact lenses possibly causing some sort of interaction. Also, the “rewetting drops” that contact eye wearers use are not the same composition as dry eye drops. In fact, some gel dry eye drops may cause temporary or even permanent clouding of the lenses! So, it’s always best to check the packaging if the product is indeed safe for use with contact lenses.

• Try several types: There is the Shirmer test, which quantifies the quality of your tears, to focus on what exactly is the cause of your dry eyes. But, without taking the test, getting a dry eye remedy is a bit of trial-and-error. If you have tried one type of eye drops and still suffer from dry eyes, there’s nothing wrong with trying another type. Just make sure that you try each type individually so that you can verify which type works best for you. And if you experience blurry vision or pain, you should stop using that particular type oe eye drops immediately.

Wrap Up

We’ve studied a number of eye drops for dry eyes, noting some of the causes of dry eyes, and how these drops go about relieving the symptoms.
Since there are so many causes of dry eyes, experts say that you may have to try several types of eye drops. Check out the MSN list of the best eye drops for dry eyes, and select a product that best suits you!