My top reasons why you should not use Visine/Clear Eyes/"Get The Red Out" Drops:
- The main ingredient is a vasoconstrictor, which constricts the blood vessels in the eye to make it look "whiter". Although your eyes look better, the drop does not solve the underlying problem for why your eyes are red to begin with. Visine only delays, and can worsen the eye redness.
- Rebound effect: the more you use Visine, the more your eyes can depend on the medication. With misuse of the drop, the blood vessels in your eye can dilate, and make your eyes look red even when they aren't!
- Masking the redness can cause serious damage to your eye and your vision (depending on the main cause of redness).
My recommended eye drops:
I know that the eye drop aisle in the store can be very overwhelming! There are tons of great brands out there, but I personally like and recommend preservative free eye drops to all my patients! Preservative free eye drops are great, because they do not have all these added extra ingredients that can further irritate your eyes. A lot of preservative free eye drops over-the-counter come in one time use vials. My favorite drops actually come in a convenient bottle form!
The Ferrari's of all preservative free eye drops are Hylo drops, produced by Candor Vision. In Canada, this drop can retail for around $35-50 cdn (depending on the type of drop). The eye drop applicator has a one way valve to only expel one drop at a time. My patients have told me that this is one drop they have tried, and have never been able to go back to another artificial tear!
My other favorite preservative free drop is the idrop Pur, produced by imed Pharma. I retail this drop in my office because I feel it works relatively well compared to the Hylo drops, but at a better price point. This can retail for around $20-25 cdn. This eye drop also has a one way valve, and the tip is coated with silver-ion to prevent contamination.
There are many other greats brands such as Systane or Refresh! If you choose to go with a drop that has preservatives, try not to use the drop more than 5-6 times daily. If you feel that you need to use drops more frequently, then switch to a preservative free one!
There is actually going to be a NEW eye drop entering the market soon! This is not yet released in Canada, but is said to be approved to reduce red eyes, WITHOUT the rebound effect that Visine and Clear Eyes have. This will also be available for purchase over-the-counter!
Stay tuned for more!
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