Can Warm Compresses Help Dry Eyes?

Dry eyes affect millions of Americans every year and even more around the world. With this common condition, you may be one of many that suffer from red eyes, irritation or burning sensations, blurry vision, or even a sensitivity to light. 

With symptoms that can significantly impact your day-to-day life, your dry eyes are more than a nuisance. Dry eyes can be caused by irritants and other outside factors. However, dry eyes are most commonly attributed to Dry Eye Disease (DED), a chronic condition that directly influences your tear fluid. With DED variants that can allow tears to evaporate faster or prevent adequate hydration in tears, it is imperative to look at treatments that not only alleviate the symptoms of dry eyes but also prevent and truly remedy this condition. 

The Warm Compress for the Eyes – Why It Works

For remedies, the warm compress has been an essential part of alleviating dry, itchy eyes for quite some time. The compress’s moisture contributes to fast-acting relief while also acting as a temporary shield from outside influences. The compress also provides essential warmth, which, when paired with an eye and eyelid cleaning regimen, can be an effective solution. Blockages in the Meibomian glands are the culprit for most cases of Dry Eye Disease. The Meibomian glands deliver an oil called meibum that thickens the tears and prevents excessive evaporation. Heat can help the oil to return to proper viscosity. The warmth also assists in loosening any congealed meibum or debris from the eyelid margins, and the supporting cleansing practice helps keep the eyes clear so blockages are removed and prevented. 

Due to this effective and easy-to-replicate approach, a warm compress has been a go-to solution not just to relieve but to provide an actual solution to the cause of dry eyes.

Warm Compress – Is It Outdated?

With all the positives being laid out, the convenience of the warm compress for the eyes becomes a factor. Are warm compresses convenient enough to solve your dry eye symptoms when you’re in public or on the go? Most likely not. Warm compresses can be bulky, or even a makeshift washcloth doused in warm water or needing a microwave to heat. Hardly something you can travel with easily, and prone to making a mess.  

Additionally, the warm compress is only effective in conjunction with a regimen of eye and eyelid cleaning. This cleaning requires a hygienic component that can clear away solidified meibum or blockages.  

However, worrying about bulky or messy multi-step solutions doesn’t have to be the case going forward. 

The Warm Compress – An Evolving Solution: EverTears®

EverTears® takes the foundation of the warm compress and upgrades it significantly. The only solution with sterile self-heating pads that provides both a safe, sterile cleaning pad and adequate heating in one, EverTears®  by ThermaMEDx is small enough to fit in a pocket, bag, or another small compartment and can travel with you. 

Even better? EverTears® doesn’t require a microwave to heat like most compresses and masks, a sink to dampen a cloth, or any other accessories: simply activate the moist pad by bending it to initiate the heat and place it on your closed eye directly onto the eyelids where the heat is needed. Let rest for two minutes, wipe along the base of the eyelashes, flip the pad, and repeat. With this method, dry eye symptoms can be lessened in just five minutes. Additionally, with EverTears®, probable causes, like clogs, are removed safely by wiping. 

Recent innovations have made caring for your eyes effortless, so rather than the old inconvenient way of heating up a cloth, you have a new convenient method with EverTears® that also delivers the benefits of cleaning. Now, you can find trustworthy relief at home, work and everywhere in between.