Ep. #173: Dry Eye, Screen Fatigue & Everyday Eye Health with Dr. Pam Theroit
Dry eye isn’t just something you “deal with.”
It’s often your body asking for better support in a world that’s hard on your eyes.
In this episode of The Energy Fix, Tansy sits down with Dr. Pam Theroit to talk about something that affects far more people than we realize—dry eye disease.
This isn’t just about discomfort.
Dr. Pam shares how dry eye can impact mood, focus, and overall quality of life, and why so many people are dealing with symptoms without fully understanding the cause.
The conversation explores how screen time, sleep, cosmetics, and daily habits all play a role in eye health. Dr. Pam also breaks down simple, practical ways to care for your eyes, including her four-step daily approach, the importance of proper hygiene, and how to choose supportive products.
If your eyes feel tired, irritated, or just “off,” this episode helps connect the dots.
Listen & Watch
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Listen & Watch 🎙
What We Cover
In this episode, we talk about:
What dry eye disease actually is (and why it’s so common)
How screen time impacts blink rate and eye health
The emotional and mental effects of chronic eye discomfort
The role of sleep in maintaining healthy eyes
How cosmetics can contribute to irritation and inflammation
The difference between tired eyes and dry eye disease
Why certain medications can worsen symptoms
The importance of annual eye exams
Choosing the right artificial tears (and what to avoid)
A simple daily routine for eye care
Nutrition and inflammation in eye health
Practical habits that protect your vision long-term
Key Takeaways
Dry eye is common, but it’s also manageable
Screen time significantly reduces natural blinking
Eye discomfort can impact mood, focus, and energy
Sleep is essential for eye repair and function
Not all eye drops are created equal—preservative-free matters
Daily eye hygiene plays a major role in prevention
Cosmetics can affect eye health more than people realize
Small, consistent habits can improve symptoms over time
Proactive care is key to long-term vision health
Favorite Quotes & Sound Bites
A few moments you’ll want to remember:
“Our eyes blink less when we’re on a screen.”
“Dry eyes can affect your mood.”
“You need something more. You need help.”
“We should all be getting an annual eye exam.”
“Cleansing your lids and lashes is essential.”
“Taking breaks will help you to blink.”
Chapters
02:38- Understanding Dry Eye: Causes and Personal Impact
10:07- Everyday Mistakes Affecting Eye Health
18:29- Screen Fatigue and Its Effects on Quality of Life
22:22- Identifying Dry Eye Symptoms vs. Tired Eyes
30:10- Exploring Eye Drops and Treatment Options
35:17- Long-term Care and Preventative Measures
46:49- Makeup and Its Impact on Eye Health
54:34- Daily Habits for Eye Protection
Why This Episode Matters
Because eye health often gets ignored—until it becomes impossible to ignore.
It can show up as:
burning, dry, or irritated eyes
blurry vision or difficulty focusing
headaches after screen time
feeling mentally drained from visual fatigue
watery eyes that still feel dry
increased sensitivity to light
And the confusing part?
Most people assume this is just part of modern life.
This episode reframes eye discomfort as a signal, not something to push through.
Dr. Pam highlights how small, everyday habits—like how often you blink, how you clean your eyes, or what you put on your skin—can either support or strain your system.
This isn’t about perfection.
It’s about becoming more aware of how you care for your eyes in a world that constantly demands their attention.
About Dr. Pam Theroit
Dr. Pam Theriot is an optometrist, author, and dry eye specialist based in Louisiana. With over 20 years of experience in eye care, she leads the Dry Eye Relief Center at Lusk Eye Specialists, where she helps patients find personalized, long-term solutions to chronic eye irritation.
Her own journey with dry eye began early in her career, when symptoms like dryness and discomfort began affecting her ability to wear contacts, enjoy running, or even apply makeup before work. That frustration turned into a deep, professional mission: to help others feel at ease in their own eyes again.
Dr. Theriot now shares her most effective tools and strategies through her book Alleviate Dry Eye, online courses, a weekly blog, and her Editor’s Pick Award Winning TEDx talk. Her work reaches people who struggle with red, irritated eyes and fluctuating vision.
Dr. Theriot is on a mission to help 1 million people learn to care for their eyes as routinely as they care for their teeth by building simple everyday solutions.
Links Mentioned In The Show
Website: pamtheriot.com
Makeup Remover Guide: pamtheriot.com/remover
Tips on How To Use Your Digital Devices For Eye Health: pamtheriot.com/phone
Fusionary Formulas- Use code TANSY15 to get 15% your order!
Podcast review promo...Get 15% off a distance energy healing session or a piece of jewelry with a positive review of the show. Email photo of review (after submitted on podcast platform) to info@tansyrodgers.com
Support Beyond The Episode
If this conversation hit home, and you’re craving deeper support (not just ideas, but real integration):
Join the newsletter →
If this episode made you think differently about how you care for your eyes, follow or subscribe to The Energy Fix for more conversations that connect everyday habits to overall well-being.
And if you spend a lot of time on screens (which… most of us do), consider this your reminder:
Your eyes are doing a lot for you—supporting them matters.
Transcript
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Tansy Rodgers (00:13.73)
Welcome back to the energy fix, a podcast dedicated to help you balance your energetic body by diving deep into the sweet world of all things health and spirituality. My name's Tansy and I'm an intuitive crystal Reiki energy healer, energetic nutrition and holistic health practitioner and a crystal jewelry designer. It's time to talk all things energy. Let's dive in. Welcome back to the energy fix.
Thank you so much for being here and for showing up and doing this work together. I am so excited to have you back into this conversation.
Now, a quick heads up before we really jump in. We are officially stepping into expo season, which means that there are a lot of events that are starting to pop up. If you want to see where I'm going to be vending, teaching, or offering any kind of sessions, make sure you head on over to tansyrodgers.com for the full list of events. And if you want to peek at some of the newest crystal pieces and fresh uploads that are going on right now, you can head on over and shop over at beucrystals.com.
All right, today we are talking about something we don't pay much attention to until it's driving us completely crazy or until we start to get older and maybe notice that there are things shifting, and that is our eyes. Screen fatigue, dry eye, makeup that is quietly irritating your lids, and why so many people are using eye drops.
all the time. It can feel frustrating. It can feel miserable. And honestly, you may not even notice that it's becoming an issue until you notice it's becoming an issue. My guest today is Dr. Pam Theriot She is an optometrist, an author, and dry eye specialist based in Louisiana. She leads the Dry Eye Relief Center at Lusk Eye Specialists, and her work is all about practical
Tansy Rodgers (02:17.824)
long-term relief because dry eye isn't just annoying. It affects focus and sleep and mood and quality of life. I'm excited to get into this conversation with Dr. Pam. All right, let's dive in. Dr. Pam, thank you so much for being here today.
Dr. Pam Theriot (02:35.566)
Thanks for having me, I'm excited to be here.
Tansy Rodgers (02:38.772)
Well, we're going to be starting out right away talking about a thing that people might feel immediately. And that is, what is the most common reason that you see someone's eyes feel tired or blurry or irritated every single day? And maybe they just assume that it's just the screens or they're just getting older, but it's actually something that's fixable. And it's something that they may not even realize is the problem.
Dr. Pam Theriot (03:08.438)
Right? So the most common cause is dry eye disease. And that can come from computer use, can exacerbate that, our lack of sleep, as you mentioned, and the things that we put in on and around our eyes throughout the day can really exacerbate that fatigue that we feel, the redness that my patients come to me complaining about, and the discomfort.
Tansy Rodgers (03:34.158)
Yeah, and that makes a lot of sense. mean, I feel like we get told so often about screen fatigue and it's just embedded in our society that as we get older, all your eyes may go, but in reality, it could be so much more and you can fix it.
Dr. Pam Theriot (03:56.596)
Absolutely, there's some habits that we can develop and utilize on a daily basis that would do a lot to cut down on the irritation that we end up with when we ignore this for too long.
Tansy Rodgers (04:09.504)
Yeah, yeah. Well, before we really dive into solutions, I want your story. When did dry eye become personal for you? What did it change in your daily life and made you go, okay, I have to really figure this out for real? I'm inspired to make an impact.
Dr. Pam Theriot (04:31.886)
So for me personally, I was in my late 20s. I had just graduated from optometry school and my then boyfriend, now husband, and I moved to New Mexico. So the high desert where it's quite dry, at an altitude that also relates to how dry the air is. And I started doing a lot of exercise outdoors. It's a beautiful place where you can
You can be outdoors 365 days of the year. And I decided I was really gonna enjoy that living in a new area and I was outside all the time. And it just started with contact lens irritation. So I wasn't able to wear my contacts throughout the day. I'd find myself clawing at my eyes, trying to pull them out while I'm driving home from work. And it built from there a little bit less time that I was comfortable wearing my contacts and a little bit less and a little bit less to the point where, you know, maybe I was.
not wearing my contacts on the weekends, or I wasn't wearing them until I was ready to go to work, and then as soon as I got home from work, I was taking them out again. So these changes can happen so subtly and so slowly that if you're not paying attention to them, you don't realize that you went from one year you're wearing your contact lenses most days to two years later, you're only wearing them out to dinner.
for date night, right? And so this insidious movement of the dryness and the irritation of your eyes, and suddenly you are a completely different wearer of the contact lenses. That's definitely how it started for me. And I noticed also that my patients were coming in and complaining about their dry eyes more and more. Now this year is my 20th year in practice. So I'm talking about
something that happened about 19 years ago, and the world was a different place 19 years ago. We didn't spend quite as much time on our digital devices as we do now. We didn't have cell phones that we could literally stare at all day long at this point. So now I see even more patients that are really struggling with their dry eyes. But it was that point when I was embarrassed to be an eye doctor myself because
Dr. Pam Theriot (06:53.088)
I was at work with red eyes, not able to wear my own contact lenses, makeup running down my face. And I said, you know, I've got to figure this out. I can't go to work looking like this. I can't be the dentist with crooked yellow teeth. I can't be the eye doctor with red, watery eyes. And so I really buckled down and made a change.
Tansy Rodgers (07:14.062)
You know, there's so many professionals that I have gone to where I'm like, I don't know. feel what you're saying so deeply because I'm like, I don't know if I should be taking advice from where you're at. And I love that you recognize that you're like, no, something has to change. I need to figure this out.
Dr. Pam Theriot (07:34.284)
You don't want to see the cardiologist that smells of cigarettes.
Dr. Pam Theriot (07:41.109)
Right. Exactly. Yeah, you can't be the dentist with crooked teeth and the eye doctor with ugly glasses or red eyes. You have to really show up for what you're doing professionally.
Tansy Rodgers (07:53.23)
Yeah, yeah. Well, so I'm curious. When we think about where you were at that point and where you were in your own health and your own healing and maybe even just in your own career, right? And where you are now at this point, do you feel like there is a word or a phrase that you really are trying to embody now as this growth?
of who you are. And this could be professionally or personally, but this growth of who you are and where you're taking yourself in this next level, in this next iteration of who you are.
Dr. Pam Theriot (08:31.5)
Right? So one of the things that I really like to embed into my patients is that when we learn to take care of our eyes today, our vision will last us a lifetime. So that there are self-care habits that we can get into today. And by doing them repetitively over day after day after day after day, we will reach the place where our eyes are no longer bothering us. And
That is so important because your dry eye didn't start yesterday because you spent too many hours on the computer. It's not because you had a deadline and you stayed up late. That's not why you have dry eyes today. It's because for the past 20 years, we've spent more and more and more time on our screens and we've slathered our eyes with cosmetics that had toxins in them. And we didn't know that tight lining our eyes or wearing false lashes was actually causing structural damage to our eyes.
And ta-da, 20 years later, all of those little bitty habits that you didn't know were hurting you all ended up to red, irritated, dry eyes and fluctuating vision.
Tansy Rodgers (09:39.584)
Mm. So, okay. So Dr. Pam, let's talk about this big picture, because you've already started to mention it, and I would love to go deeper into it now. You know, as I've been getting, I hate to say the word, older, because we just talked about that isn't necessarily the issue, right? But as I've been getting older, and I'm on my screen a lot more with the work that I do, I've started noticing different changes in my own eyes. And I'm like, hmm.
I need to pay attention to this. So let's talk about what are some of those biggest everyday mistakes that people are making with their eyes, things that they don't even realize are slowly wrecking havoc on their comfort and their vision. And then they're getting to, like I said, where I'm at. like, okay, uh-oh, what's going on?
Dr. Pam Theriot (10:30.862)
All right, so one of them, I think the biggest for us women is our cosmetics. So not realizing that the cosmetics that we're picking up at the drugstore or even the high end department store at the mall with the beautiful woman behind the counter selling you a $50 tube of mascara versus the $10 tube of mascara you can get at the
at the drug store, those two mascaras may have the same amount of toxins in them, but as a consumer, you don't know what those toxins are. So unfortunately, there has not been a structure in the beauty industry to help us consumers understand the risks of those ingredients in our beauty products. So as women, we can talk about
how old were we when we first started wearing cosmetics? For me, maybe 13, 14, you're in high school and you start wearing mascara every single day to school. What about you, Tansy? Do you know how old you
Tansy Rodgers (11:35.118)
I was about that age. I like to play around and experiment with that kind of stuff. So I was probably around 12 or 13.
Dr. Pam Theriot (11:42.51)
Right, I have two daughters myself and my 11 year old was wearing mascara this morning on the way to school. was like, oh, nice size, girlfriend. Right, so our kids, our girls are really starting young, especially with all of the makeup tutorials that they can find on TikTok and YouTube and starting to play around with cosmetics and wearing it on a more regular basis. And when we wear cosmetics, I was in clinic today, so this morning at 6 a.m.
putting on my makeup and I won't take that off again until I'm ready for bed tonight, right? Eight or nine o'clock before I get ready to get into my PJs. So we're talking about something that we've been doing since we were, let's say 15, just to make the math easy, right? We're 15 years old and we start wearing makeup. We wear it five to seven days a week for 12 to 18 hours a day for...
decades, I have 85 year old patients that still wear makeup every day. So there the math is 70 years of putting something around their eyes that they don't know has toxins in it. So then we have that 70 years of buildup. Now for you and me, it hasn't been 70 years, but it's still been a long enough time that when we didn't know that those cosmetics had these toxins in them.
that are irritating to the eyes, that can do structural damage to the glands that are in our eyelids, that are now, because we're in front of our computers all day, those glands in our eyelids are also not getting the exercise they need because we're not blinking while we're staring at our screens like we would if you and I were just in conversation. So it's a double whammy of our more evolved modern society.
plus the cosmetic industry that hasn't had any regulation until it was 2024 that some new regulatory laws have taken effect. But since 1938, those laws were put into effect until 2024. Almost 90 years of a completely unregulated $40 billion industry that all of us women just were.
Dr. Pam Theriot (13:56.482)
I don't know, we didn't have the knowledge. We just kept using cosmetics that somebody was telling us were gonna make us look more beautiful, have longer fuller lashes, make us more attractive, and we followed along.
Tansy Rodgers (14:11.094)
Yeah. Before you go on to more things that could, I'm curious about the makeup side. What about natural and mineral-based makeups? Are those a little bit safer because the toxins are not so heavy there or there's still issues with the mineral-based?
Dr. Pam Theriot (14:30.702)
So depends on if we're talking about minerals that may be metallic. So metallic oxides can be very toxic to the eyes as well. It was in 2021 that the Tier Film and Ocular Surface Society, which is a research group within eye doctors and researchers, they took 150 doctors and researchers from around the world. So it was a global initiative. And they did research.
on the lifestyle habits that were causing dry eye around the world. And one of the sections, they broke it into eight different sections where they looked at diet, they looked at elective surgeries, they looked at your environment, contact lenses, but one of the sections was cosmetics. And so then they listed out the dozens and dozens and dozens of toxins that make it into our cosmetic ingredient lists.
So there are tools that we can use to know which cosmetics are healthy for our eyes. And of course, I have cosmetics that I recommend to my patients, and I'll let you know how to get that list of cosmetics when we get towards the end.
Tansy Rodgers (15:44.128)
If you're listening to this podcast episode, there is a really good chance that you're the person who holds a lot. And sometimes the issue isn't that you need more information. Sometimes you need your system to feel safe enough to actually integrate what you already know. That's what my SoulStream and Enlighten Sessions are for. They're intuitive, energy-based sessions designed to help you recalibrate
emotionally, energetically, physically, and in your nervous system so you can move through life with more clarity and less internal noise. People book these when they're feeling stuck, overloaded, anxious, emotionally heavy, or like their energy isn't fully theirs anymore. And we work with that. We work with what's present, clear what's been lingering, and help you come back to center in a way that feels grounded and real.
If you want to book a session or you want to simply know more, you can head on over to tansyrodgers.com or jump down into the show notes and click the link that will take you directly to those services. And if you're not sure which session is the right fit, send me a message. I'll help you choose. I'll help to guide you in the right direction. All right, let's jump back into this episode. Perfect, perfect. All right.
So other mistakes, other things that we need to be aware of.
Dr. Pam Theriot (17:15.502)
Well, one of the big ones that I think adults just forget is that we need seven to nine hours of sleep every night. Can I get an amen? I mean, really, we just forget that we need to sleep and everyone is trying to get more in. We're hustling, we're doing all the things. We're not allowing our bodies to rest and we're not recharging and rebuilding the structures of our eyes. So something as simple as
sleeping or actually closing their your eyes. You know, the first time a patient came to me and was like, you know, I was on my computer for 18 hours yesterday and my eyes hurt today and I was like, do you ever go to your doctor and say, you know, I was I had a long cross-country car car ride and I was in the car for 12 hours and now my butt hurts? Like, do you go to the doctor for? Of course it hurts because you overdid it, right? But we're doing that day after day and we're
our hustle culture is telling us that we're supposed to, you know, overdo it instead of allowing our bodies to rest and restore by sleeping. So I'd say that's another biggie of a habit that we're doing that we don't realize is really harming not only our eyes, but our entire bodies by not allowing ourselves to rest.
Tansy Rodgers (18:29.55)
Yeah, yeah. Well, let's talk about some of those screens because, I mean, if we're talking about sleep, there's a lot of times people aren't getting sleep because they're on their screens until later on into the evening, right? But then also those individuals that are on their screens all day long because that is the kind of work that they do. Screen fatigue is very real. So I'd love for you to talk about maybe your simplest...
screen survival kind of framework for people who are on these devices all day long or who need to be.
Dr. Pam Theriot (19:01.678)
Absolutely, so many of us derive our living from being on a screen, whether it's a computer or we're on the go and we're constantly on our phones. So I think one of the most important things for our audience to understand is that when we're using a screen, our eyes blink less. So that's the overarching proponent here of the conversation is that we blink less when we're on a screen.
Why is that? So when our eyes are moving back and forth, like you're reading on a screen and your eyes are moving back and forth, it's harder to blink. So our concentration is on the screen. We're not blinking our eyes. If Tansy and I were in conversation, we were just sitting at a coffee shop right now and enjoying a coffee and having a conversation, we would blink 21 times a minute if we were just sitting across the table from one another. Now,
The two of us are in front of our computers and our blink rate is going to drop to seven times a minute. Now, especially if we were reading something, now she and I are in conversation, so we're probably blinking a little bit more than seven times a minute. But then if you take, instead of she and I being on the computer and we were on our phone, it drops to about five blinks a minute. And that,
is why we have such dryness on the front surface of our eyes because when we blink, our lids come together, a little bit of tears are lifted up from the tear well at the bottom of our lid, lifted up, spread across the front surface of our eye, and our vision is refreshed with that new shield of tears. Now that is one thing that tears do, but the number two thing is that
pressure from our lids coming together, there's a little bit of pressure and it squeezes oil from the oil glands that are inside of our lids. It squeezes a little bit of oil out and not only do the tears spread across the eyes, but a sheer film of oil protects those tears from drying out. So over and over throughout the time we're blinking and blinking and more oil is coming out, protecting the tears from dehydrating into the air or evaporating.
Dr. Pam Theriot (21:18.126)
into the air. And so if we're not blinking as much, our tears are going to evaporate more, number one. But number two, if we're not closing our lids, they're not coming together and squeezing that little bit of oil, the oil glands are going to atrophy because we're not moving that oil out of the glands. And so the stagnation of the oil in the glands, it starts to harden and then the oil glands will atrophy.
It's a lot to take in, but it's all from us not blinking the way we would if we weren't on these screens.
Tansy Rodgers (21:55.546)
that is so fascinating. Fascinating. And okay, I have so many questions about this, but one question, when we talk about dry eye, you say that it can affect obviously our sleep and our focus, but I would love to also talk about how it affects our mood. So can we talk about all, like how is that dry eye when we get to that point, how is it actually affecting
our quality of life in the way that we're living and experiencing our everyday.
Dr. Pam Theriot (22:27.426)
So this is such a problem that so many of my patients come to where they're at the point where they feel like they're not themselves anymore. Because either their eyes are red and watery and they feel like they can't be in public the way that they look. They're hiding behind either glasses or sunglasses because they're embarrassed about the way they look. Or they're struggling with keeping up with things.
at work, meeting work deadlines, because their vision is fluctuating so much with the dryness that things are coming in and out of clarity, especially when we're on our digital devices, that clarity is such an important piece of it. And then as patients are struggling with either the way they appear or they're struggling with their vision fluctuating, then they get more anxious about
meeting those work deadlines, being able to go out into public. I have a big problem with smoky environments. So a few years ago, I was at a Christmas party and the host had the fireplace going. Well, you know, I didn't want to say anything. I didn't want to not be in the party. So I was in the room with the fireplace.
And I tell you that the next two, three days afterwards, I can barely open my eyes after that one night of having that dry, smoky air in my eyes. And so now I'm to the point where I don't care. Like I'm somewhere, we're at a barbecue, I'm not gonna stand next to the guy flipping the burgers because I know that smoke, it's gonna kill me for two days afterwards. there's social anxiety, there's work anxiety, not being able to.
fit in and that can really cause anxiety, depression, and that can cut back on your productivity just having that anxiety even.
Tansy Rodgers (24:24.526)
Yeah, you know, as you were talking, I started thinking about myself and how I feel, especially after being on a screen for long periods of time. And yeah, smoke gets me too. I really struggle with that. That makes my eyes feel very dry. But I know there's many times that I have just said to myself, oh, I must be tired. I must be overly tired. I probably need more sleep. So how do you know if it is?
not just tired eyes, but it's actually dry eyes. Is there some clues or some things to look out for that you know the difference?
Dr. Pam Theriot (25:01.454)
Absolutely. So there's a really cool trick that we can do to tell us the difference between tired eyes and dry eyes. So we should be able to hold our eyes open for 10 seconds if you have a normal, if you have normal tear production, if you have the normal amount, volume of tears and the tears are made out of the right composition of oils and waters. So if we blink together three times, we'll give ourselves three good blinks. We'll go one, two,
Now hold your eyes open, 1, 1,000, 2, 1,000, 3, 1,000, 4, 1,000, 5, 1,000, 6, 1,000, Right? So I only made it five seconds, and you made it about seven seconds. I know my eyes are dry, so I'd never make it, right? So if we can't hold our eyes open for 10 seconds, they're dry. Either too little,
volume or too little oil in the tear. So they're evaporating too quickly or we just didn't have the right amount to begin with. So that is a quick and easy trick to know. Are they dry or are they tired? Did I just use them too much or are they actually dry?
Tansy Rodgers (26:11.66)
that's fascinating. You got to about five seconds and I was like, Tamsen you can do it. I was like struggling. was struggling. We're burning. Yeah.
Dr. Pam Theriot (26:21.388)
Right? Yeah.
Dr. Pam Theriot (26:25.582)
If you to be staring at something, you would have noticed that your vision quality actually went down. Like, let's say you were looking at the clock across the room or something, it would have gotten fuzzy too.
Tansy Rodgers (26:35.618)
don't think I saw anything at that point. I was just trying to keep them little open. So, okay, so a test to figure out how, if they're dry or if they're tired, how do people know, are there top signs or clue-ins that the dry eye is becoming chronic or that you are getting more of an inflammatory response?
Dr. Pam Theriot (27:01.742)
Absolutely. think that if you're reaching for artificial tears more than four times a day, that is a good clue that you're substituting with something that is easy to get a hold of. You're getting some artificial tears over the counter and you're using more than four times a day, you need help. You need to go to the eye doctor and you need to get prescription medication or an in-office procedure. Someone needs to figure out why your eyes are so dry because it
could be a myriad of problems. It might not just be screen time, but it could be a medication you're taking. Maybe you just, it's springtime and you start taking an antihistamine and you don't know it, but your antihistamine is decreasing your tear production. so seeing an eye care professional, finding out what it is that is causing this problem, because usually with dry eyes, it's multiple things happening at once.
that's going to lead to that problem.
Tansy Rodgers (28:01.57)
That's so interesting about the antihistamines. I did not realize that that was connected and could cause dry eye.
Dr. Pam Theriot (28:08.534)
Absolutely. Yeah, there is a lot of medications including blood pressure medications, hormones, birth control pills, anti-pain. So even taking ibuprofen or a prescription pain medication and antihistamines are really at the top of the chart. And most of us don't realize that antacids have an antihistamine in them. So if you're taking a prescription,
for heartburn, it could also have that histamine response. There's tons of medications that could be causing a decrease in tear production.
Tansy Rodgers (28:46.93)
So if somebody is on one of these medications specifically for health reasons, or it's something that they do not want to come off of, how can somebody offset some of the dry eye?
Dr. Pam Theriot (29:03.224)
Perspectors, right. say there's an antidepressant that you're taking and you can't get off of it at this point. Antidepressants also decrease your tear production. So, or your heart medication and your heart doctor thinks this is just the best medication for you and you can't change it. What are other things that we could do to help you produce more tears? Well, there's prescription medications you can get from your eye doctor. You could substitute with artificial tears.
You could use punctal plugs. It's a little device that your eye doctor puts in your lower lid where the tears that you produce drain out of your eye. And by plugging that hole, it keeps more of your tears in your eye so that even though you're producing less, you still feel like you have the right amount of tears in your eyes. So there's lots of things that your eye doctor could do to help you feel more comfortable, even if you couldn't come off of those medications.
Tansy Rodgers (29:57.294)
Now you've mentioned a couple of times artificial tears. And so I'm assuming when you say that you mean eye drops, right?
Dr. Pam Theriot (30:06.818)
Yeah, lubricating drops that you get over the counter.
Tansy Rodgers (30:10.24)
So, eyedrops, in your professional opinion, do you feel that that is something that works well? Do you feel that it depends on the brand or what is your opinion about eyedrops?
Dr. Pam Theriot (30:26.368)
Absolutely. So I have a couple of rules. One would be to get preservative-free artificial tears. Those would come in individual vials or they would say preservative-free. Now we have bottle drops in a special preservative-free bottle, but it used to be that they always came in little individual vials if they were preservative-free. So you don't want to be putting any preservatives in your eyes.
as I said, more than four times a day. So that's the second rule is that if you're reaching for artificial tears or lubricating drops because your eyes are feeling dry and you're using them more than four times a day, you need something more. You need help.
Tansy Rodgers (31:04.578)
Yeah. And when you say that you might need something more, is there a next best step that is universal or does that really depend on the individual?
Dr. Pam Theriot (31:17.29)
Next best step is to schedule an eye exam. We should all be getting an annual eye exam, right? We go to the dentist twice a year to get our teeth cleaned. If they fell out tomorrow, who cares? We could just get new ones. If we don't take care of our eyes, they can't fall out of our head. We can't get to that point where they fall out of our head because if we get new ones, they don't work the way the old ones do, right? We can get a false eye, but it doesn't see. False teeth still chew.
So we spend all this time taking care of our teeth. And even in our society, we teach our children to take care of our teeth from the age that they're two. As soon as they're old enough to stand up at the sink, we get little Johnny and little Sally to stand up at the sink with a stool. And we have them brushing their three teeth at the age of two. And yet if those teeth fall out, especially those baby ones, they'll get adult ones, right? And we can teach them how to take care of them then.
but we don't take care of our eyes on a daily basis. And there are four simple steps that I teach my patients how to take care of their eyes on a daily basis so that we don't allow them to fall out of our heads.
Tansy Rodgers (32:25.166)
Which we're gonna get to, we're gonna get to in one moment. You definitely don't want your eyes to fall out of your head. For sure. And we're gonna get to those four steps in just a moment. But since we're talking about doctors and going to your optometrist, what do, if someone decides that that is their next best step, what should they ask for? Are there certain tests or treatment options or like how should they approach the situation?
Or do they just schedule and go in and have the doctor do what they're gonna do?
Dr. Pam Theriot (32:59.982)
Well, I think scheduling an eye exam is a great idea. If you already have an eye care practitioner that you're seeing, then go ahead and go to your usual eye doctor. When you get there, just let them know that you feel like you're suffering from dry eyes or your eyes aren't as comfortable as they used to be. And the doctor will work them through a series of tests. It might look a lot like your usual eye exam, but they may be asking you some very specific questions.
about the frequency and the severity of your symptoms, whether they're stinging and burning, feeling dry and scratchy, or is your vision fluctuating. And then they may also do some specialized testing to measure the how many tears are in your eye, the health of those oil glands in your lids as well.
On the flip side, I'd say if you don't already have an eye care practitioner and you're doing some research to see who might be a great doctor to see in your town, you may want to go to Google and say, eye care practitioner plus dry eye with your town and see what Google tells you. On their website, they may have a specific area that says, we treat these diseases at this clinic.
and they may note dry eye, glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, these kinds of things, then you'll know that you're in the right place.
Tansy Rodgers (34:24.418)
Mm-hmm, yeah. And so, as you talk about this, you've said, you know, tell them about dry eye. Is there different kinds of dry eye, different categories, or is it pretty much dry eye is dry eye?
Dr. Pam Theriot (34:38.38)
Well, it is kind of a strange moniker, right? Calling it dry eye. There are lots of causes of dry eye, but I think if you went to your doctor and told them a myriad of things, my eyes sting and burn, they feel scratchy, I feel like there's something in them all the time, or I'm struggling, seeing clearly, especially on the computer, or my vision tends to get worse at the end of the day. These kinds of things will all clue the doctor that
There's something going on with your tear film and that they need to step in with some kind of intervention, some kind of therapy.
Tansy Rodgers (35:17.496)
Okay, yeah. Well, we don't want people to get to that point, right? If we don't have to, right? We want to take in some of the long-term care. And you said that you have a four-step approach with some simple habits that people can implement. So let's talk about that. What do you recommend? And can you walk us through what that four-step approach is?
Dr. Pam Theriot (35:42.336)
Absolutely. So I call them four simple steps, just like we use four things to take care of our teeth every day. We have a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, and mouthwash. We take care of our hair, shampoo, conditioner, anti-frizz creams. We have all these products that we use specifically to take care of other parts of our bodies. We have face wash, toner, moisturizer, sunscreen, right? We know how to take care of our bodies. We just haven't been taught how to take care of our eyes.
But because the eye area is delicate and sensitive, we do need to use specialized products to take care of our eyes. So the first one, as we mentioned about 100 times now on this podcast, artificial tears or lubricating drops. If you go to your local drug store or grocery store, you'll see a whole aisle of products. And I've told you, you want to make sure you get something that's preservative free so that you can use it, whether you use it once.
twice or 42 times a day, preservative free is the way to go. Now the second step is to cleanse your lids and lashes. If you're a woman, you're wearing eye makeup some of the time, I imagine, and you want to make sure you're removing your eye makeup every night before you go to bed and follow that up with a lid and lash cleanser. Now if you're back at that aisle at the grocery store or drugstore, there'll be artificial tears and lid and lash cleansers. They come as
individual wipes that you can use to cleanse the lids and lashes, foaming cleansers, or even a antiseptic spray to keep the bacteria from growing around on our lids and lashes. So using a very specific cleanser that is formulated for the eyes.
It used to be about 20 years ago, eye doctors just recommended, just use some baby shampoo, it's super gentle. But what we now know is that baby shampoo is not the way to go, even though it's more gentle. It's still not enough because the eye area is so sensitive and we want this area to have oils on it or if we strip the oils, it causes the skin of our lids to start to crack and peel.
Dr. Pam Theriot (37:57.752)
So you don't wanna use something like a shampoo, even a baby shampoo, because it'll strip our natural oils too much. So that would be the second step to cleanse your lids and lashes at least once a day when you're removing your eye makeup, taking a second step to cleanse with a lid and lash cleanser. The third step is then to do a warm compress. We talked a lot about being on a digital device throughout the day and those oil glands.
atrophying because the oils aren't being moved out of the oil glands as regularly with our blinks. So if we use a warm compress, especially at the end of the day, it's going to heat up the oils that are trapped in those oil glands, allow them to liquefy and come out of the glands and onto the front surface of our eye. A warm compress can not only feel soothing, but can also smooth out your vision because now you have a nice coating of oil.
And then the last, the fourth step is to take a nutraceutical or a vitamin specifically formulated for your eyes. Now typically with dry eyes for years and years and years, we always recommended an omega-3 fatty acid supplement because those omega-3s were the building blocks of the healthy oils that we find that come out of our lids and coat our tear film. So an omega-3 was the way to go. Now we have a second option.
made by Bausch & Lomb. It's called Blink Nutritier, and it's an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant blend that can help reduce the inflammation on the front surface of the eye and help us make more of our own healthy tears. So both of those products would be available at your local drug store, and you could find an omega-3 fatty acid, or the Blink Nutritiers would help you to produce more of your own healthy tears.
Tansy Rodgers (39:48.257)
A quick break.
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I will link it down in the show notes so that you can easily jump right on over and use that code TANZ15 for 15 % off. All right, let's get back into this episode.
Tansy Rodgers (41:29.384)
that's so interesting. So the warm compress, how long would somebody put that on for?
Dr. Pam Theriot (41:34.68)
So if you get a warm compress specifically for the eyes, you're gonna microwave that warm compress for 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave and then lay it over the eyes for eight to 10 minutes. Nowadays we even have ones that plug in or they're rechargeable. 10 minutes is probably a very good set of time to stick to whether it's eight or 12.
having that warm compress on your eyes for about 10 minutes a day can really make a difference.
Tansy Rodgers (42:08.75)
And so step four, with the vitamins for eyes. A couple questions here. So you said about the Bosch and Lomb supplement. Yeah, I'm also curious though, there's so many supplements out there that are specifically made for like being on the screen for long periods of time, that blue light.
filtering in, wants to help. And I don't know that they're necessarily for dry eye per se, but wants to actually help with the quality of your eyes in general, especially as we're getting older. So what is your thoughts on those kind of supplements too?
Dr. Pam Theriot (42:57.816)
So the difference is treating the tear film, which is the front surface of your eye. And that's why I'm talking about the Omega-3s or this Nutri-Tier from Bachelon. The second thing that you're bringing up is blue light and how that affects our retina. So our retina is the most active part of our eyes, actually in the back of our eye. And that's where the light is concentrated. And the signal of how we see is sent from the retina to the brain via the optic nerve.
And the health of the retina is very important. We know that antioxidants like lutein and zeaxanthin put down pigment in the retina that can be disrupted by blue light. So taking a supplement that has lutein and zeaxanthin protects us against something called macular degeneration and can also help our vision stay healthy by building up that healthy pigment.
in the macula so that we see more clearly. So I'm talking about two different things. One is the tears and the second is the actual quality of the image from the retina to the brain, which an antioxidant would give you versus something that would help support your tear production.
Tansy Rodgers (44:17.044)
Which is fascinating because, and I'm glad you explained that because I think that so many people look at different supplements for eye health and think, this takes care of all of it. This will take care of everything. And in reality, it's two different things that maybe both need support, but definitely if you're dealing with dry eyes, it's not necessarily one of these supplements that are specifically to help with the health of the retina.
Dr. Pam Theriot (44:41.56)
Right, and a lot of the supplements that you'll find at the drugstore, especially three years ago, were all for macular degeneration. And those supplements have been very well scientifically studied with these long-term studies over decades of time and have been shown to decrease the disease macular degeneration in moderate to severe macular degeneration patients.
They were not recommended in patients who had mild macular degeneration or had a family history of macular degeneration. So you would go to the grocery store and you you or I, our age, we don't have age-related macular degeneration and yet people our age were picking up this vitamin going, it must be, it's good from the eyes, it must be good for me. And it had not been shown to do anything to help improve your eyesight.
unless you had moderate to severe macular degeneration, which would happen above the age of 60 to develop age-related macular degeneration.
Tansy Rodgers (45:47.074)
Yeah. Hmm. Well, now you also mentioned Omega-3 as one of those vitamins or supplements. Are there other nutrients that are really important for dry eye when it comes to dietary, either through food or through supplementation?
Dr. Pam Theriot (46:04.59)
Absolutely. anything that would bring down inflammation in the eyes like vitamin C or curcumin turmeric would also bring down inflammation. And so the dry eye is driven by inflammation. So if you're a patient who has already high levels of inflammation in your body, because perhaps you have an autoimmune disease,
such as Sjogren's syndrome or lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, then you have higher levels of inflammation in your body and taking a supplement that would bring down inflammation in your body would be very helpful to your eyes as well. So vitamin C, turmeric.
Tansy Rodgers (46:49.386)
Yeah, that's great. That's really helpful. And so if we're talking about the inflammation side, I wanna stay with that, but I also wanna pull back in something else you were already talking about when you brought up about makeup and some of the cosmetic side of things, right? When we talk about this whole trend with false lash, like false eyelashes, right? And how they could potentially be really harmful to the eye and...
caused some of the inflammation through some of the toxins, the glues, the hygiene. Can we talk about what you would love people to know about that, about this trend, about glue and lash hygiene and all the other long-term potential impact that this could cause?
Dr. Pam Theriot (47:38.922)
Absolutely. So eyelash extensions come in many shapes and sizes and forms. So let's talk about either lashes that you put on temporarily that have an adhesive or you're going to a lash salon and you're having individual lashes glued onto your own natural lashes. Either way, both are using an adhesive. The adhesive that you're putting onto your lid can
really be irritating and that you're pulling it on and off and on and off. We talked about how the skin around our eyes is different than the skin of our cheeks or the skin of the back of our hands. It's very delicate. It's the thinnest skin we have in our bodies. And by putting an adhesive on our eye and pulling it off and putting it back on day after day after day can break down that skin barrier and cause problems. That's with lashes that you're.
that you're putting on daily. But the ones that are actually glued on to your individual lashes, a myriad of problems here. The first is that the glue that is utilized has formaldehyde in it. And the formaldehyde, as you may know, is something we use to embalm dead bodies. So if you were to go to the morgue, then they would have lots of formaldehyde there to extend the body, right? But we don't.
want to put formaldehyde on our living body because it's very toxic. having that glue up against our eye all day long, emitting these fumes of formaldehyde is very damaging to the front surface of our eye. So that's problem number one. Problem number two is that women who wear these lashes spend a ton of money on the lashes and they don't want them to fall out prematurely. So often they don't.
touch their lids and lashes and cleanse them properly because they don't want to lose their lashes. So the bacteria that live on our lids and lashes can get overgrown because we're not doing any kind of daily hygiene to keep the lashes clean. And the third problem happens with any kind of lash lengthening, like maybe you're using a lash lengthening serum that comes in a mascara wand that also, by the way, has
Dr. Pam Theriot (49:57.234)
toxins in it to make the lashes grow longer. Usually has a prostaglandin in it that is inflammatory in nature and can cause a lot of inflammation on the eyes. my point was that if we are lengthening our lashes, each one of us has an ideal lash length. And it has a lot to do with how far our eyelids come out from our orbit. So our lashes are there to protect our eyes.
they're there to collect dirt, dust, and debris so that things don't fall into our eyes. And so the length of my lashes is different from the length of your lashes because of where my eye is placed in my skull. And we each have an ideal length because of that. So when we're artificially lengthening our lashes, we're doing lots of things. Number one, it could be causing more dirt, dust, debris, and pollen to come into our eyes because the lashes aren't in the proper spot.
to barricade the dirt dust and debris that's in the atmosphere. The second is that a lot of these curl up and it actually causes almost like a wind tunnel to funnel more air to the eye because of the positioning of the lids. So the eyes can dry out more readily. Isn't that crazy?
Tansy Rodgers (51:17.326)
It is. It's so funny to me because that is so not my lane. have, I, yeah, that is just so not my lane. I've never, I've never found the appeal of putting fake eyelashes on, but I see so many women that do do it. And I never realized how, how bad that could actually be for the health of your actual eyeball, like the actual eye itself.
not just the skin around it. Right.
Dr. Pam Theriot (51:49.486)
Yeah, so many effects. Again, it's not because you wore them one time to a wedding. It's because women are gluing these onto their eyelashes and they're there 24 hours a day for months and months and months and years and years and years and that stress, that extra air getting to their eyes for the long term, having this in a position where...
your body wasn't meant to be in that position. That's what's giving the problem is that years and years of doing this, not because you did it on date night or for a wedding or an event, but years of time.
Tansy Rodgers (52:25.848)
Fascinating, so fascinating. All I can think about, as you were saying about the formaldehyde, is how so many eyelashes will last forever. Will last for absolutely ever. Wow, wow. So Dr. Pam, I would love to know.
What are just a few, you've already talked about your four steps. So if your four steps answers this question, please tell me that. But I'm curious if there are simple things that somebody can do every single day to protect their eyes that actually, things that move the needle, not just nice things, but things that actually make a difference.
Dr. Pam Theriot (53:11.022)
Absolutely, so a couple of my biggest rules or if you put makeup on you have to take it off at the end of the day. So just that simple act of cleansing your lids and lashes, making sure that you're going to bed with a naked face and not having an overgrowth of bacteria on your lids and lashes. Number two, if you wear contact lenses again, you have to take them out every night. You don't want to sleep with your contact lenses on, you're going to create more inflammation.
less oxygen getting to the eye, and a breeding ground for bacteria that may have gotten underneath the contact lens and can cause significant infections. And then let's just give you a couple of tips about our digital devices. They're so present these days. So the first tip that I want you all to know is that the further away you can get your screen, whether it's your cell phone or your computer monitor,
an arm's length distance on your monitor or further away on your telephone, the further the better. So that's for your eye strain. It's also for your blink rate. And then taking breaks when you're on your digital device will really help you to blink a couple of times, to refocus your vision, and then take a break to blink and rehydrate the front of your eyes.
Tansy Rodgers (54:34.842)
This has been so fascinating. I feel like you just opened up a new world of information to me that I actually was, my brain was over in the place of like the vitamins that it was over somewhere else and not realizing how big of a difference that is. That is amazing. All right, well, before we figure out where people can find you and to get into your world, let's just go with three.
rapid fire questions. Dr. Pam, these are just quick, fun ways that I would love to know how you use some of these tips that you just talked about today. Are you ready for the rapid fire? All right, so the first one, what is one I habit that you wish that people would break immediately?
Dr. Pam Theriot (55:15.982)
Absolutely.
Dr. Pam Theriot (55:28.12)
going to bed with their cell phones. using your digital device right before bed is really inhibiting your sleep.
Tansy Rodgers (55:37.614)
Good one, yeah. All right, number two. What is your personal go-to comfort for your eyes after a long screen day?
Dr. Pam Theriot (55:48.128)
I would go with an artificial tear that has a little bit of oil in it, like Blink Triple Care or Sustain Pro.
Tansy Rodgers (55:59.854)
Good, good. I love that. I love that. All right, and finally, number three, if your eyes could text you a message when they're done for the day, what would they say? Like, what is your go-to sign for you?
Dr. Pam Theriot (56:15.328)
It's definitely stinging and burning. So when they start to sting and burn, it's time for me to take a break to do some significant blinks, to make sure that I've cleaned my lids and lashes, maybe put that warm compress on and get my eyes a rest.
Tansy Rodgers (56:31.436)
I love it, I love it. Listeners, listen to that. Watch for that sign. That is a good one. All right, Dr. Pam, where can people find you? What do you have going on in your work?
Dr. Pam Theriot (56:43.054)
So I'd love for you to come to my website, which is pamterio.com. That's spelled pamtheriot.com. If you'd like to download my makeup removal guide that has a list of all the cosmetics that I recommend to my patients, it's pamterio.com forward slash remover. Or if you'd like more tips on how to use your digital devices, you can go to pamterio.com forward slash phone.
Tansy Rodgers (57:10.018)
And as always, all of those links will be down in the show notes to make it easy access for you to get into Dr. Pam's world. All right, do you have any last words that you would like to lay on the hearts of the listeners for today?
Dr. Pam Theriot (57:23.054)
When you learn to take care of your eyes today, your vision will last you a lifetime. Thanks so much.
Tansy Rodgers (57:29.176)
This episode was a gentle reminder that your eyes are not separate from the rest of your life. Dry eye isn't just annoying. It can actually mess with your mood and your focus and your confidence and your willingness to do the things that you normally like to do, especially when screens and sleep and stress and inflammation are all piling on. I loved how Dr. Pam made this
feel both normal and fixable without really minimizing how draining it can be. If you take just one thing from today's episode, I want you to think about that eye care is not vanity, it's not optional, it's basic maintenance. It's like brushing your teeth, especially when you are living in a digital world. So here's a question I'd love for you to sit with this week as you ponder on some of the things that you heard.
What is one small daily eye care habit you can commit to for the next seven days that would actually make your eyes feel more supported? And if you're noticing chronic symptoms, please don't white knuckle it. Go and reach out to Dr. Pam, reach out to your optometrist, reach out and find out what you can do now. And until next time, keep spreading that beautiful energy, you were born to share.
