I purchased several brands of nighttime eye ointments back in February to see which one I liked best. I had been using Retaine PM, and I thought it was quite good.
The other brands I tried were Systane, Soothe, and Refresh. I wasn't that happy with any of them, but they seemed decent.
I used Refresh consistently for a few weeks, and I decided I would not purchase it again. I feel like the tube design makes it too hard to get at the ointment as the amount remaining decreases.
Around April 18-20, I used Systane and noticed that my eyes felt worse the next day. This gave me pause. Could this have something to do with the odd fluctuation in symptoms?
I checked reviews, which are overall quite glowing. I did find one where someone said that Systane irritated their eyes. Someone else said that Systane made their eyes itch. I wondered.
I switched to Soothe for a few days, and my eyes were somewhat better. I wanted to be sure, so I decided to use Systane again. On the night of April 23, I put Systane in my eyes and then got into bed. Around five minutes later, both eyes were itching. I was a bit horrified.
I immediately got up and used eye drops to flush out my eyes. At that point, I knew that Systane was a problem, but not necessarily the problem.
I checked the ingredient list. Click on the image in order to see it clearly.
I saw Liquid Lanolin (3%). That answered two questions in one. My lips have been a problem for many years. I cannot use any lip balms. All of them burn my lips. Around five years ago, I settled on Aquaphor. It was great! Until it wasn't... One morning a few years ago, I woke up looking like a clown. My lips were on fire, and I had a rash all around them. I had to quit the Aquaphor and switch to just Vaseline on my lips.
The only thing in the Aquaphor that could have possibly caused a reaction was lanolin. However, I read online at that time that very few people have a lanolin allergy. Still, it seemed like I might.
The itchy feeling five minutes after putting Systane in my eyes was unmistakable. It's now apparent to me that I do have a lanolin allergy. That was my Aquaphor problem, and it's my Systane eye ointment problem as well.
I checked my other eye ointments. Refresh has "lanolin alcohols" in it. Really? That would explain why I didn't think the Refresh was that great.
Soothe and Retaine PM don't have lanolin in them. That's good to know. I will stick to those two brands and will avoid the others.
After I figured this out, I put Retaine PM in my eyes and went back to bed. I noticed the next day that my eyes felt much better. I should never have purchased any other brands. The first one I tried, Retaine PM, is the best one for me.
This didn't solve the entire problem, but avoiding lanolin in the eyes was a positive step towards improving my dry eye.
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