Sharing how I got back to wearing makeup after being diagnosed with dry eye, blepharitis and MGD, as well as my favorite brands. This is not medical advice; I’m just sharing my experience!

Hi friends! How are you? I hope you’re having a wonderful morning! We’re finishing up Rodeo break (wah) so the kids are back to school and it’s back to the swing of things around here. I hope you have a great day!

For today’s post, I wanted to do a reader’s request after a comment I received last week. Ever since I posted about my eye issues, I’ve been overwhelmed by amazing messages and comments, but also saddened to hear that so many of you have found yourselves in a similar boat with sudden flares, autoimmune issues, and painful, red eyes. While I was in the depths of all of this last year, I was so frustrated and sad. I couldn’t see myself ever wearing contacts or eye makeup again. (I have no foresight whatsoever, so in my mind, what is happening now means it will be happening forever.)

I couldn’t wear makeup for many months and slowly made my way back to contacts and eye makeup. It’s taken a lot of work and healing – I’ll share more on my healing journey and everything I’ve done to decrease my histamine responses and inflammation in an upcoming post – but *knock on wood* I can finally make it through the day without constantly thinking about my eyes. Just putting that hope out there for my dry eye friends — it can and will get better. This won’t be forever. Hang in there, friends.

Please remember that I’m not a doctor and this isn’t medical advice. At the same time, many traditional eye doctors were mystified by my situation and didn’t know how to help me. I was determined to get to the root cause and improve the issue, and have done a lot of research and experiments on myself along the way. Shout out to my beloved dry eye specialist who gave me some answers and guidance! Also shout out to the beauty of functional testing, because I learned so much about how stress was affecting me, my gut imbalances, toxicities, and deficiencies.

wearing makeup with blepharitis, dry eye, and MGD

Here’s t

Sharing the best products for dry eye, blepharitis, MGD (I’ve tried it all!)

+ the Great Eye Saga

Hi friends! How are you? I hope you’re enjoying the morning so far. The girls are at a half-day camp and I’m here doing discovery coaching calls, podcast editing, and getting a quick workout before pickup.

For today’s post, I have the post no one asked for, and the post I DEFINITELY didn’t ask for:

my Great Eye Saga, finding out I have severe blepharatis, and mild MGD (meibomian gland dysfunction)… and all of the products, strategies, and treatments I’ve tried, along with my routine.

the best products for dry eye, blepharitis and MGD

OG readers of the blog (Hiiii and thank you so much for being so awesome and for your constant support) know that my eyes are delicate petunias. I’ve written about my woes with previous infections, eyelash extension nightmares, and finding out the hard way that certain eye makeup will ruin my life lol.

The latest eye misadventure has been the longest and most inconvenient experience yet, but in my determination to look at the bright side, now I know more about my eyes, WHY I struggled so much with certain things over the years, have a routine and care plan, and my eyes are the whitest and happiest they’ve been in years. 

So, buckle up, and I’ll tell ya a story.

The Great Eye Saga

In April, I got the worst pink eye that I’ve ever seen or experienced. I’d been out gardening the day before, and woke up with neon red eyes that were covered in mucus (I’m sorry, it’s true) and almost swollen shut. I rushed to urgent care, where they prescribed me antibiotic drops, and was sent home. It didn’t get better within a few days, so I went to a new eye doctor. (My previous eye doctor had retired.) He said the infection was viral and prescribed a steroid drop, which calmed down the inflammation. The following week, he said I could go back to my contacts, so I did. Within a few weeks, the redness and goo was back.

*It’s worth mentioning here that I washed my pillowcase and any towels I used every single day, threw away all of my expensive makeup and skincare (WAH), and washed my hands so often all of my knuckles were cracked and bleeding. I was so frustrated that somehow, I had pink eye again.*

I started the antibiotic drops again (the same ones, since it had only been about a month), they did nothing, and I went back to the eye doctor’s office.

I saw different eye doctor since my previous doctor was booked