Nightime

I've been using Refresh eyedrops for years, but the relief never lasted long. In searching for new preservative-free eye drops, I came across these. I was a bit nervous about the ideal of a "gel" (I wouldn't call them that personally; they're thicker than usual drops, but not by much). But I love them. I got these mostly for use at night right before bed, and I purchased the Extra bottle of drops from Thera Tears for daytime use. The first time I put these gel drops in, my vision got very blurry, but that only lasted for a few minutes until the drops worked their way around in my eyes. By morning, for the first time in as long as I can remember, my eyes weren't painfully dry anymore. I love these. I noticed some other reviewers mentioned a "grainy" feeling. I wouldn't say that, but I think I know the sensation I mean. On the second time I used these drops I felt a weird dryness for about a minute. It seemed to have to do with my eyelid moving across my eye where part of the eye was coated with the gel drops and part was still dry. That caused a semi-painful scratchy sort of feeling that I could someone calling "grainy." But as soon as I moved my eyes around a bit then closed them for a minute or so, that feeling went away. The drops just had to be worked around. Being thicker that can take a little longer than normal eye drops. So that could be what others are describing unless they received damaged bottles (maybe ones that were exposed to freezing temps or too much heat in shipping?) or unless they had a reaction to something in them. But my experience has been quite positive, especially now that I know how to work around that brief uncomfortable feeling. UPDATE: I've been paying more attention to that "grainy" feeling with these gel drops compared to the thinner ones. And it seems to be partly an eyelash thing in my case in addition to it taking longer to work its way around the eyes. Because the gel is a thicker drop, it seems to move the lashes around more if it comes in contact with them, and that's causing the scratchy feeling temporarily (like having a lash in your eye). It still sorts itself out quickly though. I have very straight lashes that come in front of my eyes if they're not curled, so if you don't have that issue, it might not affect you that way.

I have extreme dry eye because my eyes don’t close all the way when I’m asleep. And I had to start using a CPAP machine and things got worse. I discovered I can put this in my eyes at night then put on my mask and hook up my CPAP machine, and in the morning my eyes are in great shape. They are stuck together, as some of you have mentioned, but I just go to the bathroom and wet a washcloth with warm water, and pat at my eyes, and immediately it melts away and my eyes are fine. Highly recommend!

I have sleep apnea and sleep with my eyes open. I have constant dry eyes and even wearing two different eye masks at night the air from the CPAP machine goes upward under the eye masks and dry out my eyes bad. That is until I started using these TheraTears liquid gel nighttime drops. I was previously just using the regular TheraTears extra dry eye drops. Which I highly recommend those for daytime use. I have tried so many stops. Even ones recommended by the eye doctor and they either burn or just don't work. TheraTears is better than anything recommended to me ever, and is totally with the value since you don't have to use as much because they really work. I was still having a bit of dry eyes in the morning using the regular drops so I thought I'd try these out and I'm so glad I did. I do wish they'd come in regular droppers instead of all the individual plastic waste. But as irritated as my eyes stayed before and burning and itching when I woke up, I have no choice. Now I wake up so relieved and my eyes are rarely hurting. They are easy to use and just make sure you don't plan to walk around for about five minutes after applying because the gel covers the eyes and makes things blurry. So I put them on right before I put on my CPAP mask and eye masks.

I recently had Lasik so I was looking for eye drops that would keep my eyes moisturized while I slept. These eye drops definitley work. I would recommend putting them in right before you go to bed because they do feel a bit sticky in your eyes and make it a little blurry sometimes. So as long as you make sure its the last thing you do before you go to bed then you should be good. Before I started using the drops I would wake up with blood shot eyes due to the dry weather and my ceiling fan. Since I started using these my eyes are no longer blood shot or irritated. The only downside is that your eyes feel a little sticky in the morning but that's an easy fix and worth the comfort.

I decided to try these out as an alternative since I was out of my normal brand of preservative free gel drops. I immediately noticed that they left a film that felt uncomfortable and *too* thick compared to others I've tried and liked. It felt like it was leaving residue on the eye itself as opposed to just near your eyes. I had lasik last year so have tried several, and I need gel as opposed to the standard. All the same, I trusted the process for the nighttime ones, only using them as night, and noticed that my vision seemed worse the following days that I used them for awhile after getting up. Then one morning after using them, my eyes got super irritated and kind of red with nothing in them except that thick gross residue that was somewhat muddying my vision for half the morning. I absolutely would not recommend these. Same discomfort and lingering blurriness on all of the individual little capsules I tried. If you've had lasik especially and/or have very dry eyes, , do not buy these. My personal favorite is Refresh Optive Gel Drops preservative free gel drops (they have bigger green bottles that are still preservative free and not just a billion tiny bits of plastic for dailies), which I typically use the entire day. They leave residue if you don't wipe around your eyes, but your vision will stay clear after a couple blinks and your eyes will feel fantastic. Fred Meyer sells them in 2-packs. They may or may not say preservative free, but if you read the fine print, there are no preservatives. Such a winner. Stay away from these ones though. They hurt your eyes.