Are itchy watery eyes from pollen allergy driving you nuts? Don’t feel alone, millions of Americans including myself are struck with this annual affliction. After years of various pharmaceutical eye drop treatments, the latest being Zaditol proving inadequate, I stumbled upon an herbal eye wash that produced an immediate and dramatic relief.
For me, the miracle herb was eyebright (Euphrasia Officinalis). Apparently eyebright contains flavanoids and volatile oils that are anti-inflammatory and actually stabilizes mast cells, the tissue of the eyes that are responsible for releasing histamines that cause the itch and triggers watery eyes.
Eyebright is an herbal remedy for eye ailments historically used by the ancient Greeks to the Chinese and popular today in Asia and Europe but surprisingly unknown here in America. It is sold in many forms, from what they call cut bulk which is like loose bulk tea, loose powder, concentrated tinctures and capsules of powder. Much of the product available today in America is imported from Eastern Europe. I buy the cut bulk for under $2 an ounce from a reputable local health store that carries bulk herbs.
Brew a cup of tea using 1 to 2 teaspoons of eyebright in cut bulk form, cover the cup with a saucer to prevent essential oils from escaping with steam, let it cool and strain into another cup. Pour a little into the hand and splash it onto the eye, taking care to get some into the eye itself for amazing relief. In my case the skin around the eyes, especially the eyelids get inflamed and the splashing does wonders to soothe the skin.
What I do now is brew a cup of eyebright in the morning and use it throughout the day as needed whereas most of the pharmaceuticals have strict usage guidelines. For example Zaditol states only one application every 8 to 12 hours and no more than one drop per application. The problem was that the effectiveness diminished over time and eventually rendered it useless since I was too scared to disregard the usage guidelines.
I am now happily splashing eyebright tea on my eyes. It is much easier and faster than aiming an eye dropper to land one drop correctly on each eyeball. I can also say that the relief eyebright brings is dramatically better than any pharmaceutical eye drops I have tried. If you suffer from itchy, watery eyes from pollen allergy, eyebright is a cheap and simple solution that you may want to consider.
A word of caution is, be sure all utensils used and your hands are clean when dealing with solutions that will end up in your eyes and always discard and make a fresh batch if left at room temperature for any length of time. Refrigeration is the way to go on hot or warm days. As in any compounds, concentrated forms like tinctures should be used with caution. Many websites will give warnings about home remedies since they are not made under sterile conditions or that they have not been scientifically proven effective or safe. All I know is that eyebright eye wash works wonders for me.
