There are various eye conditions such as styes, pink eyes, conjunctivitis, black eyes and eye strain. With pink eye and conjunctivitis – there is sensitivity and redness in the eyes, there maybe some itching, a feeling of sand in the eyes, with tearing of the eyes. Eye strain is caused due to various reasons- such as overuse and staring at the computer too long, inadequate lighting, and straining the eyes, not resting and sleeping well, watching television  and reading in inadequate light for too long. Symptoms of eyestrain include fatigue, pressure and tenderness under the lids, headaches, and eye soreness and often blurry vision which seems to get worse with stress. Black eyes are usually caused when the tiny capillaries close to the surface of the skin around the eye leak blood into the surrounding tissue giving the eye a darkish looking color / hue around the around giving it a blackish color around the eye.

Here are some natural remedies to treat various eye conditions naturally:

Preventing eye strain:

Most people have a tendency to spend a great deal of time engaged in focusing on close up activities such activities such as reading, watching television, computer work. One simple way to prevent eye strain to take a break every 25 minutes and either massage the palms and place over them your eyes for a few minutes, or stare at a distant object for a couple of minutes. Try to have adequate lighting if you are going a spend some time reading, and try to cut down the amount of time you spend at either of these activities. If you do still experience eye strain, try to massage the temples with a little bit of lavender essential oil, which helps helps and de-stress the muscles around the eyes. You can also apply a cool compress on the eyes for about 15 minutes using cotton pads soaked in cold milk or sliced cucumbers, just like Queen Latifah did in “Last Holiday”.

Healing / Soothing Conjunctivitis:

A compress made of a regular earl grey or orange pekoe tea bag placed over the effected eye can be quite effective in calming the itching related to conjunctivitis, additional compresses made of calendula or goldenseal tea are great for relieving itching and speed up the healing process since calendula has healing antiviral and antibacterial properties. Apply the compress for 15 minutes at a time at least three times a day. Please talk to your health care provider before trying any of the above suggestions.

 Healing a black eye

 First and foremost, when dealing with a black eye is to bring down the swelling and the inflammation as well, ease the pain, so a cold compress with ice would be great over the first few hours along with some arnica gel, which is great for inflammation and to heal the injury. However be careful not to apply any arnica in the eye or over broken skin.

Over the next day or two, once the swelling has toned down a little, try to alternate between hot and cold compresses to improve circulation to the eye, and speed up the healing process as well. Apply a warm wash cloth for about three minutes, which will then be followed by a cold wash cloth for a minute. Repeat the process three times at least three times a day.

Please talk to your naturopathic practitioner before trying any natural remedies.

By: Sushma Shah, Naturopathic Doctor, at the Nature’s Intentions Naturopathic Clinic, in Toronto.