Announcements about launch of our products and newsletter

[Rebecca Petris]

Dear all,

1. Dry Eye Shop Status

I would like to thank everyone for their support, patience and understanding during the past many weeks while the opening of the Dry Eye Shop (where Dwelle, Dakrina and NutraTear will be sold) has been slipping and sliding around. The uncertainty about timing has been due to a variety of unexpected delays, both business and personal.

I am extremely pleased to report that we are at last in a position to announce a definite date! On June 7th, barring an Act of God, the Shop will open for business. The following will be available via the website.

- "Night and Day" sample set containing 3.5mL each of Dwelle and Dakrina, free of charge except shipping and handling.
- 15mL Dwelle
- 15mL Dakrina
- 15mL NutraTear

We are also developing a facility to act as a conduit for donations to nonprofit organisations which are active in promoting better solutions for dry eye patients by allowing customers to add to their order a donation in any amount they choose. If you know of a responsible, reputable organisation you would like to see listed for this purpose, please contact me about it so that we can explore the possibility with that organisation.

2. Dry Eye Newsletter

For those who registered to receive our newsletter and are wondering why you haven't received anything, it is because for various reasons we have been planning to launch this in parallel with the opening of the shop. The first newsletter therefore will be distributed on June 7th.

3. Professional sample sets shipping status

Professional sample sets previously reserved by doctors will begin shipping on or before the 7th.

We are developing a facility for online re-ordering sample sets online but first time orders should be placed by phone, fax or email (click here for instructions).

Doctors/practice managers, if you have any questions about this please email me or give me a call.

Patients, if you would like your doctor to receive information about our products please send us their contact details and we will be happy to get in touch with them and send them sample sets.

----

As always, if anyone has any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at rebecca@dryeyezone.com.

Sincerely,

[Lucy]

Congrats

and a big thanks to you and Cindy for dealing with this huge undertaking.

I believe all the dry-eye blindies will benefit from this. Most of all, though, thanks to Dr. Holly for his investion!

[Donnafizz]

Does Dr. Hollys Drops Really Work?

I keep hearing about Dr. Holly's drops...are they that good? I am going nuts with my eyes.....I have 4 plugs, use Restasis, Bion Tears, humidifiers, Systane....what have you noticed about these drops that are wonderful???

[Rebecca Petris]

"Do they work" can't possibly have a yes/no answer. The collective pathologies loosely referred to as "dry eye" or "dry eye syndrome" or "chronic dry eye" are far too diverse for any one product to always "work" (no matter how work is defined), and moderate to severe dry eye is frequently something to be managed as opposed to cured. Artificial tears are almost always part of a good dry eye management strategy. Dwelle, Dakrina and NutraTear are the best ones Cindy and I (who started The Dry Eye Zone) personally have ever used.

So:

- if "do they work" means "Is everyone instantaneously cured?" the answer is emphatically no.
- if "do they work" means "have many people experienced dramatic improvement", the answer is emphatically yes.
- if "do they work" means "is the average person helped?" the answer is - well, yes based on the clinical trials that have been done; but the products have been in such limited distribution the last several years that I have no impressively large statistics to give you.
- if "do they work" means "will they help ME", the answer is, I have no idea, but from what you describe of yourself, you have nothing to lose by trying (samples are free).

"What have we noticed about these drops that is wondeful?" I dunno, they just somehow manage to adhere to a crummy ocular surface better than anything else I ever tried.

Regards,

[dianat]

Great job on pulling this off you guys!

[JRE]

Outstanding! I'm ready to order. One question though, I'm a little confused. Are the products you are offering (Dwelle, NutraTear, etc) "Dr. Holly's drops" or is that a different product altogether? If different, will they be offered for sale at some point as well? Thanks!

[Donnafizz]

Drops

So are you saying that Dr. Holly's drops stay on your eye longer than the usual tears? How severe are your eyes? How often during the day did you put these drops in as opposed to the regular artificial tears?

[Rebecca Petris]

Outstanding! I'm ready to order. One question though, I'm a little confused. Are the products you are offering (Dwelle, NutraTear, etc) "Dr. Holly's drops" or is that a different product altogether? If different, will they be offered for sale at some point as well? Thanks!

Short answer: same.

Long answer, as many people have had similar questions:

Dr Frank Holly formulated four products technically called ophthalmic demulcents (i.e. lubricant eye drops or artificial tear supplements). These products are:
1. Dwelle
2. NutraTear (also marketed under the name RedKote)
3. Dakrina
4. FreshKote

Any and all of these have become known on the internet as "Dr Holly's Drops".

The Dry Eye Company has licensed Dwelle, NutraTear and Dakrina and these will shortly be available on this website. They are all over the counter products (no prescription required). Freshkote is not currently available commercially though I believe it may still be available through the compounding pharmacy Apothecure (prescription required).

[JRE]

Ahhh...thank you! You might want to make this a "sticky" for others or post it in the FAQ section. I couldn't find anywhere (maybe I missed it) where this was explained.

[Rebecca Petris]

So are you saying that Dr. Holly's drops stay on your eye longer than the usual tears? How severe are your eyes? How often during the day did you put these drops in as opposed to the regular artificial tears?

I guess I would describe my condition as moderate to severe (it varies). I'm not nearly so badly off as some people who post here though. - I can't really compare the frequency of use of these drops with other drops because I simply can't use other drops (most of them irritate my eyes or don't help after the first five to ten minutes). In my case it's more like the difference between getting relief and not getting it.

Here's a typical eyedrop day for me. This varies though with the time of year and where I am and what I'm doing.

Early morning - a drop of Dakrina each eye. Sometimes my eyes are too sore to tolerate drops when I first get up so I rinse them with Unisol then put in some Dakrina or NutraTear later after showering.

Throughout the day - I have to wear large gas permeable lenses because of some vision problems, and typically I use NutraTear when my contacts are in. How frequently, really depends how much I'm on the computer. Minimum, once or twice a day, maximum, however often I need.

Night - a drop of Dwelle just before bed.

Remember though - every individual is different. That's just me, at this particular point in time....

[Rebecca Petris]

Ahhh...thank you! You might want to make this a "sticky" for others or post it in the FAQ section. I couldn't find anywhere (maybe I missed it) where this was explained.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will put a footnote in the artificial tear reference list in FAQ. (Have been trying to keep the digressions on these drops to a minimum there as we do not want to use the patient information parts of site to market the drops, but I guess it doesn't make sense to carry that to such extremes that people can't find out what they need to )

[Donnafizz]

I wear small gas permable lenses....but the right eye is real dry so the oil from my eyelid smears on my contact and I have to keep taking it out to clean it...its like a smear of oil build up.... can you use Dr. Holly's drops while wearing the contact lenses? Do you contacts feel better with the drops in? Can you wear them longer without that dry feeling?

[kurt]

Yes, you can use Dr. Holly's drops, like Dwelle, with rigid gas permeable lenses.

[Rebecca Petris]

I wear small gas permable lenses....but the right eye is real dry so the oil from my eyelid smears on my contact and I have to keep taking it out to clean it...its like a smear of oil build up

Very interesting. Have you talked to your eye doctor about this? There may be products he knows of that are particularly suitable as rewetting agents. Also any chance it has to do with the fit of the lens?

can you use Dr. Holly's drops while wearing the contact lenses? Do you contacts feel better with the drops in? Can you wear them longer without that dry feeling?

This is one of those funny situations where I end up feeling compelled to talk out of two sides of my mouth simultaneously - one, as a spokesperson for the company licensing these drops, and two, as a patient who uses them - and being quite the fastidious personality I like to be very clear about which side I'm speaking out of.

So, on behalf of The Dry Eye Company I need to say that these are not being sold as contact lens rewetting drops but rather as lubricant eye drops. We have not undertaken any clinical studies on the drops specifically regarding use as rewetting agents so I cannot make any statements about their effectiveness or advise on their use.

Speaking in my private capacity as a human being now I use Nutratear frequently with my lenses in, and sometimes Dakrina on a bad day. A drop of the stuff and sometimes a little push of the finger helps prevent them from getting "stuck" and increases my wearing time and comfort. I met a doctor recently who uses Dwelle on soft lenses. I've never been able to tolerate rewetting drops from pharmacies - they always seem too goopy. Can't even remember how I came to first try NT with the lenses but it works a dream for me personally because it's very light and doesn't blur things even for a minute - I get crystal clear vision almost as soon as I drop them in.

Also, just fyi it's my general, not-a-doctor-so-please-don't-quote-me understanding that in general many over-the-counter lubricant eye drops might be considered acceptable for use with contact lenses even if they are labelled as lubricant eye drops rather than rewetting drops. But at the end of the day, whatever you use, you need to ask your doctor first and always make sure he knows what products you're using.

Sorry for the loooong answer

[Rebecca Petris]

Dear all,

I am extremely pleased to report that we are at last in a position to announce a definite date! On June 7th, barring an Act of God, the Shop will open for business.

Well, I can't claim an Act of God has happened (at least not according to the legal definition!) but nonetheless I'm going to have to revise this opening date to the 14th. Here is why: I was unexpectedly informed by the manufacturer this afternoon that we may be able to get a considerably longer shelf life on our initial shipment if we can allow them an extra week. We had originally planned for an early shipment with a short life - just in order to get things going - and a later shipment with a two year life, in the course of the summer; but now it seems we may be able to get a two-year expiry on the entire first production run. - I had to make a decision on the fly about whether this was worth the delay and felt that, particularly for current users who have sometimes had concerns about short shelf lives printed on the bottles from the compounding pharmacy, the longer life would be preferable.

Speaking on behalf of Cindy as well as myself... MANY, MANY, MANY HEARTFELT THANKS TO ALL OF YOU for your patience with this long and sometimes uncertain process. You can't imagine how much we appreciate your support.