Dry eye disease affects up to one in three New Zealanders, causing irritation, grittiness, watering, and fluctuating vision. One of the simplest — and most effective — ways to relieve these symptoms is with an eye lubricant, often called artificial tears. The right drop can make a real difference to comfort and vision. But not all lubricants are created equal, and grabbing just any bottle off the shelf won’t necessarily solve your dry eye.
Eye lubricants supplement or stabilise the tear film — the delicate layer that protects, nourishes, and smooths the surface of your eyes. They help to:
- Add moisture and reduce friction
- Protect against irritation and inflammation
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Improve comfort and visual clarity
Unlike redness-relief or medicated drops, lubricants are safe for frequent, long-term use and remain the first step in nearly all dry eye treatment plans.
Because a “one-size-fits-all” approach doesn’t work, we stock and recommend a wide range of New Zealand’s most advanced lubricating eye drops. Using our diagnostic assessments, clinical experience, and the latest evidence — including TFOS DEWS III — we guide you toward the most effective lubricants for your individual type of dry eye.
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Why Are Lubricating Eye Drops a Key Dry Eye Treatment?
Dry eye develops when the tear film (the protective liquid coating your eye) is unstable, poor quality, or insufficient. Healthy tears are made of three key components - oil, water, and mucin - which work together to keep the eye surface smooth and hydrated. With every blink, this tear film spreads over the eye, providing lubrication, nutrients, and protection.
In dry eye disease, you may produce too few tears (aqueous deficiency), your tears may evaporate too quickly (often due to an unhealthy oil layer or meibomian gland dysfunction), or the tear film may struggle to spread evenly due to mucin deficiency. Many people have a combination of these issues.
Artificial tear drops help by supplementing or stabilising this natural tear film, creating a healthier environment for the surface of your eye to recover. Regular use can break the cycle of dryness and irritation. In fact, studies show that using a good artificial tear four times a day for a month can significantly improve symptoms for many people.
Artificial tears are safe, widely available, and considered first-line therapy — but it’s important to choose the right formulation and use it correctly.
Think of lubricating drops as moisturiser for your eyes: they relieve dryness and support healing, but if you have an underlying issue like meibomian gland dysfunction or inflammation, that too needs to be addressed. Lubricants are the foundation of dry eye care, but often just one part of a comprehensive treatment plan.
Understanding Your Tear Film and Dry Eye Types
Not all dry eyes are the same. During a Comprehensive Dry Eye Assessment, we identify which part of the tear film is affected:
Aqueous-Deficient Dry Eye
Your lacrimal glands don’t produce enough of the watery component of tears. This can be age-related or associated with autoimmune conditions like Sjögren’s syndrome. Your eyes simply don’t have enough fluid to stay hydrated.
Evaporative Dry Eye (Lipid-deficient)
This is the most common form and is often linked to Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD), where the eyelid oil glands become blocked or dysfunctional. Without a healthy oil layer, tears evaporate too quickly — even if you produce plenty of them. You may notice burning, stinging, or fluctuating vision.
Mucin-deficient Dry eye
The innermost mucin layer helps tears spread smoothly. Damage to the ocular surface or reduced mucin production can cause dry spots, irritation, and inflammation even when tear quantity is normal.
Mixed Dry Eye
Very common — for example, age-related reduced tear volume combined with MGD. Both water and oil layers may need support.
Understanding your subtype matters because different drops target different tear film deficiencies. Modern artificial tears are formulated to address specific needs, and TFOS DEWS III emphasises matching therapy to the underlying subtype. This targeted, evidence-based approach has long been standard practice at Illume.
Choosing the Right Eye Drop for Your Dry Eye Type
All lubricants moisturise the eye, but they are not interchangeable. The best drop depends on your tear quality and your symptoms.
A Comprehensive Dry Eye Assessment allows us to evaluate tear volume, tear film breakup time, osmolarity (saltiness), meibomian gland function, and dry spots on the eye surface. If a standard lubricating drop isn’t helping, it may simply be the wrong formulation.
Studies suggest around one-quarter of patients do not respond to a given artificial tear — but often improve with a different type. This is where guided care prevents wasted time and frustration.
Dry on Waking?
If your eyes feel dry when you wake up, you may have poor lid closure or reduced tear production overnight. A thicker gel or ointment like ViscoTears Gel or PolyVisc ointment at bedtime can provide much-needed overnight hydration.
Preservative-Free vs. Preserved Drops – Why It Matters
Preservatives keep multi-dose bottles sterile but can irritate or damage the ocular surface with frequent use. Benzalkonium chloride (BAK), for example, is known to worsen inflammation and harm the corneal surface if overused.
Preservative-free drops:
- Are gentler on the eyes
- Are preferred for moderate–severe dry eye
- Are ideal if using drops more than 4–6 times a day
They come either as single-use vials or in special filter bottles that keep bacteria out without preservatives.
Whichever you use, avoid touching the dropper tip to your eye and discard bottles according to instructions.
How Often Should You Use Lubricating Eye Drops?
For ongoing dry eye symptoms, using an appropriate lubricant consistently—often four times daily for at least a month—is a useful starting point. Follow your optometrist’s advice and the product instructions, as the right frequency depends on your eyes and the formulation.
An occasional drop can provide temporary relief, but a regular routine gives you a better opportunity to assess whether a treatment is helping.
How Long Do Eye Drops Take to Work?
You may feel some relief immediately, but sustained improvements in comfort and eye-surface health can take longer.
In a six-month clinical trial led by Professor Jennifer Craig, participants used lubricating drops at least four times daily. Sustained symptom improvement was evident from the one-month assessment, while improvements in tear-film stability and some signs of eye-surface damage became evident at around four months. Read the study.
This means your eyes may feel better before we see the full improvement during an examination. If your drops are helping, continue your recommended routine rather than stopping as soon as symptoms settle.
Making Regular Use Easier
- Build drops into your day: breakfast, lunch, late afternoon and bedtime can provide useful reminders.
- Use one drop in each affected eye per application, unless instructed otherwise.
- Choose preservative-free drops for frequent, ongoing use, particularly if your eyes are sensitive.
- Follow storage and after-opening expiry instructions, and avoid touching the bottle tip to your eye or eyelashes.
What If There’s No Improvement After a Month?
If you’ve used your drops consistently for a month without noticeable benefit, it’s time to review your treatment plan.
A systematic review of artificial tears found that symptoms commonly improve within a month of regular use, while clinical signs generally take longer. It also recommended considering alternative management when there is no benefit after a month. Read the review.
You may need a different formulation, or additional treatment for underlying problems such as meibomian gland dysfunction, eyelid inflammation or ocular allergies. Simply switching between bottles without understanding the cause can be frustrating.
At Illume Eye Care, we assess your tear film, eyelids and eye surface to help you choose the right drops—and identify when your eyes need more than lubrication.
This advice applies to lubricating dry eye drops. Prescription and allergy drops have their own dosing schedules. Seek prompt assessment for pain, light sensitivity or reduced vision rather than waiting a month.
Some of our Favourite of Artificial Tear Brands
To make things concrete, here are some common lubricating eye drops available in New Zealand and what they’re best used for.
The Systane® Range of Eye Drops
The Systane® range offers a variety of eye drops designed to relieve dryness, irritation, and discomfort by supporting all layers of the tear film to provide tailored relief for different types of dry eye, from aqueous deficiency to evaporative forms linked to Meibomian gland dysfunction.
A key ingredient in many Systane formulations is HP-Guar (hydroxypropyl guar), a smart gelling agent that transforms into a soft, protective matrix when it touches the eye’s surface. This gel layer helps lock in moisture, stabilise the tear film, and reduce friction when blinking, giving longer-lasting comfort than ordinary drops.
HP-Guar also interacts with the natural mucins on the eye, helping damaged cells heal and maintaining a smoother optical surface for clearer vision. When combined with moisturising polymers like polyethylene glycol or propylene glycol, it provides both instant relief and sustained hydration.
- Systane® Ultra – A fast-acting standard lubricant (contains HP-Guar (a gelling agent) with polyethylene glycol). Good for aqueous-deficient or general dry eye.
- Systane® Hydration – Contains sodium hyaluronate (hyaluronic acid) for extra moisture binding, plus other polymers. Great for aqueous dry eye needing more hydration.
- Systane® Complete – A newer all-in-one drop (a milky nano-emulsion) that contains tiny oil droplets plus moisturizers, targeting all layers of the tear film. It’s designed to relieve multiple symptoms (burning, dryness, and tear film instability) in various dry eye subtypes. If you’re not sure of your type or have mixed dry eye, this could be a good starting drop.
Sodium Hyaluronate Stars
One of the reasons we love Systane® Hydration is because in combines sodium hyaluronate with HP-Guar.
Sodium hyaluronate (HA) is one of the most effective and well-tolerated ingredients in modern lubricating eye drops. Naturally found in the body, HA has a remarkable ability to bind and hold water, giving long-lasting moisture without blurring vision. It forms a soft, protective cushion over the eye’s surface, reducing friction with every blink and supporting the healing of dry or irritated cells. Because it adapts to the eye’s environment, thinning when you blink and thickening when your eyes are open, HA provides hydration that feels both natural and stable. This makes it an ideal choice for aqueous-deficient dry eye, screen-related dryness, contact lens discomfort, glaucoma related dry eye and post-procedure care.
In addition to Systane Hydration, at Illume, we offer several high-quality HA-based options to suit different needs.
- Hylo-Forte® and Hylo-Fresh® – high-quality preservative-free drop containing 0.2% and 0.01% sodium hyaluronate. They come in a special pump bottle (the COMOD® system) that keeps it sterile without preservatives. Hylo-Forte is known for its high viscosity – it’s thicker than standard drops, which means it stays on the eye longer for prolonged relief (great for severe dry eye), yet it’s formulated to not blur vision much.
- AEON PROTECT - a gentle, preservative-free lubricant combining sodium hyaluronate 0.03%.
- AEON PROTECT PLUS - a 0.3% cross-linked Sodium Hyaluronate specifically designed for before and after eye surgery but it's unique formulation, provides relief from moderate to severe dry eye.
- Blink Intensive Tears - A smooth, comfortable sodium hyaluronate 0.2% and polyethylene glycol 0.25% lubricant designed for fast relief of dryness, irritation, and contact lens–related discomfort. Its viscoadaptive formula adapts to the eye with every blink, keeping the surface moist and clear without blurring. A great everyday option for mild to moderate dry eye and long hours on screens.
Lipid Support
Lipid-enhanced lubricating drops are designed to replenish and stabilise this oily layer, improving tear film quality, reducing evaporation, and providing longer-lasting comfort than aqueous-only drops. These formulations may contain mineral oil, phospholipids, castor oil, or advanced ingredients like perfluorohexyloctane to mimic or support the natural oils your eyes are missing.
In addition to Systane Complete, at Illume Eye Care, we offer a selection of evidence-based lipid formulations—ideal for patients with MGD, evaporative dry eye, or those who haven’t found relief with standard watery drops.
- NovaTears® – A cutting-edge drop designed specifically for evaporative dry eye. It contains 100% perfluorohexyloctane with no water at all. Perfluorohexyloctane has a very low surface tension and spreads quickly as a very thin lipid layer over the tear film, preventing evaporation. NovaTears is preservative-free beneficial for lipid layer deficiencies – basically acting like a replacement oil layer. Clinical studies demonstrated that perfluorohexyloctane drops significantly improve signs and symptoms of dry eye in MGD patients, often within 2 weeks of regular use. NovaTears is used about 4 times a day and is an excellent option if standard emulsions haven’t helped your evaporative dry eye.
- BioRevive Tears Again™ Liposomal Eye Spray - a convenient liposomal phospholipid spray used on closed eyelids to support the lipid layer and calm irritated eyes. Tears Again helps stabilise the tear film by delivering phospholipids to the lid margins, improving tear spread and reducing evaporation—perfect for evaporative dry eye, screen fatigue, and sensitive eyes. It’s preservative-free, contact lens–friendly, and great for patients who prefer a no-touch, easy-to-use alternative to traditional drops.
- Rohto Dry Aid™ - a lipid-enhanced lubricating drop containing a unique blend of sesame oil, polyoxyethylene castor oil, and hydrating polymers to help restore the tear film’s oily layer, reduce evaporation, and support long-lasting comfort. It also includes Rohto’s signature mild cooling sensation, created by a low level of menthol, which can provide a refreshing, soothing feeling on application.
The key message is you have options. If one drop isn’t giving you relief, don’t lose hope – a different ingredient or formulation might work better for you. Sometimes it’s about finding the right match for your eyes.
Ready to find the right drop for your eyes? Shop our full range of eye drops →
Including Hylo-Forte®, Systane® Complete, and AEON PROTECT PLUS.