Here are the steps I have used to bathe my eyes in soothing herbal solutions.
Buy 2 glass eye cups.
- NOTE: when you wash your eye cups, do not sterilize them with isopropyl alcohol -- any such residue will cause stinging when you use the eye cups.
- You can wash the eyewash cup with warm soapy water after each use.
- Optionally, you can rinse the cup with hydrogen peroxide & baking soda to remove bacteria.
Make an herbal tea like usual. I use filtered water. Herbs choices include:
- triphala (my current choice)
- bilberry
- eyebright
- bayberry bark
- goldenseal root
- red raspberry leaf
- possibly turmeric -- the FitEyes community is still discussing this option
Add some aluminum-free baking soda to the tea to give it a pH of around 7.5 (or 8). If the eye wash stings, the pH is probably too low and you need a little more baking soda. Make sure the baking soda is fully dissolved. You don't want any grittiness. I don't have a pH meter, so I guessed at the pH. When it feels comfortable (no stinging) you have the right pH. Remember the amount of baking soda per unit of tea for next time.
Fill each eye cup about half full with lukewarm tea. Test the tea temperature on your hand.
Place the eye cups on your eyes and lie down (or tilt your head back). (Have a towel under your head because the eye cups will leak a bit.)
Don't put pressure on your eyes
Relax, let your eyes open and move around while they bath in the herbal tea. Blink a few times.
Work up to a few minutes (maybe 3 to 5 minutes). However, even doing it for a minute is good in my experience.
- Please add comments below if you have suggestions for improving this tutorial.
- If you have questions, please make a new "question" type post here rather than commenting below. All replies below should add to the tutorial, not ask questions. We welcome related questions, but those should be a new "question" type post.