OOs urged to update eyelid hygiene advice

Optometrists are doing 'more harm than good' by advising patients to employ home-made treatments such as baby shampoo or bicarb scrubs for lid and lash conditions.

Delegates to Johnson & Johnson's White, Bright and Healthy roadshow heard that OOs should get more involved in the management of dry eye and prescribing therapeutics.

Independent West Country OO Sarah Farrant said eye care professionals should take the initiative. In her presentation on investigation and management of dry eye she said up to 30 per cent of over-50s and half of contact lens wearers would suffer from the condition but: 'GPs can't, and ophthalmologists won't', identify and treat it.