Should I buy Castor oil for dry eye?  The answer is a resounding maybe!   

TOPICS COVERED: Let's look at Why? How? and Risks of using castor oil on the eye.

Castor oil has long been a home remedy solution for ocular dryness but using it as a topical agent as promoted on some social media sites can be dangerous.  The post that I was shown by a patient had an individual dipping the finger into a jar of castor oil and applying it to the whites of her eyes.  This would definitely qualify as risky!

Why would you want to use castor oil?   Castor oil is indeed the main ingredient of a few over-the-counter eye drops such as some of the Refresh and Theratears brands.  It does have properties to seal moisture to the eye and even perhaps help mild surface inflammation.

How to use castor oil on eye?   If you would like to try castor oil for dry eye.  Talk to you eye doctor and make sure that you actually have dry eye.  Castor oil can make some non-dry eye conditions worse by delaying proper treatment.  If dry eye is established as your ocular issue then only use ophthalmic preparations of castor oil or sterile castor oil (once opened castor oil is not sterile unless it is in individual use vials or has preservatives in the bottle).  Apply a drop to the white of the eye with the vial or a disposable/cleanable applicator.

What are the risks of using castor oil in my eyes?   [1] If you have a compromised cornea from dry eye, it is more susceptible to infection.  Using non-sterile castor oil of non-sterile application and increase infection risk. [2] Impurities - How pure is the castor oil and is it free of preservatives and things could induce a toxic or allergic reaction in the eye?

Bottle line is that castor oil is fine to use in the eye IF it is a sterile, ophthalmic preparation.

mEYEspa does not sell any products with castor oil.  Personally in clinic, I have found castor oil based eye-drop products to be less effective as non-preserved products containing sodium hyaluronate such as HYLO or Hyabak or Thealoz DUO.

Additional Information: A home remedy that works for Dry Eye, Why is Hypochlorous Spray just so good!