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Watch this video about how to Improve Gut Health & Dry Eyes
(about 39 minutes duration)
Read the full transcript here:
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
Do you ever experience daytime fatigue or sluggishness or difficulty concentrating or feeling bloated?
My name’s Dr. Leigh Plowman, Optometrist. Today I’m excited to interview two optometrists about gut health and its role in dry eyes. Let me introduce them to you.
Dr. Mila Ioussifova graduated with honours from the New England College of Optometry in 2007.
She completed a residency program in Community Health and Ocular Disease in Boston, Massachusetts.
She’s a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, and she frequently lectures at national conferences on the topics of ocular surface disease.
Dr. Ioussifova has a private practise in Portland, Oregon where she offers advanced dry eye treatments and nutritional counselling.
She studied human nutrition and functional medicine at the University of Western States, and she’s a certified nutrition specialist candidate.
She’s passionate about treating dry eye disease while incorporating nutritional and lifestyle changes.
Dr. Mila is a member of the American Nutrition Association and the Ocular Wellness and Nutrition Society. Her philosophy is to treat the whole person and not just the disease.
Dr. Celia Futch is an optometrist and board certified nutrition specialist.
She graduated from UC Berkeley School of Optometry in 2012, and she since started a private practise and trained in nutrition and functional medicine at the University of Western States.
Dr. Futch also has specialty training in nutritional genomics and immunology.
She lives with her husband and two young daughters in Northern California where she enjoys swimming and cooking with her family.
And all of the links to everything we mention will be in this article.
I’m very excited to introduce to you Dr. Mila and Dr. Celia. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Dr. Celia Futch:
Great to be here.
Dr. Mila Ioussifova:
Thank you for having us.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
Celia, we might start with you. What are some of the general health symptoms that go along with dry eyes?
Dr. Celia Futch:
Sure. So I think it’s a great question to start with. So the way I think about it is there’s really three pillars that are so intimately connected with dry eye.
And so Number One is going to be gut, so digestive issues and symptoms, pretty much of all types.
Number two is immune, we already think about this a lot with dry eyes, but that chronic inflammation, body wide, these autoimmune flares.
And then Number Three is brain, so I’m talking nerve health, cognitive function, and even your moods.
So after working with patients for ten years, both Mila and I have really realised that understanding this connection to dry eye is so crucial, but often the focus really goes almost solely onto those really local eye therapies, the wipes, those drops, those medications, and they’re super important.
So don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you can’t… You have to have those, and you have to get those right.
But putting the sole focus on just those we felt was really kind of missing this connection.
And what many people really don’t understand sometimes is that that eye discomfort has a lot to do with your health on the cellular level. Like your cells aren’t, they’re just not thriving, they’re not resilient. A
nd that’s that thread that really connects all those pillars, that cellular resilience, it connects the gut, the immune, the brain and eyes.
So that ties it all together and that cellular resilience, that function, when we work on that in the right way, it can really just lift them all up together.
And that’s my goal when I work with a patient and why we created our program.
And it really can make your other treatments like your jobs, your IPL work better and last longer.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
That’s great. It’s so good to think about health from a general sense, but also about the cellular health and how vital the cells are to working in harmony together.
Why are some of these symptoms often ignored or underdiagnosed?
Dr. Mila Ioussifova:
Well, I think for patients, it really takes the right kind of doctor to really listen to them.
And even when we talk about our autoimmune patients, a lot of times they go for years undiagnosed because again, they know something is wrong, but their doctors are either dismissing or maybe the labs are looking normal or within the range that the normal is set too.
So really, we really go by symptoms. And a lot of times with the traditional approaches, the symptoms can be ignored or just been like, oh, that’s normal.
You’re getting older, or these are the things that you just have to live with. Whereas with functional medicine approach where you really listen to the patients and really start digging deeper to really understand functionally what’s happening.
So it’s not so much here’s the disease state and you either have it or not, but the pre-disease state can happen for years when the patients just know something is off.
But it takes the right kind of doctor to really know how to listen and not ignore and maybe do some of the more functional testing and find these imbalances that can later on lead to disease.
And that’s kind of our approach really with the functional medicine approach to really not necessarily looking at, I hear this all the time with my autoimmune patients or patients that you could tell there is probably some systemic inflammation going on, but everything looks good.
The traditional labs are looking normal. I hear this with patients, especially with rosacea that have a lot of GI symptoms, but they say, I’ve had them for years. I have IBS, or I’ve had some other problems that are either, again, they’ve seen a GI doctor, they just get a diagnosis and that’s it.
They don’t get the support for nutrition and the right supplements and how to maybe reverse some of those disease processes and improve their symptoms.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
Absolutely. I love that proactive approach and asking about the holistic care, thinking about how you can really serve your patients well.
How important is the gut flora for dry eyes?
Dr. Mila Ioussifova:
We know that the intestinal lining, the gut lining and the ocular surface that both are mucus membrane, so similar immunological changes or signalling that happens in the gut really happen on the eye surface as well.
So with imbalances and changes in the microbiome and the microbes are not just there to hang out, they actually change sends signals to the entire body.
So the changes in signalling that happens in the gut can manifest in the eyes.
So some of those, for example, we can have upregulation of inflammatory mediators and downregulation of the anti-inflammatory mediators that can manifest in the eyes. So it is all really interconnected.
And another aspect of it is the how intact the lining of the gut is.
So one of the things that happens with specifically dysbiosis, which we can talk about in a little bit in imbalance of the gut microbes, we see more changes in the lining of the gut where there’s more permeability.
So leaky term is what a lot of people have heard. And with that were pathogens, things that are not supposed to get into our bloodstream, get into our bloodstream, into our nervous system, and then they really manifest in a systemic inflammation, which is what we see with autoimmune conditions.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
Would you like to add another comment Dr Futch?
Dr. Celia Futch:
Sure. Yeah. Well said. I just had another example. I was reading a paper just last week, so I wanted to add this really interesting example.
So there’s research that shows that those commensal bacteria, commensal being those friendly ones in your gut, they produce these chemical signals, they’re called Type One Interferons, and these actually tell your immune cells to basically move forward resolving inflammation, which is a good thing because inflammation basically should be a cycle.
There’s like a beginning part where you recognise a threat.
There’s this ramp up where you try to really handle it, and then there’s a resolution where everything gets cleaned up and back to homeostasis.
But when you have less of these types of interferons, you can get stuck in these beginning and middle stages. And that beginning stage is known as that innate immune system. It’s just a type of cells.
But this innate immune system is non-specific. And the analogy I like is it’s a blow torch that’s trying to get at a mosquito, it will get it, but it caused a lot of damage too. It wasn’t specific to what that actual threat was.
So what’s interesting is you can kind of get wrapped up in this innate response, this non-specific response, and when that happens, you kind of overreact to things, your immune system becomes more oversensitive, and you run the risk of recognising pieces of your own tissue as part of the threat that just get wrapped up in that war. And that’s autoimmune activation.
And what I found interesting is in these models of dry eye, they have identified that these type 1 interferons are low, which means that there’s another connection between those gut microbes, those signals that they make and the dry eye, it’s just not working.
And also there’s good indications that that innate immune response getting kind of stuck there, getting dysfunctional is happening in dry eye and especially in rosacea.
So there’s best evidence for that innate immune response being dysfunctional in rosacea, but also in different types of dry eye.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
That’s very interesting about the different stages of inflammation and how the interferons inter play with that.
What do we know about the gut flora and a variety of bacteria there?
Dr. Mila Ioussifova:
Well, this is the area of research that’s been really blowing up in the last two decades. When the human microbiome project launched by NIH in 2007, so almost two decades, we’ve had more and more research on really the different microbes. And this is viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and fungi.
There are over hundred trillion of these microbes in our microbiome, and we’ve identified over a thousand different species, which unfortunately in our Western diet doesn’t really allow us to have that much diversity.
We in-general, or a typical westerner, has about 160 different microbes in their gut, microbiome. But we do know that there are some beneficial and some pathogenic and some that are due signal or upregulate, some of the inflammatory signals and others are really more supportive and dampen down or reduce inflammation.
Some of these beneficial bacteria, they send short chain fatty acids, which really help to modulate our immune system.
So we’re learning and the technology is getting better and better. So we have some actual testing we could do, which both Celia and I use for some of our patients where we could do stool testing.
And these are not done in our offices. We have the patients, this is the question I get often, what you do stool test in your office?
No, these are kits that we can have, we can order for patients and it gets shipped to them and do they do it at home and then they ship it to the lab. But these are PCR DNA sequencing methods.
So there’s different methods, and this is really what’s helped us really efficient or accurately identify the types of bacteria that we have in our gut and really learn what kind of diversity.
The main thing is diversity. That’s really what we want. We want a lot of different types of bugs in our gut that can really synergistically can live together, but also help our bodies in the systemic way.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
How long does the gut flora itself tend to take to change?
Dr. Celia Futch:
Yeah, that’s a bit of a tough question because there’s really no quick fix or one size fits all.
So it does depend on the person, the severity of what’s happening in their gut, their history, what’s happened to them.
But in general, by the second or third week of really having a good plan for working on gut health, working with a trained practitioner who’s doing it with them, there’s like a chance that your flora is starting to shift toward a better pattern after those few weeks.
But also having a really good strategy with food and supplements like both, and they match really well as far as what the goal you’re looking for is really key to having those long-term changes.
And that’s what we’re looking for. So for some just that probiotic, even if it has a really awesome message on the label says, oh, it does this and this, it’s just not enough really, especially if you’re been dealing with things for a while.
So you really need the prebiotics, the steady stream of that food for the microbes. Prebiotics means that it’s a specific type of fibre and it acts as a food for those good bacteria, and only the good bacteria, it doesn’t feed the pathogens. That’s the definition of a prebiotics.
So it’s like a garden, I like to think of it. So you can plant that seed, but it’s not going to do much if you don’t take care of it and you got to water it, give it what it needs, that sunshine, and then it’s going to root, become an established plant.
And that established plant is really going to be able to withstand challenges better. If you think about it.
So I talked about slightly the resilience a little bit earlier. It’s kind of a similar thing just with your gut in general when you’re working on it, because you are looking for a longer term stability where you’re more resilient. That plant is not going to handle a cold spell as good as that tiny little seedling.
So what I’m getting at is for most patients, after a few months of doing some good work, you’re hopefully into a more stable kind of situation where you’re more resilient.
That means maybe if you go on vacation for a week and your diet changes a bit, that you’re able to handle that and you’re not going all the way back to baseline like zero and feeling terrible.
It might be a little step back, but that’s what I’m talking about as far as your resilience. You want to get there where that permeability is fixed, where the mucosa is back to being healthy and the microbes are in a more balanced state.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
Awesome. Yeah, I love that analogy of the pot plant versus the established garden. That’s very helpful. And Dr Mila, tell me
What inspired you to undertake the board certification in nutrition?
Dr. Mila Ioussifova:
So as optometrists, we were already exposed to nutraceuticals. We we’ve known about the benefits like omega-3 supplementation.
We knew about the AREDS formulas for macular degeneration.
So we were already a little bit trained, but I felt like it was not enough for me to understand at the cellular level and what’s happening at chemistry level to when I’m recommending certain supplements beyond those that we traditionally do in eye care and the nutritional recommendations.
So not just supplements, but really what type of diet should I be recommending for my patients? And these are really organically, came to, the interest was there, but my patients, the demand was there.
The patients were asking me, specifically my dry eye patients, because we do a lot of dry eye treatments in office, we do every dry eye treatment in office that’s available, but sometimes everything we do is just not enough.
So I knew that there was more that’s missing in my protocol, something that was not addressing their systemic health, the imbalances and in the dysfunction of the cells that I was treating it on the surface.
And I wanted to know it more at the professional, at the scientific level and not just me teaching myself here and there.
And the program through the University of Western States was very helpful to really go back to the basics and really learn this.
I had to take biochemistry again and all those things, the nutritional biochemistry. So really a lot of things start clicking like, okay, this is why that’s recommended and here’s why we may modify this approach in this patient.
So that’s really helped to understand so that I can, again, all comes back to patient care, so I can have a little bit more personalised approach to my dry eye patients, to my rosacea patients who struggle again with a lot of gut imbalances.
So it’s not just on the skin, if it’s in the skin, it’s starting in the gut. And now we know such a strong correlation between rosacea and dry eye.
So we’ve made that link and now we need to really incorporate what’s happening with their microbiome and their gut health and that which is manifesting on their skin and their eyes.
So that was my passion, really, to take better care of my patients so I can really know what I’m talking about. And so it’s been a journey, but I’ve loved every step of it.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
I love that. I love how you’re taking better care of your patients, giving them better recommendations and helping them to succeed. That’s awesome. And how about for yourself, Celia?
What was your inspiration for undertaking board certification in nutrition?
Dr. Celia Futch:
Yeah, sure. So some similar themes as Mila, some similar motivations. I was in private practise for about 10 years and basically the crux of it is that I listened, like Mila, I got a lot of questions about this from patients.
I’d tell them about their condition and they’d want to know what can I do to help it from getting worse or what can I do to support it?
And I feel like I didn’t have enough knowledge. Like she was saying, we have limited knowledge on some nutraceuticals, but I didn’t have a good answer.
And so I really wanted to search for an accredited program, something that really went more in depth where I could understand the systems behind it.
The genetics, as she said, the biochemistry. So similar there. Patients really wanted to know more about that and I wanted to give them a good answer.
And then around the same time, coincidentally, I did have some health issues, so I was feeling sick, I was feeling off.
And what I realised I really needed was a practitioner who cared, who listened, who wanted to work with me in depth to help me heal. And maybe others feel like this too. I didn’t quite get that.
So my journey was a lot longer because I had to do so much research on my own. So I was kind of jumping around in different recommendations and it’s just, I would say it’s a more challenging road when you’re dealing with a health issue to have to do that.
And I realised if I could be that for just one person, it would make it worth it. If I could just listen, help them, guide them through something that really helped them heal instead of doing the kind of cursory tests and that one diagnosis. So both of those factors together really led me to get certified and seek the education.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
I love that. How you’ve taken your personal experience and you wanted to even to just improve the life of one of your patients. And there’s been many, many patients since then, so it’s very inspiring. Mila, tell us, you and Celia have developed a program that’s specifically for dry eyes.
Can you tell me about your program to improve gut health and dry eyes?
Dr. Mila Ioussifova:
Yes, we’re really excited about this program We’ve worked with many patients one-on-one individually within our practises.
So when we decided to actually put this together as a program, we wanted to be able to reach more people and have our colleagues really have access to this program as well to recommend to their patients.
So it’s really the only dry eye focussed nutritional program out there.
So not only where we take our knowledge of nutrition, but also knowledge of eye health in eyecare, specifically dry eye. And we formulated this to target that particular disease.
So it’s not only supplementation, we pair the particular supplements with the particular diet, so that all the nutrients from both aspects work together at the cellular level. We’re healing the gut, we’re addressing the immune system and the mental health aspect of it.
So it’s a very strategically placed steps in this program, which is a ten week program. So the information is just enough that it’s digestible and it’s doable, but without being overwhelming.
And we have a lot of support, a lot of recipes, and it’s a weekly step by step approach.
Want to get faster results for your eye symptoms and overall health? Want access to Dr Mila and Dr Celia’s guidance, community and resources?
Get Dr Mila and Dr Celia’s Dry Eye Course here
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
That sounds awesome. Yeah, I like a program that’s doable, but gives you good understanding, for sure.
Tell me about some of the things that come with the course
Dr. Celia Futch:
Sure. So it’s basically a three month membership that comes with getting the course enrolled. And so you get the weekly content, which Mila was talking about.
There’s lots of those resources like the recipes and shopping lists and trackers if you want to use them just to see how you’re doing each week and how you’ve progressed as you go through the program. And then as the support goes, it’s really a great support system.
So you get group discussion sessions every two weeks, and that’s with us, both of us.
So you get access to us directly for questions, support and things like that. And then you can also request one-on-one time with us as well if you just want to speak with us privately about your case or about anything else.
So you have access to us in those ways as well throughout the whole three months.
And you also get the discussion forum. So there’s a private forum for all attendees of the course, and that’s just to share ideas, talk to others who are going through the similar journey as you, and just get inspired by that and share your successes and your challenges really as well.
Also, there’s an option to stay in the community if you want to past the three months.
And then lastly, so we do highly encourage adding a lab test to the program.
So remember we were talking about the functional medicine approach is really about digging deeper. And a good way to do that is to start with some lab tests that really look for biomarkers, so we kind of know where to focus and how to customise, and we do all that analysis for you.
So if you are in the program and you choose to do a lab test or the genetic panel or you in both, all that analysis is included.
We’re going to look over it and give you that practical steps to really customise to your body, which is so valuable. I mean, it gives you so much information about your individual body. I can’t tell you how much that’s helped me on my journey, just understanding how my body is acting so that in certain situations I have better tools now, I’m more prepared.
So we like that aspect, giving you the choice to really customise it there. And as I said, that analysis and our recommendations for customising that is all included there as well.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
Fantastic. That’s awesome to have the lab component to that as well. That’s terrific. We’ll leave a link to the program in the video, this description underneath this video.
is this course something that I could do with a friend for accountability?
Dr. Mila Ioussifova:
I think that’s a great idea. It’s like going to the gym, right? You’re more likely to actually make it there if you have someone who holds you accountable. We do encourage that.
Again, we’ve made this more of a community type of program where we have forums and so we do encourage that to have a friend or someone else who maybe is struggling with similar with dry eye, but you don’t really even have to have dry eye to do something like this because again, this is a program that is going to make you feel good in your body.
So it’s not just about dry eye, but again, our focus is dry eye, but having a friend would definitely hold you more accountable.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
Celia, I know that many people in our group have a busy schedule.
What’s the weekly time commitment for your program?
Dr. Celia Futch:
Yeah, great question. So what we thought when designing the program is to make the actual weekly content really easy to get through, not too lengthy.
So the thing is you can reach out to us if you want more background or you want to see the study on that. We are so happy to provide it for you, but we’re not going to lay all that on you during that week in that module. So the modules are quick, so you get through them in five or ten minutes, max fifteen if there’s a video in that one.
But a lot of the actual work in the program is going to be based on how much you put into it.
So there’s going to be something to focus on that week. You may want to work it into your shopping list and figure out how to source those types of foods that we’re working on that week.
So there’s some effort there, but we give you lots of ideas on how to do that and lots of options.
So if you’re not into buying this particular vegetable fresh, let’s talk about another option for how to source that. So again, we’re flexible.
We give you lots of options as far as how to incorporate that program in there. We understand some people are a little busier, they don’t cook as much.
So again, we try to be really open to all sorts of types of situations so that everyone really can benefit.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
Celia, you mentioned before about the improvement in gut can start to be seen in a few months. What are some of the ways that people can measure their improvement in their health and their dry eyes from doing the course? What are some of things that they can look lookout for?
How can I measure improvement if I undertake the Program?
Dr. Mila Ioussifova:
So we do have some questionnaires, some of them are specifically for gut health. And then we do include the speed questionnaire, which as you know, it’s the standardised dry eye questionnaire that’s often used.
We do that at the beginning of the course, at the program and then at the end and excuse me at the end of it.
So that’s a nice way to see if the dry eye symptoms have improved.
But what we hear from our patients is that they tell us, well, other things are improving too.
They feel like they have more energy, their skin is cleared up, they have better sleep, so better mood. And those are the things it are just as important if not more, to really gauge how comprehensive this program is.
It’s not just about our eyes. I mean our eyes are part of our body, of course, so anything that’s happening systemically.
So if we can improve that dry eye symptoms are going to improve, but also the other things that we hear improve in general health of the patients, which is really empowering and I love that about that functional medicine approach.
We’re getting to the root cause. When we say this, this is really getting to the root cause of dry eye, not just on the surface treatments, which are very important.
It’s still important to treat the ocularisation, MGD and the inflammation of surface, but those treatments may not be as successful or lasting if we’re not getting to the root cause of it.
And that’s where this program could be really a nice supplement to the treatments that we already offer to patients.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
Absolutely. But for my patients, I often see inflammation on the surface and yeah, to have something that goes deeper to find the root cause would be invaluable.
Tell me about the investment in the program
Dr. Celia Futch:
Sure, yeah, happy to. So the three month program right now is $689 and then there’s a discount code from Dry Eye Directory you’ll get 10% off. So that brings it down to $620.
Get Dr Mila and Dr Celia’s Dry Eye Course here
And remember that’s three months access to us, which is meant to help you obviously, but just part of the value.
But they can find out more, they can see more of the components if they head over to our course website. So that’s dryeye-nutrition.com.
So there’s like outlines there of how the modules go. There’s testimonials of the people who’ve gone through the program and there’s quite a bit more about our unique approach and how we designed it. We talked about a little bit that today, but there’s also some more info there.
Also on that website if they want to check out our blog.
So we started the blog a few months ago, but there’s a lot of great articles there already. And we’re trying to just add things that are really useful to people that help them think about their dry eyes and their health in a different way. Kind of clues to what’s going on and that root cause. How can we keep that in mind.
So they can check out our blog and subscribe if they want. If they want to have those articles sent to them. So that might be a good option if they want to find out more, but they’re not sure about joining yet.
And also the third thing that they can find on the website is actually you can book a free discovery call with us. It’s twenty minutes long, so either Mila and I will join you, we’d be happy to chat with you about your particular case and whether it’s a good fit for you.
We would just chat with you, like I said about your case and we’d be happy to meet with you.
So you can book that, it’s really easy. You just look at the calendar and choose a spot and we’ll chat with you for free.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
That’s awesome. It’d be great to have a chat with you guys. And yeah, like you said, the program includes talking with you guys and access to the community and so much education as well about gut health and the eyes. So yeah. That’s awesome. And Mila,
What would you say to someone who is looking to try and find their own way instead of investing in the program?
Dr. Mila Ioussifova:
Yeah, so before I started, before I studied nutrition, I used to recommend maybe just general dietary patterns, in a Whole30 diet or Mediterranean diet. I would just tell patients, eat healthy, do this.
And what I found that that didn’t really work, patients really didn’t know where to go, how to do it.
But it is doable, of course, you can do just like with anything.
If you’re remodelling your house, you can do DIY, you can do it to yourself. Everything is on YouTube, you can definitely Google it and kind of learn how to do certain things.
But that’s the difference between having a professional who does it for you, who helps, who does your remodelling, does it correctly, and you don’t have to go back and redo anything versus doing it yourself. So you can certainly do it. There’s a lot of information out there.
This is something that is finally, it seems like in the last maybe again twenty years, more and more researchers out there, there’s more resources for people to get books and maybe information online or follow certain influencers, to listening to podcasts and things like that, that have that functional medicine background and they can help you navigate and learn on your own.
But again, my experience was that it just wasn’t done. The resources are there, but the patients would not really follow through and not really know where to go.
And there’s so much information out there that could be very overwhelming. It could be sort of scary and just too much of it, much of the information to really sort through.
And that’s sort of like where, again, why this program was developed by Celia and I to really get rid of that noise and really focus on individual patient, that individual approach.
So it’s possible to do it, you just have to do a lot of that on your own and versus working with someone who really gets nutrition and gets eyes.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
Absolutely. And it sounds like you’re saving people time, you’re saving them stress and getting out of mix as well that they’re not going through in a stepwise manner to get the best results faster.
Do have any final thoughts about dry eyes, gut health and your program?
Dr. Celia Futch:
Just to reiterate kind of what Mila just said, I already talked a little bit when I wasn’t feeling well and I had to do things on my own, I can tell you from personal experience, it’s isolating. I mean, even my family wasn’t sure what I was doing. I told them I wasn’t feeling well and I had to make these changes in my diet.
But I would try one thing one week and then Google, I’d look up something else and I would try another thing the next week. And it just wasn’t coherent.
And I think it really did waste me a lot of time. And also I didn’t know to advocate so much for my health. And this is a really big issue.
How much should you be advocating for yourself and asking for testing and asking?
And it’s really important to feel like you should be empowered for your own health and learning your body is part of it, but also advocating for yourself with health professionals and in that space is important too.
Dr. Mila Ioussifova:
Well, I’m excited that we’re in the space.
I’m excited to have another option for our dry eye patients, which for those of us who see dry eye patients all the time, they need hope, right?
They’re coming to us because they’ve maybe seen multiple doctors. On average it’s been shown that these patients will see 3.2 doctors before they start getting relief.
And majority of them are looking for more options because what’s offered to them is not working. And this is again, a new approach.
It’s not new in the sense of functional medicine, that’s been around, but we are bringing it to eyecare and more of our colleagues reaching out to us, interested in this program and they want to offer to their patients. And we’re thrilled that we can provide that to our colleagues.
And so that, again, the ultimate goal is to help more of our dry eye patients.
So I’m excited to be here and both Celia and are available for any questions. And we encourage our colleagues to reach out to us and talk to their patients about this program and about the support and know that there’s more that we can do for these patients.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
Thank you so much for both of you for sharing what’s inspired you about gut health, holistic health, for really wanting to do more for your patients and really grateful for all the effort that you’re putting into help people in a wider audience to be able to feel empowered about their health.
So thank you so much you guys for joining us today.
Dr. Mila Ioussifova:
Thank you for having us.
Dr. Celia Futch:
You’re welcome.
Dr. Leigh Plowman:
And we’ll leave a link underneath this video to check out the course and go ahead and get started:
Get 10% off Dr Mila and Dr Celia’s Dry Eye Course here
Or at the checkout type in the word DIRECT