Advice re taking large amounts of flaxseed oil supplements can help, possibly also evening primrose oil. And hot compresses (either hot water or heated eye bags) for 5-10 minutes followed by eyelid massage. And eyelid cleansing - either with special wipes or with warm water mixed with a bit of baby shampoo, to get rid of flaky skin around the eyelash area and reduce the amount of bacteria living there. It's a condition you can never get rid of, you just have to find ways to bring it under control, and the trickiest bit of getting it under control is learning the right techniques for massaging and cleaning your eyelids and finding out how often you have to do this. It's a bit trial and error, and often it feels like the problem is getting worse before it gets better.
It might be your problem is caused by some kind of allergy/eczema, if the area around your eyes is dry and sore, though, which means that you should be careful what you put on your eyes to treat it!
And if the above measures don't work, a 3-month course of low dose doxycycline can help, as this makes the lipids in the meibomian glands more runny and reduces inflammation. Flaxseed oil is supposed to have a similar effect, which is why they often suggest you try that, first.
If you didn't get much advice from the optician on exactly how to massage your eyelids and clean your eyelid margin, you could try looking up meibomian gland dysfunction and/or blepharitis (of which MGD is a sub-type and not necessarily the type you have) on the internet and finding a reputable site giving tips on the best techniques.
As for dry eye drops, there are loads of options out there. Some people don't get on well with dry eye treatments with preservatives in. The preservative free treatments are a LOT more expensive. If Clarymist doesn't work for you, Celluvisc is pretty good, although I found that Celluvisc 0.5% wasn't quite thick enough when I tried it, but Celluvisc 1% was too thick, so ended up having to mix both (one drop of each in each eye - and then keep the vials for use all day with the caps back on, as you don't really need to throw them out straight away, despite the official advice, just don't use them the next day, too). This then provided excellent relief to me for the soreness and redness whilst I was bringing my MGD under control. I now only need to do eyelid massage a couple of times a week (instead of 2-3 times a day) and don't tend to need dry eye drops very often any more (every few days, rather than multiple times a day), either, although it does seem to be a bit cyclical (ie related to my hormones and when my period's due!).