To drop? or not to drop?

[patientpatrick]

I'm over 1 year post-lasik and suffering lasik induced dry eye. I'm assuming that my cornea nerves are still regrowing which is why I haven't been able to produce enough tears so far.

A) DROP - I've also heard that its best to put eye preservative drops every couple of hours whether your eyes feel dry or not, because the nerves are still healing and haven't provided the necessary signals to the brain yet.

B) DON'T DROP - I've heard it's best not to use eye drops if you can tolerate it. The argument is that putting in artificial tears disrupts the natural healing properties of what ever tear film is being produced.

So here's my question. Should I follow (A) or (B)?

To drop or not to drop?

[jax8it]

you know Patrick, I have often thought about this too. For me using too many drops start to really irritate my eyes, especially my left, my special eye lol. I don't want to over drop and wash away what little natural tears I am making with a synthetic tear. Yet, do I want to allow my cornea to become super dry which could be damaging. I use custom moisture glasses made for work. They are not as effective as other moisture chamber glasses; they just looked slightly better. Yet even with these glasses I feel the need to drop every hour or more. By the end of my work day my eyes hurt. Once I am home and can control my environment better, I start to get better slightly. I use cold compresses to soothe the eyelid. A couple of hours later I do a warm compress. Anyway while I am at home I can use less drops, which I think is good.

[Guest]

My vote is to just listen to what your body (in this case, your eyes) are telling you.

Do your eyes feel better when you keep up with a regular dropping regimen? or worse?

Look at your eyes under fluorescent lighting (it makes it obvious if there is any redness) Do your eyes look better if you keep up with a regular dropping regimen? or do they look worse?

If you have a powerful enough magnifying mirror, check out how your meibomian glands look - do they look better if you keep up with your regular dropping regimen? or look worse? (I use this one, and it's excellent - you can SEE your meibomian glands, what's coming out if you try to express them etc.! http://www.amazon.com/Floxite-Fl-20l...nifying+mirror )

Compare with and without dropping under the same conditions (ex. at work) - make sure every other factor that can effect your eyes stays the same (ex. amount of computer use, diet, amount of sleep, humidity, fluid intake, time of day etc... also make sure your eyes are approximately the same when you start out each day too) - do a trial of whatever time period is doable for you (but make it at least a few hours if you can)

Day 1 trial - pay extra attention to how your eyes do with your regular dropping regimen, take note of how much time was spent on the computer, and any other factors that can affect your eyes

Day 2 trial - do everything the same as day 1, but decrease the frequency of dropping and evaluate the difference.

It'll likely become crystal clear whether or not you do better with or without your current dropping regimen.

Good luck!

(I honestly think this is the only way to know for sure... some people on here do better with less drops, some honestly NEED to drop more or their eyes go to crap... so there's no way to know which category you fall into until you test it out for yourself)

[LaDiva]

If you use goggles, then less drops. I tried no drops for awhile when my eyes were at their worst. The doctor said to continue using drops regularly to lessen the possibility of damage to the surface of the eye. My eyes were so bad at one point, that drops didn't seem to make a difference one way or the other, but I do think you probably need some added lubrication. I always had to use more drops at work. Best of luck to you Patrick!

[sunshinelover]

I find this difficult. Some days drops are definitely soothing for my eyes. Other days, like today, when my eyes feel really really dry, it doesnt help, instead the opposite, it make them worse and worse until I dropped pure saline instead which helped. It is weird cause today has3 been a day with more humidity, and yesterday I was much better. I really cant figure outfits this. One theory I have is that some crappy days there are so much inflammatory substances in the eyes and that the thick lubricants I use are just keeping them in. And then saline washes them out. Or ...it has to do with the osmolarity.