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  • Advice needed!

    Hi everyone, I’m new here

    I’m Caroline, 19 years old and have been using contact lenses for the past 4 years (have had a few minor irritations in these years, but they would last up to 4 days). I started having problems with my eyes at the end of August 2012. I got back from a trip to Barcelona and a few days later had to go to visit my friend in Cyprus for a week. My eyes didn’t hurt or didn’t feel dry, but I couldn’t use my right contact lens (1-day Acuvue Moist) because it felt uncomfortable. Walked around in glasses and thought that the problem would go away. When I came back home I visited an eye doctor and she prescribed preservative free drops, saying that the symptoms would go away in around a week. Well, that didn’t happen. The problem was only with the right eye and only using contact lenses, so I gave them up for a while. However, at the end of November 2012 I started feeling a gritty sensation under my right eyelid, as if something was under my eye. Went to another eye doctor, she told me that I have a bacterial infection and dry spots on the cornea, told me to take antibiotic eye drops, stop using contact lenses and come back within 10 days. During that time, I also started taking daily doses of vitamins: Omega-3, zinc citrate and “Membrasin” (consists of vitamin A, Omega-7, Omega-9, Omega-6 and Omega-3) I came back, only to hear that I have a change in my corneas due to contact lenses and can’t wear them for the next 3 months. What’s interesting is that she said the problem was mainly with the left eye - I was devastated, because now both my eyes were affected. I stopped using the antibiotic eye drops, and focused on GenTeal and Celluvisc instead, multiply times a day. They made my eyes feel better, but not enough. Ointments didn’t help; instead they just made my eyes look red and irritated. I decided to go to a dry eye specialist on January 2, 2013. He used the Schirmer’s test: he put paper strips to measure the tear production. I got more than 15 mm on both eyes, so it seemed like my results were great. He then put a green colored dye in both eyes and said that there are no dry spots. In a scale 0-9, he told me I’m 0 when it comes to the dry eye syndrome, prescribed preservative free drops and promised that the symptoms are just temporary. He compared my eye irritation to a knee injury, that’s taking a long time to recover.
    Will my eyes stop bothering me? If I don’t have the dry eye syndrome, then what’s going on? I really want to wake up with healthy eyes and start using contact lenses again.

  • #2
    Hi Caroline.

    Did that specialist who did the strip test check your oil (meibomian) glands at all? In dry eye syndrome that's the most common culprit, as opposed to the moisture (lacrimal) glands.

    Did any of these doctors flip your eyelids?

    Did anybody at any time say anything about GPC (giant papillary conjunctivitis) - a contact lens induced problem some people get?

    I have a sort of chronic left-eye-only contact-lens-only related problem too so it rings a lot of my bells. And sometimes something relatively minor can set off a chain reaction, kicking off a sort of inflammatory cycle that leads to much more than you had to begin with so it can get a little complicated to reverse it.

    Needless to say it's really important to get to the bottom of what's going on and not be in a rush to get back into contacts if they're triggering problems.
    Rebecca Petris
    The Dry Eye Foundation
    dryeyefoundation.org
    800-484-0244

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    • #3
      So sick of the problems!

      Thanks so much for your reply and interest It's comforting to hear that I'm not the only one with eye related problems. However, it seems that I'm way too young for a permanent change in my eyes so I'm hoping it will eventually go away.

      Originally posted by Rebecca Petris View Post
      Did that specialist who did the strip test check your oil (meibomian) glands at all? In dry eye syndrome that's the most common culprit, as opposed to the moisture (lacrimal) glands.
      No. I'll make sure to ask next time.

      Did any of these doctors flip your eyelids?
      Every visit, but they say everything looks perfectly fine. Even if I mention the intensified veins under the right eyelid, the doctors usually say it's nothing to worry about and that it's normal. There are almost no veins whatsoever under the left eyelid and that's the eye that has milder symptoms and doesn't have the foreign body sensation.

      Did anybody at any time say anything about GPC (giant papillary conjunctivitis) - a contact lens induced problem some people get?
      Never. Should I ask?

      I have a sort of chronic left-eye-only contact-lens-only related problem too so it rings a lot of my bells. And sometimes something relatively minor can set off a chain reaction, kicking off a sort of inflammatory cycle that leads to much more than you had to begin with so it can get a little complicated to reverse it.
      It started off as a contact-lens-only related problem too back in 2012, but I haven't worn contacts in 7 days and the symptoms are the same. I wore contacts lenses for New Year's Eve and it didn't seem like they triggered the irritation, to me it felt the same. I wear glasses only because I know they're safer, but I could as well be wearing contacts. Back in 2012 the contacts caused the irritation probably because I would wear them for almost 20 hours straight (early morning tennis practice and then going out clubbing at night).
      I don't even know if I have the dry eye syndrome or not, but the irritation has really influenced my life and I've been quite depressed. I know my symptoms aren't half as bad as the people on this forum, but they do bother me quite a lot. Every morning I hope the symptoms are gone, but unfortunately they're always there.
      Last edited by fida72; 08-Jan-2013, 15:40.

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      • #4
        Not sure what to do, the right eye is really becoming worse. Last night I might have spent a little too much time on the computer before going to bed and my eyes started to feel uncomfortable but I thought to myself, it'll be better tomorrow. Woke up a while ago, and it feels like someone stuck a needle in my right eye. It's driving me crazy. Drops aren't helping, tears aren't either. This can't go on forever.

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