3 weeks ago, I saw my opth. who put in temporary dissolvable plugs in my eyes. According to him, they will last 2 to 6 months. First 2 weeks after the instillation of plugs, my eyes felt better. However, recent 2-3 days, the eyes were so gritty and when applied eye drops, the drops went straight to my throat. Went to see the opth. just now. He said yes the plugs had dissolved in 3 weeks. Said the size of 0.4mm could be too small and put in 0.5mm ones for a try. I requested for a permanent silicone plugs with cap. He said he encountered a case upon pulling out the plug, the cap came off and the tip went into the eye. Though he tried flushing the tip down the duct, no one can be sure whether the tip was truly gone. Thus, he doesn't encourage a permanent one. He said he may put in permanent ones for me if this current pair dissolves this quick as well.

I am feeling very confused, every now and then to put in a dissolvable plug is very stressful and unsettled for me, not to even mention cost. My opth. said the silicon plugs will get softer with time and becomes hard to pull out.

My last 3 shirmer tests (over 11 months) were consistently 0mm (L) and 2mm (R). TBUTs for L is about 7 or 8 secs while the right one is 12 secs today (was 7 secs for both eyes 3 weeks ago). The tests were taken before the plugs. Opth. said the eyes look not too bad but since I am feeling uncomfortable, means is indeed dry. I asked opth. if my lids were producing oil, he said yes and looked not too bad (though he said I have mild blepharities).
Currently, I am using retasis (2x), Refresh Plus (few times), Lotemax (2x), vidisic gel (before bed), warm compress & lidscrub (once in the morning - I am unable to do twice a day, feel eye lid painful and eyes drier) and night time, use Q tip to clean the lids. Doctor gave me Retaine Liposome spray to try. Anyone tried this before? What's your feedback?

Opth. suggested to use sclera lens if all these fail. He said only few clinics in Singapore does that. I am unsure as I read in this forum that fitting is very important when comes to sclera lens. Very unsure about the fitting in my location.

Questions: Should I go for permanent plugs with cap? I am wondering if my main problem aqueous deficiency since TBUTs seem not too bad? Will tear ducts shrink back in size if plugs are no longer in use (though opth. said is living tissue, will shrink back, but I cannot be sure if I believe him)? Feeling down and confused.

Sorry for a long message. Though I don't want to remind myself but can't help to say I really hate lasik.