Late 20's F, just diagnosed with severe dry eye. Scored 2mm on Schirmer test

[alia]

My eyes began to bother me within the past few years. I couldn't go outside without sunglasses because light would bother me so badly, and I noticed big webs of red veins emerging on their surface, so they always have a red tint to them. Cosmetically, they look terrible, and my eyes used to be my most beautiful feature.

The left is worse than the right, mostly because the veins are bigger and more prominent. I look awful under fluorescent lighting. It's not just me saying this; I've had comments about it from my boyfriend and my boss. I try to hide it with makeup and glasses, even though my vision is 20/20.

Most recently, I had an eye exam performed where I scored a mere 2mm on the Schirmer test. He's interested in whether I have hypothyroid (I exhibit LOTS of symptoms for that but always test "normal" -- I'll be going back in for a second opinion).

Right now, I'm on artificial tears to see if it'll help the problem, but so far it feels like a crutch. All in all, I'm pretty discouraged.

[littlemermaid]

Hi Alia, Have you had any progress from your doctors? We need artificial tears to maintain the eye surface, I'm afraid - do the doctors know what's happening to your eyes?

[Guest]

All in all, I'm pretty discouraged.

I know it's hard when you don't know why your eyes are going the way they are, but try to be hopeful... things will likely get better, it's just a matter of figuring out what's causing the problem in the first place.

You could have them look into autoimmune causes, allergies... I'm sure there are other ideas that will come your way too. Eventually you'll figure it out, it just takes time.

Hang in there!!!

[alia]

Thank you for the replies, everyone. I have a follow-up appointment next month, in January. I am on a regular routine of Systane High performance, preservative-free drops.

I wanted to add more information to my case.

I am of Middle Eastern decent and it is common for the women in my family to wear black eyeliner inside our water line. I have been wearing it for a decade plus. I'm wondering if it has contaminated my eyes and caused a severe allergic reaction, but that is only speculation.

Both my mom and dad have veiny eyes, but they are 30 years older than me. They wear contacts unlike myself. I asked my mom about it and she seems resistant to admit a genetic cause.

I find that not sleeping and drinking coffee makes the problem worse, along with the usual dry air, fluorescent lights and sunlight. At the airport the other day my eyes were so bloodshot red, people were looking at me funny and I got comments from the TSA that I did not look like my ID. I was mortified. I bought Visine on the spot.

Some days, there is a small miracle where I wake up and my eyes look clear. The veins that have developed over my sclera are still visible, but to a far less extent than normal. This goes away shortly as I go about my day and my eyes are back to red. For some reason, this hasn't happened in a long time (I take note of it).

This brings me to my biggest question. Do the veins on the sclera grow bigger or have they always been there? My eye doctor says they have always been there. I want to believe him but I am a little bit skeptical. Looking at old pictures of my eyes they used to be crystal clear. Additionally, they are clear mostly underneath the eyelids where they are not exposed to air.

[alia]

Quick note - I never use Visine except in public situations where I can't explain my situation. So it's fairly rare, less than once a month, if that. My doctor told me to never use it, but I was afraid of looking suspicious, like a drug user.

[alia]

I hope the administrators don't mind if I turn my Introduction thread into a mini-diary for myself. So today I woke up with pretty watery eyes. I know that is a symptom itself of dry eye but it does give me SOME hope that my eyes will someday return back to normal. Seeing that I'm in Colorado right now during the Winter, I am glad that my tear glands are still functioning, because the room I'm in has no humidifier. So it's just a matter, I believe, of maintaining that moisture on my eye's surface when they are open.

Unfortunately, I am drinking coffee right now, my biggest vice (it seems to irritate my eyes). I want to wean myself off my addiction to coffee for the sake of my eye health. It's tough, if you are a graphic designer and going to school. Lots of late nights up on the computer.

I have been getting mixed results from using eye drops for about a month. I get nice relief, but it hurts when they evaporate off my eye. Night time seems to be the worst for me in terms of how my eyes look.

[hkgcomet]

Share my 10 years dry eye exp. , I've improve from severe to slighty dry eye, last visit doctor say I have nearly 9mm tear, but I totally don't feel that's normal when outdoor, can't just hear from doctor...

Hope following will help you on your life.

My summary on importance things:

1. Genteal Gel for sleeping
2. Wet eye mask for sleeping
3. Sleeping Well with above 2 (Doing top 3 can prevent dark eye next day)
4. Prevent large air-conditioning, big wind, dry places (eg. big AC conference room, car, bus, most dry places I've see) Prevent bright light (eg. movie in cinema, long time using computer, under bright CFL light)
5. Eye drops I use "Reflesh" normal one, it's preversative can break down so can use offen if needed. It's not too thick so would be comfort for normal working days.
6. Blueberry capsule is best nutrition for eye that I've tried

Others:
7. Chinese Medicine, it may be haven't cure my dry eye, but at least can improve my body's health and can keep less tired through the days. (The dry eye start with some body problems 1st)

8. Qi Gong, still under investigation...the last method of all the body's problem...

Other2:
Eye Plugs - I regret to doing this...I got 1 eye fully pluged and 1 eye lhalf pluged.
Now the eye with halfly pluged is only slightly dry, the eye fully pluged afriad of light, irritation easily, sometime with tear run out but eye is still dry

[Guest]

Wet mask when sleeping... so I assume you just wet an eye mask and wring it out until it's just damp? Sounds appealing... might try this

[alia]

hkgcomet, thank you for your suggestions. I do believe that the dry eye are possibly a symptom of a body disorder - whether it be hormonal, the thyroid gland, or the digestive system - I hope that my investigation can solve the mystery. I do know, that they do not look normal. The severity is frightening. I am lucky to have my vision, and am thankful for that. I'm still struggling how to cope with how I look now, though. I keep thinking about getting surgery, but I know that's not an easy solution and many people have not had good results. I even saw one woman had severe scar tissue on her eyes, almost like she was growing a second eyelid. So I need to not get so down on myself and try to stay positive. It could be worse.

[littlemermaid]

Alia, Are you treating yourself for meibomian gland dysfunction and have you eliminated allergens like makeup and skin and bathroom products? If you are working at a desk in Colorado with the heating on, you could put wet towels on the heat source to evaporate (we put them on wall radiators).

Hkgcomet, Thank you for telling us that the double-plugged eye has overtearing and the single plugged eye is better. Do you think it's made a bit of a pool of toxic tears with inflammatory mediators (cytokines)? We were talking about this with our docs, the pros/cons of plugs with different eye problems.

[littlemermaid]

Alia, Do you have a treatment plan with a good ophthalmologist? Are you treating your eyes with gentle cleaning and warm compress, and have you eliminated allergens like makeup and skin and bathroom products? If you are working at a desk in Colorado with the heating on, you could put wet towels near the heat source to evaporate (we put them on wall radiators). It's working out what reduces the problems and helps you heal, isn't it.

There are veins on the sclera normally, of course, but with dry eyes there's a problem if red veins are starting to grow across the boundary between sclera and cornea (limbus) and this needs close attention (neovascularisation) as a sign the cornea is struggling. Anyone could observe this in magnification, even just with a pen torch, but may not know what they're seeing without eye training. A good optometrist might be the best person for back-up advice on how the ophthalmologist is doing on treating you and whether they've missed anything. Have you had conjunctivitis?

Hkgcomet, Thank you for telling us that the double-plugged eye has overtearing and the single plugged eye is better. Do you think it's made a bit of a pool of toxic tears with inflammatory mediators? We were talking about this with our docs, the pros/cons of plugs with different eye problems. Are you having the upper plug removed?

[alia]

littlemermaid - thank you for your comments - to add, my treatment plan with my ophthalmologist is a "wait and see" approach. So far, it is the regimen of eye drops, which have given me mixed results, but I am diligent about using them.

He's curious about my thyroid function (still have yet to get that done, I will when school opens shortly at their clinic), and I'm also curious about my hormonal profile, whether I am low in testosterone/exhibiting peri-menopausal symptoms which contribute to the low tear production.

He hasn't diagnosed me with yet, with MGD in particular, do you know if there is a special test for that? He did say, that I am simply not making many tears.

The veins are starting to attach toward my cornea when I look at my eye. The left one is worse. This year I noticed a new crop of veins near my nasal side, it used to be only on the other side. Those are the ones that are reaching the cornea. I asked specifically if they were growing and he said that they have "always been there". But even when my eyes are the clearest and they are not red, I can still see them. They have a different texture than underneath my eyelid where my eye is completely smooth. I haven't been diagnosed with conjunctivitis, but this is my second real visit to the ophthalmologist since my vision has always been 20/20. I now know, that they treat much more than glasses, and I need to be extra vigilant about my eye health.

[alia]

I switched makeup and am going to work on eliminating makeup entirely, as well as only use the barest minimum face wash since I started to develop an allergy with Cetaphil face wash (which is surprising because that's recommended by doctors). My eyes are extremely sensitive - even brushing my teeth, I have to close them because the mint vapor is too much. Likewise, my skin is pale and sensitive as well, I have rosacea and broken blood vessels on my skin.

[littlemermaid]

Yes, my teenage daughter is like this except she has difficult acne around the mouth and nose and the eyes are affected with inflammation. It's good to talk here about what makes things better and manageable, and many people on the rosacea forums http://rosaceagroup.org/new/ are finding they can eliminate the triggers and get a lot better ~ we are working on these sensitivities too and some think it's a type of allergy (type IV). Some people use toothpaste without fluoride because they've found that sets off their eyes and skin, but everyone's different. We do a lot better on eliminating wheat and sugar from diet, for example. Many rosacea ladies here like Cetaphil but we haven't been able to get on with some of the ingredients ~ again like you we're experimenting with the mildest possible pH neutral washes and shampoos (eg organic, no sodium lauryl sulphate, as much as possible). I'm thinking it's modern chemicals doing this to people or at least making it worse.

[hkgcomet]

Dry eye person easily got inflamation.

If there is a choice, just do signle plugged, there's still a chance to cure...

Some thick eye drops like Systane rest lots of residue in eye, and you may know salty pool of dead water is totally uncomfort.