Australian optometrist here

[Roland]

Hi all,

I am an optometrist working in New South Wales, Australia. I hope I can be of help and also learn from all your experiences. I believe that being a member of this forum will help my quality of care for dry eye patients. I have little experience fitting scleral lenses myself but have seen great success by other practitioners fitting them for debilitating dry eye.

Lovely to meet you all.

[DCRdryeye]

Hi Roland,
Thank-you very much for coming here and showing an interest in dry eyes. You may-be interested in my blog: http://www.blockedtearductsurgeryadult.com/?p=182 I haven't sent the open letter to optometrists yet due to time constraints but want to collect a list of open minded therapist willing to assist by trying new therapies.

Sclerals aren't the panacea for dry eyes. They may help aqueous tear deficiency but not meibomian gland dsyfunction. They are also hard to fit. For example: I travel 3 hours to see my optometrist in melbourne and after about 15 visits, we still don't have a correct fit. There is a always some problem, either it's not comfortable, too tight, vision is not good, etc. Then it takes three weeks to send off and get adjusted.

[hankm9]

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[wagnermid]

Hi Fellow Aussies,

I realise you have a horrible time and know it is difficult to get decent treatment here, but there is research going on here in Australia too.

http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/eye/ne...lepharitis.php

[hankm9]

WOWEE! Thanks Wagnermid!

[littlemermaid]

Very, very welcome, Roland ~ it's a joy to see you here networking with us and we wish you a very good year

[wagnermid]

Hi Roland ,
I also should have said I'm really glad that you are contributing, it's great to see interest from Australia.

[soaps]

Hi Fellow Aussies,

I realise you have a horrible time and know it is difficult to get decent treatment here, but there is research going on here in Australia too.

http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/eye/ne...lepharitis.php

Has anyone tried these new drops ?

[Dog2012]

I am wondering if doctors in USA can obtain those new eye drops. My doctor is a very open minded and i am sure would love to have them for me . What is the process ?

Has anyone tried these new drops ?

[Dog2012]

Wow ..so great options .I hope Australia will implement those treatments .

QUOTE=wagnermid;79012]Hi Fellow Aussies,

I realise you have a horrible time and know it is difficult to get decent treatment here, but there is research going on here in Australia too.

http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/eye/ne...lepharitis.php[/QUOTE]

[sazy123]

Wow ..so great options .I hope Australia will implement those treatments .

QUOTE=wagnermid;79012]Hi Fellow Aussies,

I realise you have a horrible time and know it is difficult to get decent treatment here, but there is research going on here in Australia too.

http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/eye/ne...lepharitis.php

[/QUOTE]

IM interested in these drops. But why did they only research 10 people? Is Australia... alot less stricter with clinical trials?

Did anyone email them?

[wagnermid]

Hi all,

I think they are just looking for interest from drug companies to licence the drugs then larger clinical trials start…but I just think that's what it means. So they are still a long way from being available. I just wanted to try and give people here in Australia hope that there are Drs and researchers working on the problem here too, as they are having such a problem accessing appropriate and high standard care.

[LaDiva]

Welcome Roland! Thank you for joining us.

[poppy]

Hi all,

I am an optometrist working in New South Wales, Australia. I hope I can be of help and also learn from all your experiences. I believe that being a member of this forum will help my quality of care for dry eye patients. I have little experience fitting scleral lenses myself but have seen great success by other practitioners fitting them for debilitating dry eye.

Lovely to meet you all.

Hi Roland, I appreciate your post being a very frustrated dry eye sufferer in Australia. One major problem I feel we have in Oz is that optometrists aren't sufficiently empowered to help dry eye sufferers beyond very simple advice for mild cases. They are not to my knowledge able to prescribe steroids, do punctal plugs or really do anything besides offer advice for lid hygiene and drops, unlike in the US where optometrists have much greater power. Severe cases are referred to opthalmologists here but the doctors are disinterested and usually simply dismiss us with no advice or follow up, and waiting periods are very long. I feel that optometrists have the will but not the power to help us. I would like to see optometrists such as yourself campaigning to empower yourself with more tools to help us. Of course it is much cheaper to help dry eye sufferers via an optometrist for both the health care system and for the patient so I feel being able to for example get punctal plugs from an optometrist would be a major improvement for dry eye sufferers in Oz. I have paid hundreds of dollars to eye doctors who just dismissed me vs bulk billing for optometrists - I would happily not be bulk billed by the optometrist if they had the power to prescribe and help me, so from your point of view you could get extra revenue by taking over some things that the eye doctors aren't interested in doing anyway. Thank you for listening.

[Rebecca Petris]

Welcome Roland. Thanks so much for joining us here.