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Hi All,
I'm a 27 year old from Newcastle, Australia.
I was diagnosed with dry eye about a year ago by my regular optometrist, he performed a fluorescent test and found that my eyes were drying in a matter of seconds. At the time he suggested I use Genteal Gel several times a day to alleviate the symptoms which until recently had worked brilliant (used approx 4 times a day, every 4-6 hours), I went back to him and he found my eyes to be much healthier about 2 weeks later. During this time I went about my day and didn't even think about my dry eye, it was effectively like being cured...
In about September I had a moderate flare up, I returned to the optometrist as I was going on a cruise and felt I needed to have it looked into before I was on the wide open seas for 15 days with no treatment in site. On visiting the optometrist he did the fluorescent test and still found my eyes to be fairly healthy, again with good scores and no real dry spots, he suggested at the time that the flare up may actually be something else manifesting (ie. Cold or Flu), and strangely enough a few days later just before the cruise I did get a cold, and my dry eye symptoms went away. I went through one of the hottest summers in Aussie history and didn't have one flare up, wore contacts frequently and all in all still didn't feel dry eye was an issue.
Fast forward to around 4 weeks ago...
I had been doing my usual routine of sports most nights in the week, but hadn't worn contacts for quite a few days, and I woke up on the Saturday morning to put Genteal Gel in. When I put the gel in I noticed it stung a bit, but didn't think much of it, as I'd been out late the night before. I went away camping that weekend but followed my normal Genteal application and figured it would just go away.
By the Wednesday of that week, my eyes were still fairly flared up, I returned to my optometrist again who stated that my eyes were indeed very inflamed and dry, and his suggestion was just to increase my Genteal usage as needed, he stated quite simply that I'd just have to live with it and make do with the gel so I could be comfy... I went to work the following day and found that my eyes were drying out in less than 2 hours, even with the Genteal, finding this to not be normal (especially considering the cooler Autumn climate), I decided to try and see another optometrist for a second opinion (this one had slit lamp cameras).
On seeing this optometrist, she was shocked as to how inflamed and dry my eyes were, also at the fact that I was prescribed Genteal so heavily. She advised me that I had MGD, and that I should have been using a drop like Systane Balance all along to assist with the lipid layer as I was producing tears, just no oil. She immediately had me switch to systane balance 3 times a day and genteal only when I sleep and also prescribed FML (steroid drops) 3 times a day to reduce inflammation. A week passed and my eyes didn't feel any better, so I returned last week and was increased to 5 times a day (Occular Pressure was fine after the week). I also started taking liquid fish oil as well.
The benefit in both of these appointments with this new optometrist is that with the slit lamp camera, she can show me the fluorescent images and video of my eye and point out the dark spots to me, it also allows us to track where this spots are. Now a week later, my eyes started feeling moderately better up until today, I'm due for another appointment tomorrow to see if there's been any progress, and the next step is a referral to a specialist if the steroid drops still aren't working...
I have not worn contacts for a month, and have not had any lifestyle or dietary changes I could pin this flareup on, it seems like the Systane Balance barely works on me as well (I'm lucky to get 2 hours out of it, but at least at the moment can stretch it out with the FML) I do sometimes wonder if the FML could be drying out the systane balance as well. My eyes are fine in the morning, and I can usually make it to about 2-3pm before they get bothersome, but I guess I'm a bit worried all round as I usually wear contacts quite a bit through the week for sport (usually no more than 3 hours as a precaution from the dry eye), and dread to think that if this continues, I may be told not to wear contacts at all. Further to this, I've been lucky enough to have annual leave booked well in advance before this flareup, but return to work next week and while I feel better than my last day, I still haven't sat in front of a computer for 8 hours on leave.
I'm a 27 year old from Newcastle, Australia.
I was diagnosed with dry eye about a year ago by my regular optometrist, he performed a fluorescent test and found that my eyes were drying in a matter of seconds. At the time he suggested I use Genteal Gel several times a day to alleviate the symptoms which until recently had worked brilliant (used approx 4 times a day, every 4-6 hours), I went back to him and he found my eyes to be much healthier about 2 weeks later. During this time I went about my day and didn't even think about my dry eye, it was effectively like being cured...
In about September I had a moderate flare up, I returned to the optometrist as I was going on a cruise and felt I needed to have it looked into before I was on the wide open seas for 15 days with no treatment in site. On visiting the optometrist he did the fluorescent test and still found my eyes to be fairly healthy, again with good scores and no real dry spots, he suggested at the time that the flare up may actually be something else manifesting (ie. Cold or Flu), and strangely enough a few days later just before the cruise I did get a cold, and my dry eye symptoms went away. I went through one of the hottest summers in Aussie history and didn't have one flare up, wore contacts frequently and all in all still didn't feel dry eye was an issue.
Fast forward to around 4 weeks ago...
I had been doing my usual routine of sports most nights in the week, but hadn't worn contacts for quite a few days, and I woke up on the Saturday morning to put Genteal Gel in. When I put the gel in I noticed it stung a bit, but didn't think much of it, as I'd been out late the night before. I went away camping that weekend but followed my normal Genteal application and figured it would just go away.
By the Wednesday of that week, my eyes were still fairly flared up, I returned to my optometrist again who stated that my eyes were indeed very inflamed and dry, and his suggestion was just to increase my Genteal usage as needed, he stated quite simply that I'd just have to live with it and make do with the gel so I could be comfy... I went to work the following day and found that my eyes were drying out in less than 2 hours, even with the Genteal, finding this to not be normal (especially considering the cooler Autumn climate), I decided to try and see another optometrist for a second opinion (this one had slit lamp cameras).
On seeing this optometrist, she was shocked as to how inflamed and dry my eyes were, also at the fact that I was prescribed Genteal so heavily. She advised me that I had MGD, and that I should have been using a drop like Systane Balance all along to assist with the lipid layer as I was producing tears, just no oil. She immediately had me switch to systane balance 3 times a day and genteal only when I sleep and also prescribed FML (steroid drops) 3 times a day to reduce inflammation. A week passed and my eyes didn't feel any better, so I returned last week and was increased to 5 times a day (Occular Pressure was fine after the week). I also started taking liquid fish oil as well.
The benefit in both of these appointments with this new optometrist is that with the slit lamp camera, she can show me the fluorescent images and video of my eye and point out the dark spots to me, it also allows us to track where this spots are. Now a week later, my eyes started feeling moderately better up until today, I'm due for another appointment tomorrow to see if there's been any progress, and the next step is a referral to a specialist if the steroid drops still aren't working...
I have not worn contacts for a month, and have not had any lifestyle or dietary changes I could pin this flareup on, it seems like the Systane Balance barely works on me as well (I'm lucky to get 2 hours out of it, but at least at the moment can stretch it out with the FML) I do sometimes wonder if the FML could be drying out the systane balance as well. My eyes are fine in the morning, and I can usually make it to about 2-3pm before they get bothersome, but I guess I'm a bit worried all round as I usually wear contacts quite a bit through the week for sport (usually no more than 3 hours as a precaution from the dry eye), and dread to think that if this continues, I may be told not to wear contacts at all. Further to this, I've been lucky enough to have annual leave booked well in advance before this flareup, but return to work next week and while I feel better than my last day, I still haven't sat in front of a computer for 8 hours on leave.
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