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  • Hello

    Thought I'd introduce myself and tell my story.

    Six years ago I was a healthy 20 year old male, life was good. I was slightly shortsighted and after wearing glasses occassionaly decided to try some daily disposable soft contact lenses. I wore these for six months every day 8 till late. A couple of nights I got drunk, as you do, and woke up in the morning to find that i had forgotten to take the contacts out and they were now welded to my eyes.. no big deal.. take them out.. The second time i did it my eyes went really red and inflamed.. I went to my doctor who gave me the standard drops for eye infections. These did not alleviate the symtoms so I went to an Opthamologist who prescribed me with an antibiotic ointment. This did nothing. So went back and she gave me some Steroid drops... After two weeks they worked my eyes went white again, everything back to normal, happy days. A few weeks later I noticed that upon awakening my eyes felt kind of dry... Five and a half years down the line I have moderate/severe dry eye and my life has gone to s**t. Sad to say it but it has really affected me badly. My schimmer results are 3 in one eye and 4 in the other. I have had the test done 3 times. I have tested negative for Sjrogrens twice. I have normal lashes and lid margins. I have been to see about ten eye docs, tried everything. Plugs have improved my comfort particularly at night, but have removed those while I am trying Restasis. Been on it for six months nearly, so will be seeing eye doc soon to see if it has boosted my schimmer results. fingers crossed. It seem to have improved my condition about 25% so thats good. Am about to try Biotears because I think/hope its anti inflammatory properties may work well with the Restasis. Will have another schimmer test done later in year to see if it is working. Will also layer back in the Theratears eye drops to the treatment which have also proved effective in the past. I think its not a bad idea to evaluate treatments on there own before combining them otherwise its hard to know what works and what doesn't. Anyway I won't bore you any futher, could have easily written twice as much. If theres one thing I've learned apart from not sleeping in contact lenses, its be persistent in finding treatments and doctors that work for you. Good luck

  • #2
    Hi Mark,

    Welcome to Dry Eye Talk!

    Originally posted by markL
    Six years ago I was a healthy 20 year old male... Five and a half years down the line I have moderate/severe dry eye and my life has gone to s**t. Sad to say it but it has really affected me badly.
    I'm sorry to know you've joined the dry eye club so young. Sounds like you're very well on top of many of the available treatments, which is good to hear.

    I think its not a bad idea to evaluate treatments on their own before combining them otherwise its hard to know what works and what doesn't.
    You hit the nail on the head! It is very easy to be doing so many different things for dry eye at once that one never really knows what treatment is having which effect (or not) or how to decipher the interactions. Having the discipline to try treatments in isolation can be difficult, especially if pain levels are high, but in many cases it certainly can be beneficial.

    Regards,
    Rebecca Petris
    The Dry Eye Foundation
    dryeyefoundation.org
    800-484-0244

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    • #3
      Sorry to hear of your situation, Mark. The "drunk" part reminded me of my soft lens wearing days in college. I was never really comfy in them, so I only wore them in social settings...like parties. I never forgot to take them out, however, at least as far as I can remember.

      Best of luck to you. This is a great little community you've found. It's a collective one doesn't want to find himself part of, but we can at least all empathize with each other. Something will come along some day...

      Diana
      Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.

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      • #4
        Hey, you have really been through a lot. I am 25 and was diagnosed with dry eyes but i was annoyed b/c unlike you, I never sleep in my contacts and actually thought I took good care of my eyes. My question to you is, "Can you wear contacts comfortably now and doesn't this suck at our age?

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        • #5
          ...

          Was shocked to see my first ever post rearing its head again... Yes it does suck having dry eye at our age (twenties) and any age. It can totally ruin your social life. Luckily I have been using Restasis for nearly a year now, and I can at least go out and not worry about my eyes as much. I went though a spell for about five years where every time I went out my eyes would get so inflammed from the smokey air that my evening would be totally ruined and thats without drinking alcohol, if I drink things get really bad. It was unbearable. I have not gone near contact lenses for obvious reasons. As the Restasis is working I don't want to do anything that could jepordize it.

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