Long, difficult journey

[mlittlem]

Dear fellow sufferers:

I have read quite a few of the user tales of woe and my heart goes out to all of you out there. I can relate with being told "live with it" and "yes, I know it is miserable" and "by the way here are some more drops to try." I have been struggling for over 2 years now and the problem is unremitting.

My question to the user community is two-fold because I seem to have symptoms besides the classic dry eyes, that I am not seeing posted by others. First I have incredible and intolerable burning in the skin area surrounding the eys; both the lids and on the outer corners. In addition I have a headache nearly constantly. It seems to me that because my eyes are so sore, irritated, light sensitive, etc. that it is such an effort to merely hold them open thus resulting in intense discomfort and headaches in the forehead area. I am wondering if I am alone in these symptoms, or if others are suffering from this in addition to the dry eyes? If so, have you found any solutions?

Thanks ahead to all who take the time to respond.

[Rojzen]

moisture on skin?

Is the skin around your eyes also wet much of the time? I ask because I wonder whether the burning pain on that skin may relate to some rawness or fragility caused by tears (reflex or other) constantly dripping beyond the lid margins. . .A relevant question in this regard would be whether you have any punctal plugs in, or have had cauterization. . .Also, can you convey what topical products you may be using on your eyes, at this time?

[mlittlem]

Burning of Skin

Actually I had a doctor suggest the same; i.e., that tears flowing from my eyes onto the skin may indeed be causing the burning sensation. However, I really do not experience this overflow problem, so this does not seem to be the explanation. I don't doubt that the skin is raw and there is inflammation going on, but what to do about this?

As far as products I am using, currently the regimen consists of Systane, Soothe, and a plain unpreserved saline.

I almost fear that I have something else going on other than the dry eye. I continue to suspect some allergice reation, possibly a chemical sensitivity. This may in turn be causing or exacerbating the Dry Eye situation. Only a guess on my part. I have seen so many doctors of all different specialties and none can really diagnose anything other than dry eye, but I feel there is something else going on.

Thanks for your response.

[Rojzen]

topical, lid product switches; role of mineral oil and related

I sense you are happy with your current eyedrop regimen, but if there is any room to experiment, you might want to try products that are chemically very different from your current ones. . .Even if there is no apparent drip over to the surrounding skin, a chemical sensitivity could respond to a product in close proximity. . .Also, if you are doing lid hygiene, a product switch there might be illuminating. Some of us here avoid cleansers with sodium lauryl and laureth sulfate. . .An example of a cleanser free of these compounds is Burt's Bees baby shampoo/wash. . .In my case, btw, I react very badly to anything containing petrolatum, mineral oil, or lanolin. . .These irritate not only my ocular surface, but also surrounding skin. . .Soothe, I believe, contains mineral oil. . .

[hkgcomet]

Of coz you are not alone!
The doctors are sxxk that they only know dry tear = not enough tear, says "use the eye drop and live like a normal person".

I know what's your problem and I also don't want to go out from the home even buy a breakfast. It is a minor problem in medicine but a huge big problem in the life. My life totally ruined.

You now need to check if you have other thing more than dry eye. Like allergy, immune system problem or any skin disease, doctor may have check those before saying its dry eye.
You need to protect your eye from very dry, better hide indoor, have good sleep with gel in the eye, sensitive will decrease little as time.

Dry eye must be sensitive, such as dusty environment. The normal people don't have any problem in a dusty working room, but my eye is a pollution indicator. Some people have dry eye due to certein pollutant and fully recover after change the living/working environment, they are so lucky. I am not the lucky one, and also don't rely on westen medicine, I am trying the easten ways.