Unpreserved saline burns

[No tears in ATL]

Hey guys, reading up on osmolarity (super salty tears) and how drops, no matter the type (preserved, unpreserved) leave me nothing but red and bloodshot, would it be possible just to dilute my saline with distilled water in order to make it more tolerable to the eye? I like that it feels pretty good initially in those extra "burny" moments, but a few minutes later....red. I am one of those severe dry eye cases where eyes are dry as a bone. I think I just need to get the salt content of my tears down so hopefully I can add some artificial tears without extreme irritation, and hopefully in three months I can get the bottom ducts cauterized to help with this. In the meantime, I need some kind of a drop to get me through the day and all of them feel awful, especially the steroid drops.

Any help would be appreciated.

[littlemermaid]

Have you got preservative-free steroid? Do you think the next step would be autologous serum? Do you have punctal plugs now?

[No tears in ATL]

I have a steroid preserved with boric acid (which coincidentally enough, feels just like acid). Someone on here just mentioned the Minims (sp?) brand and I will look into that. A shame I already spent $80 on boric acid steroid drops. I would LOVE to try serum drops. I see a specialist for follow up on cautery in two weeks, and I just hope this doc is open enough to let me try it. If you know of any docs willing to prescribe this in the atlanta area, I would be most grateful. We actually have a compounding pharmacy here.

As for the plugs, I had six month plugs on the bottoms, and I swear those things were gone at three months. Docs will either replug or cauterize after that. Have one plug on top duct, and cautery on other top duct.

[littlemermaid]

Maybe ask the pharmacy what they think, and what's available, and who will prescribe what. Then have a talk with a doc. I like pharmacists - if you can find a good well-qualified interested one they can be very helpful indeed and they like being asked.