How to improve a dry eye practice

[skygoddess]

Just believe me when I tell you it HURTS . And keep trying till something WORKS.

[jimmy]

I had swollen salivary glands and dry mouth and the ENT I saw about them asked if I also had dry eye, because if I did, he said, I might have Sjogren's Syndrome, which until that moment I'd never even heard of. I didn't think I had dry eye and told him so. But at my next eye exam I related this to my ophthalmologist. After the exam he tapped on the shoulder and said in a kindly voice, "Well, you do have dry eye." His words seemed fateful, as they pushed me into the autoimmune category. Fact is, they made me feel sick at heart, but I was grateful for the way he spoke them. He gave me a sample of lubricating eye drops and, at a subsequent visit, a prescription for Restasis. He was right about the dry eye. I began to be more aware of how my eyes felt at certain times of day and realized they'd been bothering me for some time without my taking particular notice of them. The symptoms had crept up so gradually I'd learned to ignore them. A rheumatologist confirmed the diagnosis of Sjogren's.

In the context of this thread, the bottom line for me is that my eye doctor handled the matter pretty well and I'm still going to him. I was lucky in this respect, as my previous ophthalmologist was quite unpleasant and couldn't even prescribe lenses correctly.

[Lucy]

Jimmy, I'm assuming you did not have lasik surgery as a result of your dry eyes? If this is the case, you are more than lucky. Even better, you had the diagnosis. Most of the time Sjogrens can be undetected for a long, long time.

Your ophthalmologist could have ignored the dry eyes and just went ahead with the surgery. That happened to a lot of us. Or, they merely skipped the testing for dry eye and jumped over that part right into the refractive surgery. Many of us didn't know we had dry eye before lasik.

You are a much healthier person with Sjogrens without lasik than you'd be with Sjogrens and lasik. I know only too well.

Lucy

[momaxwell]

Here what I have to say

None of my doctors seemed to believe I REALLY did use artificial tears more than 5 times a day, took vitamins, used a hot compress, etc. They would always tell me to "keep taking vitamins" or "try more artificial tears" and "it will get better." I guess because my eye was not actually bleeding or falling out of my head, my issues were not a big deal.

On the flip side, I should have been must less patience and really pushed for help. It took me 2 years for someone to finally try plugs (not because it wasn't right for me, but because no one even got to that point, "try vitamins, try artificial tears"), which did help even though I still have dry eye issues. I should not have let my doctors push aside my concerns.

[GeorgeT]

Hi,

Bottom line is to have included keratoconjunctivita sicca (etiology, pathology, differential diagnosis and treatment) in board exam and in School of Medicine for all MD's candidates: SO ALL OPHTHALMOLOGISTS WILL KNOW HOW TO TREAT US !
At least we will be able to find a right doctor easily!

Cheers,

George