To Dr. G

[erinlins]

Dear Dr. G,

Thank you for your response. I have been out of my contacts since June. My schirmer is still really low however. My dry eye hit very suddenly after wearing my contacts for a very long period of time of over 30 hrs or so with low dk lenses. The only thing any doctor could attribute this to was wearing contact lenses for so long. That being the case would it be likely that if I finally destress and take care of my eyes they will go back to normal?


Thank you,

Erinlins

[DrG]

Well, you say "that being the case." What is the case? I don't recognize contact lenses as a cause of dry eye. I recognize that contact lenses can make the symptoms worse. If the contact lenses caused your dry eye, then I would have to know how. If it is because of reduced sensitivity of the corneal nerves, then everything in the literature indicates that the sensitivity returns to baseline levels within a few months at the longest. If it is lack of oxygen, then there are better lenses. A schirmer of 2 is unusually low, even for somebody who has difficulty tolerating contact lenses. Was your eye ever severely inflamed? Did you have a viral infection? I really need to know the mechanism before I can make a prognosis.

Have you gotten a second opinion? In all events, you should destress and take care of your eyes. It can only help.

[erinlins]

Dear Dr. G,

No that is the thing I have never had red eye problems or an infection. I could tolerate contacts absolutely fine (I was only wearing the old hydrogels). Then bam I wore contacts for an all nighter and I had blood shot eyes. They just never went away. I remember thinking it was odd that I had no pain in my eyes. I took them out and did not experience the normal breathing relief like I normally do. I went to the docs and he said i have dry eye.

I have had a full systemic work up and nothing is wrong. I never took any drying medicaitons. Plus I am a huge lobster lover and always had plenty omega 3.

So I dunno, its just all to hard to explain. I guess if you push over the threshold of sensitivity there might be no coming back?

I really don't see any other cause but contacts. Maybe the long term use decreased my sensitivity and then the all nighter pushed me over the edge.