Dry Eye Brought On By Lasik - Need Advice

[Ccoughlin]

Hi,

I live in Minnesota and got Lasik 5 months ago. It induced dry eye in me, and sometimes I feel like a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality - one day it will be pretty good, the next day bad (when it's bad, my vision is blurry, which is really frustrating). I have three young kids, many pets, a busy life and this is very inconvenient not to feel "sharp" all the time like I used to with my glasses. By the way, my vision is perfect (20/15) when I put drops in, but then it goes away. The dr. told me to stick with the restasis, the plugs, the drops, the heating mask, the goggles, so I am doing everything I can.

Questions for you:

- Did any of you see greater improvement from Lasik dry eye in the 6-8 months? I'm hopeful that this will continue to improve to the point that it goes away. Hope springs eternal.

- I notice, lately, that I can see well in daylight, but not well in malls, restaurants, anywhere that lighting is lower - is this due to dry eye? I also have halos, starbursts when driving at night

- This is a depressing thing to deal with (5 months and on). I have almost a "guilt" that I did this to myself by getting Lasik - has anyone felt this? I was doing fine with contacts/glasses, and I had no idea Lasik would be this hard.

- I'm starting Theratears nutrition - anyone had luck with that?

- I'm thinking of getting very low-level (0.50) glasses for night driving & low-light situations. My dr said I don't need them, but he hasn't had to drive/live this way! Thoughts?

Thanks for listening - Chandra

[maf19]

I am at about 11 months post PRK and just now starting to see signs of improvement. I have felt the same guilt that you describe for having the surgery. Obviously had we known then what we know now then we make a different choice. You can't blame yourself, though.

I'm a believer in the nutritional supplements. I haven't used the Thera Tears capsules but have gotten really good results with a combo of "Fish, Flax Seed and Borage Oil" (made by Spring Valley), Mega Red Krill Oil, Vitamin A, and Vitamin E. there has been definite improvement in my dry eye, and the veiny redness that I had has diminished greatly.

Also, I've found that a warm compress at bedtime, positioned so that it's mainly directly on my closed lower eyelids, has helped. I found a mask called "Pearls" or something like that at Rite Aid and really like it. It's clear and filled with tiny blue beads.

One last thing, I found that drops were more effective if I tilted my head way back. Pulled my upper lid out, and dropped into the upper, then close they eyes and let gravity do its thing. I get a much better coating that way. My favorite drops are the Thera Tears Liquid Gel. They are the only gel drop I've tried that doesn't dry into a crust.

Stay positive! At five months in you still have much time for healing.

[Ccoughlin]

I am at about 11 months post PRK and just now starting to see signs of improvement. I have felt the same guilt that you describe for having the surgery. Obviously had we known then what we know now then we make a different choice. You can't blame yourself, though.

I'm a believer in the nutritional supplements. I haven't used the Thera Tears capsules but have gotten really good results with a combo of "Fish, Flax Seed and Borage Oil" (made by Spring Valley), Mega Red Krill Oil, Vitamin A, and Vitamin E. there has been definite improvement in my dry eye, and the veiny redness that I had has diminished greatly.

Also, I've found that a warm compress at bedtime, positioned so that it's mainly directly on my closed lower eyelids, has helped. I found a mask called "Pearls" or something like that at Rite Aid and really like it. It's clear and filled with tiny blue beads.

One last thing, I found that drops were more effective if I tilted my head way back. Pulled my upper lid out, and dropped into the upper, then close they eyes and let gravity do its thing. I get a much better coating that way. My favorite drops are the Thera Tears Liquid Gel. They are the only gel drop I've tried that doesn't dry into a crust.

Stay positive! At five months in you still have much time for healing.

__________________
Thanks Maf19. I hope you keep getting better. You hang in there as well!! Do you have blurriness like I do with dry eye? For me, that's the worst part - that my vision isn't optimal when my eyes are dry (about 8 hours out of a 12 hour day). It's very frustrating to not feel "clear" about my vision. Has that part gotten better for you, or was it always just the dry feeling and not the blurriness?

[maf19]

I have some blurriness and cloudiness usually late in the evening. My issues are mainly at night. When I sleep my eyes dry out and my eyelids adhere to the eyeball. I used to get frequent erosions when waking, but those have become less frequent and less severe when they occur. I have a bottle of drops at my bedside at all times, though. Sometimes applying drops to my eyelids seams is the only way I can get them open without causing an erosion. It's amazing that something so simple as opening your eyes upon waking can be a problem.

I'm managing pretty well though, and know that others have far worse conditions than mine. Thankfully my days are pretty normal. Its just the nights that are a challenge.

After the surgery it took my vision 3x longer to sharpen than what they said. I also had procedure induced astigmatism which also too 3x longer to resolve than they said. I was told the dry eye would clear up in 6 months. Based on the other things having taken 3x longer I'm giving this 18 months to hopefully go away.

I've tried lots of things, tons of drops/gels/ointments/masks/steroids and currently have lower plugs. If I can answer any questions let me know. I know how frustrating it is, but I also believe that the mind has healing power as well if you can stay positive and determined.

[Ccoughlin]

I have some blurriness and cloudiness usually late in the evening. My issues are mainly at night. When I sleep my eyes dry out and my eyelids adhere to the eyeball. I used to get frequent erosions when waking, but those have become less frequent and less severe when they occur. I have a bottle of drops at my bedside at all times, though. Sometimes applying drops to my eyelids seams is the only way I can get them open without causing an erosion. It's amazing that something so simple as opening your eyes upon waking can be a problem.

I'm managing pretty well though, and know that others have far worse conditions than mine. Thankfully my days are pretty normal. Its just the nights that are a challenge.

After the surgery it took my vision 3x longer to sharpen than what they said. I also had procedure induced astigmatism which also too 3x longer to resolve than they said. I was told the dry eye would clear up in 6 months. Based on the other things having taken 3x longer I'm giving this 18 months to hopefully go away.

I've tried lots of things, tons of drops/gels/ointments/masks/steroids and currently have lower plugs. If I can answer any questions let me know. I know how frustrating it is, but I also believe that the mind has healing power as well if you can stay positive and determined.

_____________________________

Maf19,
How are you doing lately? I'm doing OK, but getting a little nervous about this dry eye situation as winter comes closer (I'm in Minnesota, so it starts sooner) and we have the heat turned on now. On the plus side, I have noticed a marked improvement in the past 2 weeks since I last wrote. Everything is getting sharper than before - not fully sharp, mind you but SHARPER and I'll take it. I hope there is more to go because there is still some blurriness every 15 minutes after drops. I actually ordered -0.50 glasses for night driving, and while I'm pleased that they make driving much more pleasant, they also remind me that LASIK is a big waste of money for me if this condition/blurriness situation does not improve. I'm right at 6 months now, so I hope it will just keep getting better.

One question - as my vision has improved, I've actually noticed that my eye aches more/feels more dry. The first 4 months, when the blurriness was crazy-bad, I couldn't feel a thing, but kept pounding the drops b/c I knew my eyes were dry. Do you think that is due to corneal nerves growing? In other words, the sensation is coming back (which is good), but also the pain/discomfort is there that wasn't before. Let me know your thoughts. I hope things are continuing to improve for you as well.

~ Chandra

[maf19]

Hi Chandra,

I understand that the nerve regeneration does involve some pain, so that could be what's going on which would be a good thing despite the discomfort. I had PRK rather than Lasik so I didn't have any nerves cut, so I'm only going by what I've heard/read. I think your sharpening vision, and oddly the pain, may be positive signs.

I'm continuing to improve. I had a stretch of about a week where things were almost completely normal. I had no eyelid sticking at night, and really even very little dryness. Now the last couple of nights there has been some minor trouble, but not too bad. Overall I consider it to be continued improvement, so I'm pretty optimistic that this is going to resolve completely, or nearly completely, with a little more time and continuing the supplements.

I'm really glad to hear you're making progress! Sometimes reading these forums is kind of discouraging because it seems so few people are ever posting about getting better. Maybe we'll be the exceptions!

Mike

[nori2015]

Mike can I ask how you are doing now? 9 months post PRK myself and still dry and irritated!!

Hi Chandra,

I understand that the nerve regeneration does involve some pain, so that could be what's going on which would be a good thing despite the discomfort. I had PRK rather than Lasik so I didn't have any nerves cut, so I'm only going by what I've heard/read. I think your sharpening vision, and oddly the pain, may be positive signs.

I'm continuing to improve. I had a stretch of about a week where things were almost completely normal. I had no eyelid sticking at night, and really even very little dryness. Now the last couple of nights there has been some minor trouble, but not too bad. Overall I consider it to be continued improvement, so I'm pretty optimistic that this is going to resolve completely, or nearly completely, with a little more time and continuing the supplements.

I'm really glad to hear you're making progress! Sometimes reading these forums is kind of discouraging because it seems so few people are ever posting about getting better. Maybe we'll be the exceptions!

Mike