Struggling with Sudden Onset of Dry Eye

[A2DryEye]

Hi everyone,

I have been viewing this site almost religiously since my sudden onset of Dry Eye this July. I had Lasik three years ago and have never had any issues with dry eye, never used eye drops in my life (except for a few weeks after Lasik). I was working in Cincinnati in an internship this summer, went to work one morning, came home with a headache and everything went downhill from there. I am having a hard time accepting this problem, especially since it came on so suddenly and out of the blue. During the worst time I was sitting at my computer with sunglasses on putting eyedrops in every 15-30 minutes. I have seen multiple doctors: one said Lasik likely caused my problem, another said it was highly unlikely that Lasik caused my problem, and the third one said that he didn't know what led to this issue. One doctor diagnosed me with blepharitis while another doctor said he didn't see any sign of blepahritis/MGD, therefore his diagnosis was aqueous deficiency.

All of them agreed that my TBUT score is a 0 in both eyes, didn't get a schirmer's test done but they attempted to do a tearlab which wouldn't even read due to lack of tears. I have been taking restasis for the past couple of months, I think it has helped with the inflammation but my tear quality/quantity has not returned. At my last doctor's appointment they put in collagen punctal plugs which seemed to have helped a little, have an appointment in a couple of weeks and will probably opt for a "permanent" lower plug. I have onion goggles which I use occassionally at home when my eyes are hurting. My biggest issue is I feel like someone is putting pressure on the eye muscles behind my eyes, especially when using a computer. Does anyone else have that feeling?

I took a medical leave of absence from my MBA degree and spend the majority of my day at home depressed, anxious, and unsure of my abilities anymore. I feel like this disease is impacting my future career and family dreams, feels like the biggest sucker punch in life. Luckily my wife and family have been very supportive, but at times I don't think they understand how limiting and frightening this is.

Well, that is my story and first post. Thanks for listening, hope to get some encouraging responses. I know everyone says that it gets better, but right now I just can't see how.

A2DryEye

[Blinks]

A2DryEye, So sorry to hear about your dry eye experience. If you haven't already found it, there's a wonderful post by Rebecca "How to start feeling better and coping better now" here:
http://dryeyezone.com/encyclopedia/coping101part1.html

Also there are some resources for depression, pain management and computer strategies to reduce irritation: http://www.dryeyezone.com/index.html

Even if following one suggestion seems "not worth it" if you persist, and try to do as much as you can to protect your eyes and improve the environment, add some omega-3, the improvement can be cumulative. So one thing may not seem significant but added together I hope you'll find improvement. The onion goggles are good. Have you tried a humidifier, compresses? We are going into the heating season so anything to improve the humidity plus the onion goggles are all good.

Hope you're finding strategy to keep the eyes protected during sleep? Maybe ask your doc about night goggles (Onyx or Tranquileyes) . There's good info and reviews in Rebecca's shop.

Let us know how it goes. Sorry you have to be here, but you've found a great forum and are in "good company".

[Cali]

So sorry you are here. My story is similar. I had LASIK 8 years ago, but woke up about 2 months ago with what felt like acid thrown in my eyes. They burned sooo bad. I also had that "pressure" feeling. That scared me a lot. I couldn't watch TV, read, go online, go outside, etc. Terrible. I also had a TearLab test done that registered zero. Same boat as you.

Take a minute to read the Dr. Morris Waxler petition to remove LASIK from the market. You'll want to read the whole petition that contains charts and graphs. You'll find that ALL of your cornea nerves do not grow back in length or density after LASIK. And it is these nerves that send the signals to produce tears. Apparently there is more to the chemical make-up of tears (lipid, aqueous, mucous) that we are aware of. That is why dry eye is difficult to treat. Also, the long term effects of LASIK is not known. Therefore getting LASIK induced dry eye 3 years post-LASIK might not be uncommon.

The psychological impact is HUGE.

In your worst stage, you have to "claw" your way through each day. What really sucks about this condition is that it will be up to you to be your own advocate (which is hard when you are completely debilitated).

The VERY WORST PART is happening to you now. You just need to live through it. I didn't think I was going to make it through, but here I am now, improving.

Everyone has their own treatment plan that works for them. Mine is: autologous serum drops 8x/day, lower punctual plugs, krill oil, fish oil, flaxseed oil, anti-inflammation diet, warm compresses, sometimes demodex tea tree eye salve, and finally…………..xanax and antidepressants (as of 3 weeks ago). You’ll find yours.

Most important, find a doctor to work "with" you, not treat you like a cookie-cutter patient. I was dismissed by a number of top nationally known cornea specialists with "Restasis, Punctual Plugs, Cauterization" prescription. That is the cookie-cutter treatment.

[robster]

What LASIK does do is make it more likely that any underlying problems you may have had with your eyes would be more likely to flare up. You could well have had a slight aqueous production problem before LASIK but the LASIK has made it tip over the edge even after all this time. I've only recently learnt when seeing my medical records that I had "frothy" tears before I had my LASIK(something my LASIK clinic never bothered to tell me at the time). That is a clear indication that I had some form of MGD before surgery but I never had any physical problems even though I had the clinical symptoms of MGD. Now I have the clinical symptoms and the physical symptoms of MGD. What I'm saying is that you could have had the clinical symptoms of dry eye and the LASIK has just increased the chance of you getting the physical symptoms of dry eye even 3 years later.

[Cali]

Agreed. I had trouble wearing contact lens for any extended period of time. My contacts were really drying. Well........turns out I was therefore not a good candidate for LASIK because contact lens intolerance = dry eye. I actually read on some opthamoltic sites - really disturbing - that contact lens wearers were "self-selecting" for LASIK and ending up with dry eye disease. The term "self-selecting" stayed with me. I thought I would be told if I were not a good candidate, didn't realize I did this to myself by "self-selecting."

What LASIK does do is make it more likely that any underlying problems you may have had with your eyes would be more likely to flare up. You could well have had a slight aqueous production problem before LASIK but the LASIK has made it tip over the edge even after all this time. I've only recently learnt when seeing my medical records that I had "frothy" tears before I had my LASIK(something my LASIK clinic never bothered to tell me at the time). That is a clear indication that I had some form of MGD before surgery but I never had any physical problems even though I had the clinical symptoms of MGD. Now I have the clinical symptoms and the physical symptoms of MGD. What I'm saying is that you could have had the clinical symptoms of dry eye and the LASIK has just increased the chance of you getting the physical symptoms of dry eye even 3 years later.

[Joseph]

I don't know if this will help but if it came on suddenly it might go away suddenly. Just a positive thought that you could think about..

[sazy123]

My severe dry eye came on suddenly as well. I had bad contact lense intollerance, it developed over several years- i was able to wear contact lenses no problem at first. Then i think the contacts made my eyes dry. I went on anti depressents and did a 5 day trial of ortho k lenses (due to contact lense intollerance) and bang severe dry eye set in. My inner eyelids are inflammed and i have MGD.

It ruined my life, 9 years on i still have not found effective treatment. Not to discourage you- most people find some sort of treatment that helps. But nothing helps me. Except when im sick, my eyes feel great then.


Lasik probably excellerated the process of your dry eye. And it wasnt until something like a headache, pushed you over the edge into symptomatic dry eye. Lasik- probably made you borderline dry eye, you couldn't feel the symptoms, but it still worsened your dry eye.