Oprah show..

[Peggy]

I agree with everyone, that 10 minute surgery at this point has ruined my life and I dont know if its temporary or if I will ever have relief. I am still that teacher who is the only one they know who had a problem with that lasik procedure... I take that back another teacher in my building had his eye tweaked the same day as I had my surgery , I didnt know that ahead of time and he is still having a problem vision wise with that eye but no pain like me. I know my presence does make people rethink what a gamble with such a precious part of your being you are dealing with. Heres the funny part I go to a healing Mass when I can and the visiting priest starts to give his speech and says does anyone notice what is different about me, the congregation sits there and he finally says I had lasik and now I dont have to wear my glasses anymore... At the end of Mass you go to get blessed and he asks what my problem is and I said my eyes from lasik, you know what he says to me? Are you using your drops? Honest to gosh true story!!! I also feel when we are in pain we make decisions which also can effect or compromise our health later such as plugs, medications etc. that also needs to be put out there.... Peggy

[dianat]

Peggy,

The story about the priest is something else. Since I've been an open book about everything else on this web site, I guess I can tell you that one time I went in to "see a professional" a few years ago because I was so depressed over my poor LASIK outcome. She sat me down and had me start telling her my story. I started by saying, "Well, I had LASIK eye surgery..." and before I got the next sentence out, she got a big smile and said, "I did, too! How great! It was so hard not wearing makeup that first week..." Then I stopped her and told her the bad news.

We are in a minority, that's for sure.

D

[YGB]

Just checking out an old and interesting thread. I guess Oprah's crew didn't go for the chronic dry eye or LASIK induced dry eye story? Obviously getting exposure on Oprah would be a grand slam, but exposure on any level is better than what we currently have. Some might say that this BB is a good beginning. I agree but the reality is that most folks will never find this site and the ones who do (like me) will only find it after it's too late. Try doing a google search on "LASIK dry eyes" or "dry eye" or "chronic dry eye" and the dryeyezone.com site will not pop up as a top hit. Actually, many of the top hits are LASIK sites that encourage folks to get LASIK. Almighty one ... is this something that your IT wisdom can work on to increase exposure? I think there are ways to move up the google search charts (aside from paying a "hit" fee).

Also, if not Oprah, then how about 20/20 or some other night news program. John Stossel does interesting stories on 20/20 exposing public health issues and/or wrongs being done in society. Whether its a topic on dry eye in general or LASIK induced dry eye, I would recommend that you send an e-mail to 20/20 at 2020@abc.com. The 20/20 crew can decide which story (if any) they will run. A good news story can catapult the subject into a larger forum (assuming the story creates a stir and/or boosts the ratings).

[Rebecca Petris]

All good points YGB....

Try doing a google search on "LASIK dry eyes" or "dry eye" or "chronic dry eye" and the dryeyezone.com site will not pop up as a top hit....I think there are ways to move up the google search charts (aside from paying a "hit" fee).

Sore point. Believe me, I've read all the "Search engine optimization for dummies" books. I monitor our organic search result positioning on the major engines and we have taken a number of steps to try and improve things. Our poorest positioning is on Google - if you check Yahoo or MSN we're way up there on a lot of common dry eye topics. On Google we've only managed it on specialized dry eye topics (among which, amusingly, products like lacrilube). But for the most popular search strings, like dry eye, dry eyes, and lasik dry eyes, it's very hard to break into Google page 1. We're up against places like St. Luke's, Mayo, etc - good sites themselves but that don't have any particularly extensive dry eye coverage - as well as sites that have been around for an awfully long time. We just recently finally got listed with DMOZ, who weren't accepting any new listings for months because of server problems, and I'm hoping this will help. - I have periodically placed - and still do now and then - pay-per-click search engine ads specifically to direct people to the bulletin board just to help people find it more easily. We also added a link to Dry Eye Talk on the shop recently - wish I'd thought of it before.

Ultimately the only way to get a top Google ranking is dependent on things like (a) how long the site's been around (we're just coming up on our 2nd anniversary... you'll see the other top rankers out there have been around for many years) and (b) be linked from lots of other sites. If any of you guys ever feel like helping DEZ raise the profile of the plight of chronic dry eye patients (and lasik dry eye specifically for that matter) the very best thing you could possibly do would be to add a link to DEZ on any sites you have, and/or write to other dry eye related sites and ask them to link to us.

=Also, if not Oprah, then how about 20/20 or some other night news program. John Stossel does interesting stories on 20/20 exposing public health issues and/or wrongs being done in society. Whether its a topic on dry eye in general or LASIK induced dry eye, I would recommend that you send an e-mail to 20/20 at 2020@abc.com. The 20/20 crew can decide which story (if any) they will run. A good news story can catapult the subject into a larger forum (assuming the story creates a stir and/or boosts the ratings).

I am behind this 100%. Something I've been discussing privately with others is the fact that Dr. Latkany's upcoming book should open up some new and powerful opportunities to get publicity on this subject that we might otherwise simply not be able to get. (The book, by the way, will be raising a lot of money for charity/dry eye research.) I would like nothing better than to see everyone here send an email to Oprah's show and to 20/20 asking them to cover this subject.

[kitty]

If you google "dry eye latkany", DEZ hits about #5. Hmmm, could Latkany go in the meta tags somewhere (with permission)? Any possibility that the Dry Eye shop could sell Dr. Latkany's books? Just thinking once the book comes out and people hear about it....

[Silverlady]

I've linked one place

Rebecca,
I've linked DEZ to the Sjogrens Forum and I'll add it to the two neuropathy forums I use. Maybe that will help. They get lots of hits.

Billye

[Silverlady]

Oops!

Fingers in gear, brain NOT!! Sorry Rebecca, it just dawned on me when re-reading this thread that what you meant was not the kind of link I was thinking of.. I linked DEZ in a posted thread on the Sjogren's forum, not the internet formating. Must have been too tired when I posted this. Sorry about this.

Billye

[Rebecca Petris]

Not to worry, intentions appreciated as much as anything Actually, this kind of link in posts on other boards can help too. They don't even have to be threads that get a lot of traffic. Some of the search engines archive the bulletin board posts and then those threads re-appear in the unlikeliest places as search results... it all has to do with the order of words used and the relevance. Every little link out there helps - it really does. Thanks!!

[JAH1973]

I found these posts from 2007 and wondered if anyone ever made any progress. Although I have never been a big TV Watcher, it would be interesting if Oprah would promote more awareness of dry eye, it's causes, etc. . In the perfect world, she would "give back" and donate to further research and a medicine that would allow those afflicted with the disease live a more manageable life.

I noticed that she has done shows on makeup, pillows, etc., Maybe if we all bombarded the website, there would be a chance.

So what do you think....

[JAH1973]

Already sent an email to her. Maybe she will read it!

[jenny2008]

I too am going to submit a letter to Oprah via email... Maybe if all of us did so we could seriously get some great exposure on this dry eye thing-whether it be from Sjogrens, Lasik induced, MGD, and or chemical sensitivity, etc... or of course if many of you are like me-several of the above!

JAH has a great idea to contact Oprah.
Oprah does have great influence on the public..

[Lucy]

Folks, this thread is really 3 and 1/2 years old. It has a couple of posts added in more recent months. But was started in 2005 and we're now going into......tada...2009. As someone said to me, "it's almost 2010 and it seems just like we were talking about the 2000 computer mess."

Good luck for those contacting Oprah, or whomever. I'm out this time, been there, done that. Like Rebecca said, some of us have been trying since 2000 to bring this to the national spotlight. We definitely have had some local successes! Good luck, and ya' just never know, this time might do it. Lucy

[Raginator]

When a television news program denies your request for a story, it's probably a good idea to ask (politely) why they are not interested.

What makes a good news subject?
What makes a bad news subject?