Testosterone eye cream

[jasonsmith]

You can call the pharmacy and ask who's prescribing it now.

I already did that, and they didn't know anyone. They probably just didn't want to look for it as they should have records on that.

It's still very weird as I guess the doc who came up with it patented it and sold it to some company years ago. But nothing has really been done with it from there.

Also, looks like that doc was just prescribing it under a small research trial or something. Not sure if he is still doing it at where ever he went to. But none of the other docs at his old office are doing the testosterone eye cream.

There is another doc who's been doing similar research. Except he's doing testosterone drops as I guess he thinks that's better than the cream version. But I've heard people saying the drops irritate the eyes.

[heyjude0701]

Well, I had my testosterone level checked, and it's low. The amount of bound testosterone (SHBG) is in the normal range- mine was 40.3 nmoL/L, normal range is 18-114. But my blood test did not detect any free circulating testosterone (normal range is 20-74 ng/dl). I have to decide how to proceed. My ophthalmologist has no interest in testosterone as a treatment for dry eye. My family doctor (who ordered the test) is interested. I guess I should follow up with him. But I have been on Restasis for only two weeks, and think I should keep using Restasis for another 4 weeks to see if it works. I don't notice any effect at all yet from Restasis. For those who are helped by Restasis- is the effect gradual, or do you suddenly notice the effect after 4 weeks (or 6 weeks). My family doctor thinks that if Restasis were going to help, I'd be noticing some effect by now (but he is not an ophthalmologist). My ophth says to have patience, and not even think about whether or not Restasis is effective for me until I have been on it for four weeks. Judy

[bunnyrabbit123]

Hi Judy,
It took 6 mos. before I could tell that restasis was of some help to me. I don't know why your doctor would tell you 4 weeks, I've been thru several opthos, they all said a minimum of 3 mos. I actually just finished a series of IPL treatments-that's been the most help to me so far. I can't use steroids. I talked to the IPL guy about testosterone therapy-he doesn't even want to go there unless it's commercially available-meaning tested and passed by FDA. There is a company that acquired the patents from Dr. Connor (I think he was the original guy) in 2008, I don't know what's going on with it since then. I'm way past menopause and I'm going to ask my gyn for a hormone panel when I go in to see her in Sept. I suspect my testosterone levels are pretty low too. It's really exasperating to read that something works and have no way to get it!!

[LaDiva]

Still following this thread, and hoping someone knows what this means: Testosterone Free- 1.7; Testosterone Ultra Sensitive LC/MS/MS 35; DHEA-S- 263. These were my lab numbers, and according to the report, this is in normal range. Is it? The tests are over a year old, but probably much the same. Jason, I am guessing you are a guy, so I don't know what is considered normal for men/women. Anyone, anyone? I agree with bunnyrabbit re: Restasis. It takes awhile. I didn't think it made a difference, but quit using it and felt noticeably worse.

[heyjude0701]

bunnyrabbit, is the effect from the IPL treatment immediate? How long does the effect last? Do you have to have IPL periodically, or is one treatment enough? Is it covered by insurance? Maybe that is something I should look into. My ophth is a great surgeon, but I don't think he has a lot of experience with dry eye.

It seems that testosterone is a trial and error thing- it has to be prescribed off label for women because it is still not FDA approved for women in the US (but it is in many other countries, including Australia and several European countries), no standardized dosages for women, and some sources say we don't even know how to measure androgen levels in women, that the tests were designed for men who have much higher amounts of testosterone. I guess I'm desperate enough that I'm willing to try, even without knowing the correct dosage, and knowing it is a potent hormone with side effects and unknown long term effects.

If I decide to try testosterone, I don't want to wait 6 months for Restasis to take effect before I try testosterone. If neither is the silver bullet, maybe it would be ok to try them both. And now I should look into IPL too.

[heyjude0701]

LaDiva, I'm not sure what the numbers mean. I googled the terms in the description of my results to see if I could find an explanation, and I'm not even sure I got it right.

[LaDiva]

Thanks Jud. I Googled too, and couldn't figure it out. I've had IPL and it did help, but I am still not right. When I went for the first IPL my TBUT was 3, and when I finished it was 7. There was no change in TBUT from the second to final treatment, so the improvement was after the first treatment, and then no further improvement. Good luck. I tend to think the ones most helped by IPL have plugged meibomian glands and no problems with tear production. It is said to help those with Ocular Rosacea. $500 per treatment, but it probably varies. I cannot remember if there were three or four treatments. I am interested in what BR has to say about her experience. Best of luck to you.

[heyjude0701]

Where do you go to get TBUT measured? My ophthalmologist doesn't do those tests. My worst symptom is light sensitivity, so I measure "success" by how much I can tolerate light. My eyes also burn and itch, and my vision gets blurry as the day wears on, but it is the light sensitivity that is most debilitating for me, even with the polarized moisture chamber glasses (the third pair of moisture chamber glasses I bought was the charm- my optometrist told me that the first two didn't work because they were not polarized). I use the measure of how long I can drive in sunlight as a measure of how the treatments are working. I have a long way to go before I can get my life back, if I ever will, but with the moisture chamber glasses, I can manage about fifteen minutes of driving- a great improvement over what I had before. I wonder if I should find a doctor who tests tear quality, or if my own functional assessment (driving time in daylight) is a good enough measure.

[LaDiva]

I'll email you a little later, Jude.

[jasonsmith]

I tried Restasis. But it just burned, and my eyes would have a slight burning feeling all day. Also, the night time dryness when waking up while on Restasis was really bad. i.e. can't even open eye lids as the eyes were so dry and I had to put drops in just to be able to open my eye lids.

So the Restasis just made the dry eye worse. All the eye docs I've talked to about it just said it's cause my eyes are dry which is causing the burning feeling when using Restasis. But doesn't make much sense because the Restasis is for dry eyes.

[heyjude0701]

Jason, some doctors prescribe another kind of drops to take with Restasis to ease the burning (I think they are steroids) for the first few weeks. My ophth told me not to fill the prescription for the other drops until after I started the Restasis to see if I needed the other drops to ease the burning. The restasis makes the burning a little worse for me, but it is not constant, so i'm just putting up with it. A few times starting yesterday, I got a sudden severe itching and burning in one eye that lasted only a few minutes, and then my eye started tearing a lot. Then the burning, itching and tearing stopped, and it went back to it's normal dryness. Not sure if that is Restasis beginning to kick in, or if something just irritated my eye.

[jasonsmith]

Jason, some doctors prescribe another kind of drops to take with Restasis to ease the burning (I think they are steroids) for the first few weeks. My ophth told me not to fill the prescription for the other drops until after I started the Restasis to see if I needed the other drops to ease the burning. The restasis makes the burning a little worse for me, but it is not constant, so i'm just putting up with it. A few times starting yesterday, I got a sudden severe itching and burning in one eye that lasted only a few minutes, and then my eye started tearing a lot. Then the burning, itching and tearing stopped, and it went back to it's normal dryness. Not sure if that is Restasis beginning to kick in, or if something just irritated my eye.

I also did the steroid or whatever drops as well. The steroid drops made it worse as that stuff burns too.

[heyjude0701]

Jason, I have a follow up appt with my family doctor next week- he's the one who prescribed the testosterone test. I have a feeling that he may refer me to an endocrinologist, but I'll be interested to hear his thoughts about testosterone treatment. I'll let you know what he says.

[jasonsmith]

Jason, I have a follow up appt with my family doctor next week- he's the one who prescribed the testosterone test. I have a feeling that he may refer me to an endocrinologist, but I'll be interested to hear his thoughts about testosterone treatment. I'll let you know what he says.

The difference is I'm male. So testosterone treatment is an acceptable treatment for me. I'm already low in testosterone anyways. Mine is secondary as there is something wrong in the hypothalimus or pituitary gland. As the brain signal is low in telling the testies to produce testosterone.

One thing I've read with secondary hypgonadism is it can be caused by or cause a pituitary tumor. I just know its an added risk factor. I had an MRI done years ago that was okay. But since I've recently had all of a sudden random dryness that no doc can explain or heard about it happening suddenly. Makes me wonder if there could be a pituitary tumor. As I've read the nerves for the salivary glands and tear producing glands run right by the pituitary gland.

[heyjude0701]

Who do you go to for that- an endocrinologist? Do you have one you like?