Ladies Only! Birth Control Pills and Dry Eye

[NYer]

Do you think those Thai drugs would make me look like Angelina, too? I don't know about a supplement that has testosterone properties for me, anyway. I'd probably get pimples and hair on my chin. But so far, I seem to have at least a few years yet before menopause. My Mom got hers a little later, so maybe I will, too.
(by the way, Natalie, your doggies are absolutely adorable!)

[Lucy]

Please note: I am Catherine Zeta-Jones, have been for a long time. Michael says hello to Brad and the kiddies.
At one time, my avatar was an actual picture of the real me--CZJ. Rebecca remembers.

[Stanza]

Not sure if this will help anyone but in case....my experience of North American BCPs was they are often too high doseage, the 20mg oestrogen ones are totally fine, and if you're on higher it might be worh reducing before quitting to see if it helps at all. Also those tri-cyclen things you have where it goes up and down every month are horrific, best to get on something at least even....

here's a link to some low-dose ones: http://www.drdonnica.com/display.asp?article=5246

[NYer]

Stanza, that's a really good point. Maybe just stepping down to a lower dosage would help.

Lucy, I knew you were a sex goddess. I could tell that the sunglasses were just to stay incognito.

[Natalie06]

Nyer

Do you think those Thai drugs would make me look like Angelina, too?
(by the way, Natalie, your doggies are absolutely adorable!)

Just a word of caution: I only look like Angelina within the confines of my house and only through my own eyes...

And I am a sucker for anyone who thinks my dogs are cute...which might explain why I am still single...I rented the movie "must love dogs" hoping it was actually about dogs. LOL

And how did you get your dog to pose at the computer?

[curlygrl31]

Nyer,

Just found it interesting that you are on Yasmin too. I just went off after being on that pill for a year (I have been on other pills for years). I loved what it did for my skin, but I'm wondering too about the dry eye connection. I have only been off BC pills for two weeks. I'll give it some time, but so far, no changes to redness and dryness.

Carrie

[NYer]

Hi Carrie,
Well, you and I are kindrid spirits...I just went off altogether two days ago. I was going to try switching to another lower dose one and then I figured that if I really want to know for sure if it's the pill causing my dry eyes, I'd better just go cold turkey. I'll miss the benefits of it and I'm praying my face doesn't break out, but I'm willing to take the risk if it'll make my eyes better.
It occured to me that with Yasmin, more than even other pills, not only are the basic hormones possibly an issue, but it actually is also a diuretic - and if it's emptying fluids from your body, certainly it could be sucking some of them from your eyes. And when I realized that, I figured it's time to go off.
Don't expect to see results quite that fast, though. It'll be at least a few months before your body adjusts to the change in hormone level. Figure 3-6 months before you see anything. (Although the skin changes could show up a lot sooner than that. )
NY

[curlygrl31]

NY,

My eye doc has me on doxycycline (50 mg 2x/day) and that is what is keeping my acne under control for the moment. I'm not really on doxy for ocular roseacea or MGD... I think he was getting to the point where he was grasping at straws. At least that will keep it under control while I give the BC pills a rest for a while.

Have you seen Dr. Latkany, Miss NY? I am thinking about a trip up. Four eye docs, 6 months and a million eye drops later, I am still having issues with redness/dryness in response to environmental conditions.

Carrie

[NYer]

Hi Carrie,
Yes, I've been to Dr. Latkany twice - in fact the second visit was earlier this week. He's very nice and he is quite willing to listen to my thoughts on what I think I might need or taking a different approach to something. And clearly, he does understand dry eyes, so I figured he'd be the guy to see. That said, I haven't yet had any results that I can say are good or bad, so for that, we'll have to wait and see. I also live about a half mile from his office, so for me it wasn't exactly a difficult decision.
Insofar as doxycycline goes, I was on it for about two weeks about a month ago (100 mg 2x/day). Actually, it was Dr. L who prescribed it for my occular and facial rosacea. I had to go off of it though, because it set off my acid reflux, which is now horrible (what a night I had last night...but that's for a different bulletin board). So I can't take doxy anymore.
Oh, by the way, I am on my second day of Azasite drops per Dr. L. I had asked him about them and he thought it was worth a try (he didn't suggest it - I did. And that's one of the great things about this web site - we go to our doctors armed with knowledge and we can suggest things that they may not think of first.)
So that's my story right now.
If you do go to him, I'd like to know what you think of the office visit compared to other docs you've been to.
-NYer

[curlygrl31]

Nyer,

How has the Azasite worked for you?

I have redness in my eyes that flares from certain environmental situations (and when I say flare, I mean RED!). My eyes will be clear and then I will go to the shopping mall and whammo! White part of my eye near my nose will get a huge red spot. I'm also triggered at places like my office, Target, grocery store, windy days outside, sometimes my car (try to not use A/C or heat). Every morning my eyes are clear again. The cycle starts again once I hit one of the above triggers...

I have had some increasing soreness and I can say it now feels uncomfortable to go to the grocery store. I can feel that part of my eye getting inflammed. It feels raw and unprotected.

I've been to 5 opthomologists now. They tell me everything from dry eye to episcleritis to inflammation and potential allergy. No one has been able to put their finger on it and prevent this daily occurrence. Just had allergy testing done and I'm allergic to a gammut of enviornmental things, but OTC allergy meds didn't help. Interestingly enough, allergist prescribed Veramyst for me and it seems like it is having a small impact. Too early to say or get hopes up.

In any case, I have been on almost everything (you name it), but not Azasite... so wanted to see how you were doing. Funny, no one can agree I have dry eye at all -- but I've had this on-again-off-again redness for months. Arrgh... just trying to find the trigger!

Thanks!

[NYer]

Hi Curly,
I posted my post-Azasite results in one of the Azasite threads, but in a nutshell, it was horrible.
Azasite was terrible for me. I was on it for four days and had to go off of it. Although I didn't have the initial stinging or burning upon instilling it (as many people here have), it has irritated the heck out of my eyes and to no benefit.
I put the drops before bed, as directed. I woke up a few times during the night and my eyeballs were really sore and dry and irritated. I had to put lots of Systane PF drops in. It took 24 hours to feel better. It's now been 4 days and my eyes are still much dryer than they were before the Azasite.
My lids and rims are red and I have shadows under my eyes. Before this, my eyes actually LOOKED pretty much fine. Now they look terrible.
So I'm much worse off than I was before I tried the Azasite.

Can't tell if going off the pill has made a difference yet - I've only been off for two weeks. But my face has already managed to start breaking out.

So, that's all my news.

[Rebecca Petris]

I have redness in my eyes that flares from certain environmental situations (and when I say flare, I mean RED!). My eyes will be clear and then I will go to the shopping mall and whammo! White part of my eye near my nose will get a huge red spot. I'm also triggered at places like my office, Target, grocery store, windy days outside, sometimes my car (try to not use A/C or heat). Every morning my eyes are clear again. The cycle starts again once I hit one of the above triggers...

curlygrl31,

If it's always environmental triggers for you, why not use protective eyewear? Some kind of moisture chamber or sunglasses with a foam-lined eyecup like Panoptx can make all the difference in the world in that kind of situation, by creating a micro-environment around your eyes. Granted most of the current products are not the most elegant things in the world but there are custom moisture chambers that can look quite nice, some of the sunglasses look great, and there are a couple of new products on the way that should look quite good.

[curlygrl31]

Hey Rebecca,

I think my thoughts on the protective eyewear are two fold. #1 I want to get to the root cause of why my eyes are reacting this way as a healthy 31-year old -- no Lasik, contacts, etc. -- when this was NOT an issue for me a year ago (only very sporadic redness issues then). #2 Vanity. There, I said it. Just being honest with you.

Would like to find what is throwing me "over my threshold" and causing the inflammation rather than just treating the symptoms alone.

Nyer, thanks for the update. Good to know. Fingers crossed that you start to turn a corner.

Carrie

[Rebecca Petris]

I hear you. I would never consider eyewear as a substitute for thorough diagnosis and treatment, of course. But it is a very practical tool, and one that is often underutilized. For some people (a minority of severe dry eye patients) eyewear is vital for pain control, and for others to prevent actual corneal damage (ulceration), for others light sensitivity, etc. while the investigation is ongoing and/or if there is no current cure if/when the cause IS pinned down.

If the severity isn't actually putting someone's eye health at risk, and if the symptoms aren't driving them to distraction, then there's no reason to subject themselves to eyewear they don't like.

[Marina26]

I find this thread interesting. I keep going back to bcp's as the start of all my troubles.
I've been on bcp's for about 10 years and only after I was switched to yaz did all my troubles begin, contact discomfort and horrible headaches and facial pain. I went off completely and then back on my old stuff (loestrin) b/c my neurologist said it could not be causing all this. I know that the insert specifically says it can trigger migraines and contact discomfort---but she's the doc.
My theory is that bcp's caused my dry eye, my dry eye was masked by my contact lens use until I couldn't wear contacts all together, and over a period of all this neglect my facial nerves started acting up?
I know I'm grasping at straws here, but there has to be a cause right?
I'm thinking of going back off. I just wonder which of my docs to consult with----gp, obgyn, opth? apparently not my neurologist. Who would know the most most about hormonal/eye/nerve interactions?