No Response to Opth. Anesthetic Drops

[Michael2]

Some signs of MGD/ blepharitis, and eye feels irritated 24/7. But anesthetic drops at opth. appt do not clear up the irritation...Any suggestions on what this means? Doctors think I'm crazy.

No physical signs or redness, but conjunctiva feels so irritated. I'm thinking that possibly suggests a hidden ALLERGIC component irritating the eyelid interface along, with evaporative dry eye, rather than actually 'dryness' or corneal nerve irritation. I have hayfever as well

Would love to hear how people with 'allergic' dry eye feel...my eye feels like I was just stung by a bee. AH pure torture. I've heard MGD and allergens can go together, so I'm looking at IPL to rev up my glands and then work on the allergies.

Also, Dwelle and every other drop has no real effect.

Would love any input. Thanks!

[Rebecca Petris]

Some signs of MGD/ blepharitis, and eye feels irritated 24/7. But anesthetic drops at opth. appt do not clear up the irritation...Any suggestions on what this means? Doctors think I'm crazy.

No physical signs or redness, but conjunctiva feels so irritated.

You had an anaesthetic drop at the doc's office and your irritation was unabated while the anaesthetic was active?

This is interesting.

If my irritation were not suppressed by anaesthetic, then just thinking it through logically, I'd be thinking something like...

- Was the anaesthetic applied properly?

- Is the pain from an ocular surface which is not totally numbed by the drops, either because the drops don't normally numb it (pardon my ignorance, but I don't know if an anaesthetic numbs only the cornea or all the conj as well) or because I'm a freak of nature?

- Is the pain somewhere in the cornea other than the surface? (It happens.)

[Michael2]

interesting

interesting reply, Rebecca. somehow, it felt like the pain was localized in the conjunctiva-eyelid interface, not the cornea. but who knows? i guess those nerve sensors on the inner eyelid weren't too happy

[gz9gjg]

Hello Michael,

I have found most eye practioners "throw" anesthetic and other drops at my eyes and they bounce out onto my lashes and skin instead of getting into my eye.

So I talked to one of my ODs and he suggested this:

When somebody else instills drops into your eyes, sit down, tilt your head back a bit, and use your fingertips to gently pull your lower eyelid down. This will cause your lower lids to pouch out. Get them to put the drops into the pouch.

This wll assure the drops actually get into your eyes.

Good luck,

Lynne

[Michael2]

agreed

great insight...that seems to make alot of sense. I found that the doctors who wanted to dismiss my pain just 'threw' in the drops, whereas the ones that noticed i was in real pain were more careful

[gz9gjg]

Hello Michael,

Part of my point was, you can take control over how drops are instilled into your eyes, and assure the drops get where they are supposed to go.

The procedure I suggested also works when you put drops in yourself.

Regards,

Lynne