My mom

[Chuck]

My Mom is plagued with dry eyes...that water all the time. She has redness, soreness, irritation and watering. The doctors call it blephartis and say there is nothing they can do. Does anyone have ideas besides warm washcloths? She is 80 years old and otherwise in good health. Thank you.

[RobLIC]

Hi, sorry about your mom's health troubles.

It would help people here offer suggestions if you could ask the doctor to clarify which type of bleph it is. Commonly, there are two discussed on this board: anterior bleph, which is sometimes characterized by yellow crusty deposits on the front of the lashes, and posterior bleph or "MGD."

[painless]

If you let us know where she is located, someone here may be able to recommend a doctor who has more experience with treating dry eye.

My symptoms are different from your mom's, but treatments I am currently on or have done in the past include: Flarex (a steroid eyedrop that reduced inflammation), Doxycycline (antibiotic taken orally that has anti-inflammatory properties), Azasite (an antibiotic drop with anti-inflammatory properties), Omega-3 supplements, and Restasis. I am also currently undergoing IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) treatment, which few doctors are trained to do for dry eye.

These are treatments you might do some research on and see if they might be appropriate for your mom.

Mostly, I hope you are able to find a better doctor for her because I think leaving her with warm compresses and nothing else is inexcusable.

Also, for the warm compresses (which I also do daily), there are better methods than a warm washcloth. You can put some dry, uncooked rice inside a nylon sock and heat it in the microwave (for a very short time and you have to be careful not to heat it to where it would burn the delicate eyelid skin). It retains heat much better than a washcloth and many of us find it less irritating to the skin.

Or you could buy the mask Rebecca sells on this site. I've never used it but it's another option that would work better than a washcloth.

[Rebecca Petris]

The doctors call it blephartis and say there is nothing they can do.

That's flat out wrong. There is so much that can be done both in terms of treating the condition (once you know more specifically what it is and what the state of the meibomian glands is) - most of which Painless listed - and in terms of getting more comfortable, cold compresses may help, as well as getting a really effective lubricant and perhaps some kind of moisture chambers (goggles or glasses with a close seal).

By the way, with all that redness, soreness, etc... might want to make sure she's not overdoing the warm compresses as too much heat can kind of backfire. Find out how much heat the doctor (or new doctor if you can find a specialist) recommends.

I'm so glad your mom has you looking out for her! The more you can do in terms of research to help her along, the sooner she can get more comfortable.