MGD Question

[LaDiva]

I've recently added a tablespoon of flax oil 3x daily along with the TheraTears Nutrition I have been taking for years. Suddenly, I am getting toothpaste consistency oil out at least once a day when expressing. I see this as a good thing, as nothing much was coming out of the glands before. Any comments from you veterans? Does this mean life may improve? Hoping so!

[hosanna13]

That's interesting. How do you express your lids?

[LaDiva]

Hi hosanna,
First you use a hot compress on your eyes, and then a magnifying mirror, and Q-tips dipped in hot water. I use the Q-tip sideways, so not quite like the man in the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1LLFgdw9Z0 When done, I press the lower lids again using the flat of my index finger. You can kind of roll your finger and press. Hope that helps.

[hosanna13]

Thanks. By toothpaste consistency, did it kind of look like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lapguls0Yhk

I've never expressed my lids, but I do suspect MGD. I'll give it a try tonight and let you know what I see!

[LaDiva]

Yuck! Yes, just not that much, although I don't have clamps! I also use a small flashlight in order to see when I press with my finger. Good luck. I like your name!

[hosanna13]

So I just tried the compress+expressing, but didn't see anything come out. I've been taking flax seed and fish oil supplements for a long time now. I do think taking omega 3's help my eyes. For normal eyes, should you be able to see a clear oil coming out? I wonder how much is normal..
Thanks!

[hosanna13]

I tried again using small, plastic tweezers like the one shown (http://www.amazon.com/Contact-Lens-M...ipped+tweezers) and was able to see a tiny bit of clear fluid (oil?) coming out. After expressing, do you see the oily film over your cornea?

[LaDiva]

I can see oil come out of the glands and can sometimes see it floating on my eye. There is usually debris floating around as well. I'll check out the tweezers, but am not sure about sticking stuff in my eye. (My aim is bad!)