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[Nick1989]

hey fellow dry eyers

Like many of you in here, I suffer from dry eyes, which started about a year ago. I have felt very alone in my course as it has been difficult to get an answer or a diagnosis.

However, I now know that I have dysfunction of the meibomian glands. so far so good. I have tried all the classic treatment methods: warm compress, eyelid cleanser, omega 3, IPL, manual squeezing, etc.

I have recently noticed that I sometimes get some small yellow bubbles at the opening of the meibomian glands. It does not look like some of the MGD images I find when I Google.

The other day when I saw one of these bubbles I first tried to remove it with one finger. It did not disappear. Then I tried with a cotton swab. It did not disappear. Then I tried again with cotton Sean and hard pressure, after which the bubble was squeezed out.

This made me think. could the problem be due to biofilm buildup on the eyelids which prevent the oil in the glands from coming out ??? what do you think?

[anteloper]

Good picture, best to ask your eye doctor if you get a chance.

I'm not a doctor but AFAIK biofilm wouldn't directly "block" the glands and stop expression so much as provide food for microorganisms and "feed" blepharitis-- which would then lead to inflammation, and cause changes to your meibum, including making it hard to express.

Biofilm is relatively easy and inexpensive to treat so if you manage your lid margin hygiene well you may be able to rule that out. I just use a wet cotton swab (organic cotton, name-brand q-tips made my eyes sting) to exfoliate my lid margin, and a gentle lid scrub (zocular) in the evenings. Cliradex might work for you too.

If you get more of these buildups you could try heating it first with a warm compress, possibly less risky than using hard pressure to remove it.

[jack1988]

Good picture, best to ask your eye doctor if you get a chance.

I'm not a doctor but AFAIK biofilm wouldn't directly "block" the glands and stop expression so much as provide food for microorganisms and "feed" blepharitis-- which would then lead to inflammation, and cause changes to your meibum, including making it hard to express.

Biofilm is relatively easy and inexpensive to treat so if you manage your lid margin hygiene well you may be able to rule that out. I just use a wet cotton swab (organic cotton, name-brand q-tips made my eyes sting) to exfoliate my lid margin, and a gentle lid scrub (zocular) in the evenings. Cliradex might work for you too.

If you get more of these buildups you could try heating it first with a warm compress, possibly less risky than using hard pressure to remove it.

Is there a reason you don't use hypochlorous acid to clean your eye lid?

[Nick1989]

I do use hypochlorous acid twiece a day. The otter day I tried to do warm compress and then clean the eyelid. What I saw was this waxy substence which must have came from the MG. I’ll put a Photo of it below.

I have tried to do the compress and cleaning for a couple of days now. Everyday it looks the same. Any idea how to really get those glands cleaned out?

[Rebecca Petris]

Nick1989 Please stop posting pictures of any implements you may be using for lid expression if they resemble restricted devices, tweezers, forceps, etc. They will be deleted.

[anteloper]

Is there a reason you don't use hypochlorous acid to clean your eye lid?

I tried Avenova (name-brand hypochlorous acid) for about two weeks and didn't notice much difference. It's possible it did help (I don't notice a huge different with cliradex either) but it's below the threshold where I'd feel comfortable concluding anything based on my n=1 subjective impressions.

I didn't notice any difference in my dry eye symptoms with Avenova and it seemed to dry my skin out a bit more than e.g. Cliradex or the Zocular wash.

[Nick1989]

So as I’m not allowed to upload pictures of my gland expressor I have now taking some pics of the waxy content that I’m avle to express from my glands.

It’s a waxy yellow content. It seems that I can Express my glands every day with the same result. Any ideas for other approces that I Can