How common is MGD?

[catlover]

I am 54 and have NEVER even heard of this until a couple of months ago when I found out I had this.

[Rebecca Petris]

Very. It's the most common cause of dry eye. But most people have never heard of it, including most people with dry eye.

[magoo]

That's for sure. I'm 68 and have had what I now know was dry eye for forty-one years and just learned about MGD after I joined this forum. I had been treated for allergy all my life with no good results at all but it seemed to be the only thing the doctors ever came up with.

I found this forum by googling "strings in eyes", and I have certainly learned a lot more than just about mucous strings.

One doctor, many many years ago did say "you have such big eyes that they dry out along the edge" but that was the last I heard about dry eye.... he was also trying to get a date with me (like I say, it was many years ago) so I dismissed his comment about big eyes/dryness as just flirting. Now I think back on that and wonder if things would have been much different if I had been treated then, or were the treatments then not even as effective as today's. I never heard about MGD until this forum.

[irish eyes]

I don't think it is well known even now.

I have tried various complementary therapies over the years, including homoeopathy. I visited an experienced practitioner who headed a training school and she `convinced' me that blepharitis, dry eye and a host of other ailments responded well to homoeopathic remedies. Mine didn't. She hadn't a clue when I started talking about anterior & posterior blepharitis, meibomium glands etc etc.

When I said I couldn't cry properly (lack of tears and inflammation) she saw it as an opportunity to `explore' my `natural reserve' and see why I was holding so much in - stiff upper lip and all that.

Similarly with the local herbalist - but I didn't part with any cash with her.

I don't wish to denigrate these people's skills but I'm just pointing out the limitations of their knowledge in many cases. Granted, MGD is an esoteric topic!