Irritated eyes - Spring?

[jcorbett]

The last week or so, my eyes have been unusually irritated and dry. Haven't been this bad in months. I was wondering if it had to do with the season....being spring and everything leafing out. I have mild allergies and have been sneezing. My eye doc says no.....if I had allergy eyes they would be watering and itchy.
Anybody else notice this?

[Cindy]

Same here. My eyes are stinging just like they did last Spring and the Spring before that and the Spring before that...I think it is because dry eyes can't clear out all the stuff (pollen etc.) blowing around in the air in the Spring. It probably hangs around in our eyes longer and irritates them more than usual. It's become a pretty predictable cycle each year.

[jcorbett]

spring

Oh great. So I wait until winter's over so we don't have the drying heat, then spring comes with pollen. Then summer with air conditioning. So.....is there any season we can look forward to??
Any tricks on how to deal with this? How long does this last? Well, at least I know there probably is a reason and this irritation MAY go away in time.

[Lucy]

dry, dry, dry

I don't know about your location, but we are having a horrible drought in our area. (Cindy and I live in the same region.) Everything is dusty. Cars go by and dust flies from the shoulder of the road. I'm keeping most of my windows closed to keep the dust outside as much as possible. This has to be adding to our misery.

[jcorbett]

dry area

Wisconsin. And yes, it is very dry here also. And very windy lately. You can see the dust and pollen blowing down the road with the wind. I just checked the outdoor humidity....27%. I believe that is low for here, it is usually more on the humid side. I suppose that would add to the fun.
I have been so miserable the last couple days. Dakrina actually seemed to irritate my eyes when I used it and I ran out of Redkote, which I would normally use for this.
I had bought some Blink a while back, but never really used it until today. Anyway....my eyes felt better today. I don't know if it is coincidence or not, but I did notice the Blink was very comfortable in my eyes. I also used a touch of Genteal gel last night...I rarely use gels......but oh did that feel good! That is the only gel I can tolerate...the rest (even theratears liquid gel) seem to make my lids feel 'thick', for lack of a better way to put it.
I can see why Genteal is flying off the shelves. It feels so light in your eyes....it doesn't give that heavy gel feeling.

[Kyle]

Boy, do I have to agree with you guys! My eyes have been more than irritated this past week. I couldn't figure it out at first until I was watching the news the other night and they were talking about how this was one of the worst allergy seasons ever, because we had more rain than ever before in California. I used to love Spring, but now...
I have to agree with Jcorbett too. I was really, really looking forward to winter being over because of the heaters everyone uses, but now one of my favorite times of the year is ruined because of my stupid lasik problems.
My eye doctor even told me to consider moving because LA has one of the highest pollution rates.

[Cindy]

I agree that a lighter drop like NutraTear feels better this time of year than Dakrina. You might also try an eye wash once a day to rinse the crud out your eyes. For a quick rinse I drip a few drops of unpreserved saline in each eye to wash them out midday.

Mother Nature seems to win regardless of the season. It helps to know that on the west side of the state, Lucy is going through the same stuff I am...and jcorbett in Wisconsin, Kyle in LA...basically knowing I'm not alone.

[Gaye]

Drier her in Virginia too

The same goes for me here in Virginia Beach. This is a drier and colder spring here than normal. It is usually warmer and starting to get humid here by now. My eyes have been worse this past week than ever. The pollen is just starting here too and in a few weeks we will see it flying through the air. Our cars actually turn yellow from the pine pollen. People joke that we need an event called "Pollen Fest" like Summer Fest or Greek Fest. I had actually gone to the caribbean in March and found that my eyes felt the better than they had in months. The humidity was a blessing. Guess I need to move to the Caribbean.

[Cindy]

Where to?

Kyle wrote:

My eye doctor even told me to consider moving because LA has one of the highest pollution rates.

Gaye wrote:

Guess I need to move to the Caribbean.

Kyle, did your doc have any suggestions for where dry eyers might fare well? Gaye, the Caribbean sounds nice...

[Kyle]

No, he just told me to seriously consider moving somewhere else because the pollution here is so bad and now the pollen is worse because of all the rain. Talk about junk on cars...every morning I go outside and my car is almost yellow. I would complain, but the weather here is so beautiful it's almost worth suffering for.

Hey Gaye....I moved to LA from Virginia Beach! I'm going home in August. Where do you live? You can e-mail me directly and let me know. Maybe we can catch up and discuss "dry eye talk" when I get there. I used to live in Chick's Beach? Where are you?

[Scout]

The last week or so, my eyes have been unusually irritated and dry. Haven't been this bad in months. I was wondering if it had to do with the season....being spring and everything leafing out. I have mild allergies and have been sneezing. My eye doc says no.....if I had allergy eyes they would be watering and itchy.
Anybody else notice this?

One of the things that I have learned (in my case) is that ocular allergies can contribute to poor TBUT (tear break-up time) because allergies on the surface of the eye cause an (allergic) inflammatory response. This can decrease TBUT (due to the inflammation) and give the sensation of dryness (as opposed to increasing the amount of tears which is ususally associated with allergy eyes from hayfever). Hayfever-type allergy symptoms are a systemic allergic response rather than a surface allergic response. (This I learned from many doctors, including an allergist).

I use daily prescription allergy drops for my eyes (Zaditor--similar to Patanol) at a half dose througout the year and increase to a full dose (2 drops) during allergy season (right now). The drops contain an antihistamine and a mast cell stabilizer. The antihistamine works right away but the mast cell stabilizer works over time to prevent the devlopment of allergies and inflammation.

I have used the Zaditor for over 3 years. I feel like a success story in that my last TBUT test was 2 in one eye and SIX(!) in the other. That is up from zero in both eyes 2 years after LASIK.

Many dry eye patients have tried either Patanol or Zaditor and haven't been helped. It does help me.

Scout

[jcorbett]

Thanks, Scout

Thank you so much for the explanation. That certainly makes sense. We had one of those dreary, rainy days so the dust and pollen aren't blowing around as much, and the winds have died down so my eyes have calmed down considerably.
Thanks to all who responded. While I am not glad you all were suffering too, it was good to know there was no need to hit the panic button.
Scout - how long did you use zaditor before you saw results? I have patanol, however I used it a couple times and did not notice a difference, so I quit. I was under the impression that it either worked or didn't, and you would know right away.

[Gaye]

To Cindy

We went to Ambergris Caye off of Belize and I had a full week of no eye pain. I guess something about the humidity and ocean there is different than the ocean here. I am not as close to it as I was there. Don't think I could really live there though. But I was amazed at the difference in my eyes.

[jcorbett]

caribbean

Thank you for giving me an excuse to go. Not that I need much of one....anywhere in the Caribbean suits me just fine!

[Scout]

Thank you so much for the explanation. That certainly makes sense. We had one of those dreary, rainy days so the dust and pollen aren't blowing around as much, and the winds have died down so my eyes have calmed down considerably.
Thanks to all who responded. While I am not glad you all were suffering too, it was good to know there was no need to hit the panic button.
Scout - how long did you use zaditor before you saw results? I have patanol, however I used it a couple times and did not notice a difference, so I quit. I was under the impression that it either worked or didn't, and you would know right away.

I had poor TBUT even prior to LASIK (in 1999) due to my thyroid disease. LASIK sent the numbers down to zero and they stayed that way for over two years.

Using exclusively Redkote/Nutratear for wetting and the Zaditor for the allergies/inflammation, I noticed only very gradual improvement over a period of probably 3-6 months. I started noticing I was using less Redkote/Nutratear and that my eyes were a bit less red. Then very gradually and over the next year, I saw more improvement. I have used it now over 3 years.

The mast-cell stabilizer is the part of the medication that works over the long-term by preventing or slowing the inflammatory/allergic response. You have to keep using it over time for this part to work. I have a feeling that the inflammation (for me) is more the problem than the histamine release, so maybe that is why I need to use it all year long.

I probably should add that I use Zaditor “off-label” in that it is designed for seasonal use only. I tried it for seasonal use only and did not have a good response. I started using it 2 drops daily for the first full year and saw the improvement (albeit gradual). After the first year I started cutting back to one drop daily and 2 drops during allergy season. I am lucky to have found my current OD who tries to be flexible and work WITH me on all my post-LASIK complications to find solutions. I am grateful that he is willing to write the script “off-label” for daily, extended use.

At first use, the drops will sting briefly, but that diminishes quickly (at least it did for me).

One note: I have had doctors (and others) push Restasis as the answer to my chronic ocular inflammation but I have been reluctant to switch to something new when I have found something that works for me. I guess if this stops working, I can always try Restasis (or whatever new “cure” is on the market at the time).

I hope this helps.

Scout