Aussie dry eye or RCE sufferer (I think?)

[aussied]

Hi, I've recently (as in the past 6 months) acquired dry eye like symptoms as a result of somewhat larger eye problems.

Let me preface this by saying I'm a amateur boxer and have been competing for about 2-3 years now. Up until a certain point last year, I had zero problems (that I knew about)

It all started during sparring one night when I took a punch to the eye and immediately felt a strong stinging sensation. To my memory, my eyes were fine until about an hour later when the eye I received the punch in started stinging as if I had something in there, and became extremely red and sensitive to light. It got so bad to the point where I had patch the eye closed using cotton buds and tape.

Upon going to a medical center, they used anti biotic eye drops (chlorsig/chloramphenicol) and it was suggested that I perhaps had an eye infected such as conjunctivitis. I kept treating it as such, but I also kept having problems. The slightest touch or rub could set my eye(s) on fire and have it needing to be patched for a day, the vision would also be blurry for about 24-48 hours.

So I went to see an eye specialist and he took a closer look. This is where I'm still very confused. Before even getting to the issues of my eye pain, he told me I have small hole like erosions at the back of my eye, and that while I'm not at risk at the moment, as I get older the jelly like substance behind the eye starts to loosen and he's worried that as I get older I will run the risk of retinal detatchment should I not get these "holes" closed up with laser.

He said the pain is likely a result of dry eye and a scratched cornea, and gave me steroidal eye drops (FHM iiirc, I will check) and told me to stay off sparring for 6 weeks to give the eye a chance to heal.

Now many months down the track, I have had lasering on the right eye to close up these "holes", and he has discontinued the steroidal drops and now has me using lubricating/artificial tear drops.

I can say that although I still get very sharp pain when contact is made with the eye, it's nowhere near as bad as it was before, so I think the steroidal drops helped considerably, but I can't be sure as I'm being much much more careful these days. I'm still que'd up for laser on the left eye, and he has me seeing a retina specialist soon to tell me if I'm safe to box still.

It's still really affecting my boxing though, and I feel like I'm being dicked around and wasting money, I'm not getting any real clear answers.

To be more clear my symptons sound almost exactly like RCE. Especially this part: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recurre...ion#Prevention . Infact upon further reading, I'm now almost sure I have RCE.

Sorry for the book, I'm just really confused and not sure how to proceed from here. I don't want to give away fighting as it's a huge part of my life now.

[poppy]

Hi,

I'm also an aussie dry eye sufferer.

Unfortunately, things are really bad here for dry eye sufferers. Much worse than in the US. Many of the treatments/tests that other patients get routinely in the US are extremely difficult to get here. (There is a specialist dry eye clinic in Sydney but if you live anywhere else, you're lucky to find an eye doc that will even do punctal plugs)

I suggest visiting an optometrist. They won't be able to prescribe medications or actually DO anything to help but I have found they are often able to look at your eyes and give you some information about what's going on. Plus, they usually bulk bill so you haven't got much to lose. Even the smallest bit of information can be helpful. The last optometrist I saw was able to tell me I had keratitis (I believe I've had this all along, but none of the eye docs ever told me).

One thing I am trying, is I saw an optometrist and asked him to write a letter to our local public hospital to try get me in at the eye clinic there. Fortunately I was accepted by the clinic. The optometrist was able to get me in by writing a good letter saying that other eye docs had denied me access to treatment. I still have to wait 3 months to get in, but when I do get to see them I believe it's completely free of charge being a public hospital. I'm also hoping that because it's a public hospital, the eye docs will have a better attitude as it's not profit driven. I've had family members use the public hospital eye clinic and they've had good experiences.

[liz56]

Hello, Aussied.

It sounds like you may have had a corneal abrasion, due to the injury that was having trouble healing, so you may be having RCEs. I hope that they clear up for you. It takes time, but RCEs, due to an injury, rather than due to an underlying condition, tend to heal fully in time, and it sounds like that is the case with you.

The other condition your doctor noticed that is in the "back" of the eye-- could it be Fuch's dystrophy?

Erosions happen in the epithelial layer (front), and once Fuch's becomes advanced, it can cause RCEs.

It sounds like a couple of things may be going on here, so it may help to have regular exams and stay in touch with your doctor.

Best wishes,
Liz