When someone says "It will get better."

[Shogan]

That seems to be a statement I've heard from a lot of people that have given me their support. I'm wondering, especially from those experienced with lasik, exactly how does it get better?

Does it get it get better in the fact that I learn to cope with the pain and dryness? Will I eventually just learn to deal with it and accept my new life? Or does it get better in regards to the pain and dryness alleviation/reduction/dissipation? I certainly hope the latter.

My dryness is ruining my quality of work. I look like hell, like I've been crying all day or like I'm suffering a massive hangover. I work in a supermarket/retail store and can barely keep my eyes open while I walk. It's literally all I've thought about the last 3 months. There is no escape and I am experiencing anxiety about the unknown. All I want is to know.

[Rebecca Petris]

Does it get it get better in the fact that I learn to cope with the pain and dryness? Will I eventually just learn to deal with it and accept my new life? Or does it get better in regards to the pain and dryness alleviation/reduction/dissipation? I certainly hope the latter.

Personally I think it's all of the above.

The eyes DO get better (I don't mean cured, though that happens to some lucky few) as you get more effective treatments and/or more effective tools to protect your eyes and make them more comfortable in the specific environments you're facing. Of all the people I know there are very, very few whose eyes are as painful now as when I first met them.

You DO learn to cope better. It's something that happens unconsciously over time. I've seen hundreds of people over the years go from 'crisis mode' to 'coping mode' in process of time - in some cases they have to have an improvement in their pain first, but in other cases this happens almost independent of what's going on with their eyes.

You DO accept that there are some changes to your life as a result of the disease. Acceptance is VERY hard when you don't know whether you should accept it or what to accept - you have a moving target! So sometimes it's just another one of those improvements that happen unconsciously.

My eyes got better in the sense that I am pain-free during the day thanks to sclerals. I had to get into coping mode long before that happened though. For me personally, that involved a career change because after a few years I just found it impossible to do my old job (partly because of vision partly because of pain).

I dole out the "it will get better" line constantly on the phone and it feels like cheap comfort at times but I do think it's a vital thing for anyone newish to this to know. When I say it personally, I don't mean all aspects will get all better... but because in the vast majority of cases I've known over all these years, there has been improvement in controlling symptoms and in the sum total of its negative impact on people's lives.

[RobLIC]

"I work in a supermarket/retail store and can barely keep my eyes open while I walk. It's literally all I've thought about the last 3 months."

Can you buy a $20 pair of Speedo swimming goggles and wear them on your break for 15 minutes, even if you go somewhere you can hang out solo? This is how my doctor introduced me - in non-commital fashion - to the moisture chamber concept, which is just a way of preventing the rapid moisture evaporation so many of us suffer with.

If you find it helps, there are a few more attractive options for getting the same effect, as Rebecca has reminded me many times. The Speedos are just an easy way to test how it might help you. Malls, supermarkets, movie theaters - all those places with dry, moving air - are the worst environments for us. It's taken me four or five years to come around to accepting this and managing it better.

Tell you this: I got sclerals earlier this year, and a good pair of 7Eye sunglasses. I spent 9 hours outside at the U.S. Open on Tuesday, wearing both, and pretty much all I thought about was ... the tennis.

Rob

[ding]

When I had lasik I was unable to work for 9 months because of the pain and dryness it took about a year before my eyes began to get some tears it was a long hard road to recovery I would say my eyes got better not 100% but close. and I also think I cope better I dont think it has made me unable to do things I have always done. just be aware I need to take care of my eyes. when I first went back to work at a factory they had put in effect that safty glasses were required at all times I believe this helped my eyes recover also.

[calli66]

My eyes got dramatically better when the inflammation went down. They were at their worst when wearing soft contacts (which masked the dry feeling, but tripled the inflammation).

Calli