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Hi - Has anyone had cornea scans done, which have shown abnormal nerve growth in the upper layers of the cornea, resulting in eye pain? Have serum tears and/or prolonged contact lens wear, helped this condition?
I've had chronic pain in my left eye since August, following what I thought was a cornea erosion. I've had map dot fingerprint for over 20 years.
If I keep the eye closed, the pain does not occur. Blinking the eye, causes the pain to occur, gradually getting worse through the day, when it becomes very severe.
This week, I had a cornea scan of both eyes, which showed a significant lack of neurons in each eye. The doctor probably believes it might likely be due to small fiber neuropathy, as I have fibromyalgia, and those 2 conditions overlap. In the painful eye, there is a nerve that has grown into the upper layers of the cornea, where it shouldn't be. He suggested that serum tears would have a good chance of treating the problem, and PROSE lenses to reduce the pain, during the healing process.
I asked the doctor whether corneal debridement would help. I had a total corneal debridement done on that eye many years ago, due to constant cornea erosions. So I figured that if the upper cornea layers were removed, perhaps they would reheal, without the nerve being present. He told me that he's tried that in the past with a few patients, but the pain was still present. He compared it to the phantom limb pain. He said that if the pain has been there long enough, that corneal debridement wouldn't help. However, it didn't occur to me to ask the doctor, how could it be that serum tears could treat the problem? I though that while the tears can promote proper nerve growth, what would it due to an existing abnormal nerve? Also, if the nerve was removed from the the upper layer, wouldn't a new layers, at least insulate the nerve from the blinking eyelid, resulting in less pain? A bandage contact lens greatly reduces the pain, so wouldn't a new cornea layer, do something similar?
Thanks for any advice. on this matter. - Mark
I've had chronic pain in my left eye since August, following what I thought was a cornea erosion. I've had map dot fingerprint for over 20 years.
If I keep the eye closed, the pain does not occur. Blinking the eye, causes the pain to occur, gradually getting worse through the day, when it becomes very severe.
This week, I had a cornea scan of both eyes, which showed a significant lack of neurons in each eye. The doctor probably believes it might likely be due to small fiber neuropathy, as I have fibromyalgia, and those 2 conditions overlap. In the painful eye, there is a nerve that has grown into the upper layers of the cornea, where it shouldn't be. He suggested that serum tears would have a good chance of treating the problem, and PROSE lenses to reduce the pain, during the healing process.
I asked the doctor whether corneal debridement would help. I had a total corneal debridement done on that eye many years ago, due to constant cornea erosions. So I figured that if the upper cornea layers were removed, perhaps they would reheal, without the nerve being present. He told me that he's tried that in the past with a few patients, but the pain was still present. He compared it to the phantom limb pain. He said that if the pain has been there long enough, that corneal debridement wouldn't help. However, it didn't occur to me to ask the doctor, how could it be that serum tears could treat the problem? I though that while the tears can promote proper nerve growth, what would it due to an existing abnormal nerve? Also, if the nerve was removed from the the upper layer, wouldn't a new layers, at least insulate the nerve from the blinking eyelid, resulting in less pain? A bandage contact lens greatly reduces the pain, so wouldn't a new cornea layer, do something similar?
Thanks for any advice. on this matter. - Mark
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