Tweet
Hello! I’m a new member, and first of all, would like to express my appreciation for this wonderful site!
I was wondering if it is possible for contact lenses to cause dry eyes that STILL PERSIST a full year after stopping contact lens use?
A little background: I am female, in my early 30s, and have been suffering from dry eyes for about a year. I wore soft contact lenses (2 week disposable Biomedics 38) for 7 years, usually 16 hours per day. I never had a problem with dry eyes, and was always comfortable in my lenses.
In Feb 2004, I had a Lasik evaluation, was pronounced an ideal candidate (by one of the most respected and expensive Lasik docs in my area), and stopped wearing my contacts in preparation for the surgery. Well, I chickened out of the surgery, and never had it done. However, at the same time, I began to suffer from a foreign body sensation in my left eye, and was diagnosed with small pingueculae in both eyes, so I never went back to wearing contacts. My opth said the foreign body sensation and ping-related redness were due to dry eyes (still, my eyes had never FELT dry), and prescribed 2 weeks of steroid drops (no help), then Restasis (quit after a few weeks). After this treatment, my eyes began to FEEL very dry and I could no longer cry normal emotional tears (just a few sticky ones if lucky).
So, I have two questions regarding the symptoms I’ve experienced after stopping contact lens use:
If I had had the Lasik surgery as planned, I would certainly be blaming my dry eyes on the procedure. Could my 7 years of contact lens use have caused a similar long-term corneal denervation? Is this permanent, or will my corneas recover in time? I haven’t worn contact lenses in over a year, and my eyes are still dry. (This actually makes me wonder how many cases of post-Lasik dry eyes occur in former contact lens wearers, versus those who hadn’t worn contact lenses pre-surgery; any such data out there?)
Also: I have small pingueculae, 2 in each eye, which formed right at the edge of where my contacts sat (3 and 9 o’clock positions). I’ve always been the type to stay out of the sun (I have very fair skin), wear sunglasses, etc. Could my contacts have caused these pingueculae, by sucking up the water at these edges and causing dry spots? I read something to this effect on the following web page, and was wondering if it has any scientific validity:
http://www.goldenvisionclinic.com/Blinking.htm
In particular: “They [contact lens wearers] tend to blink infrequently and/or partially where the top lid just flickers. This leads to a syndrome of fogging, red eyes at the 3 and 9 o'clock areas of the whites of the eyes, and yellow plaques developing in these areas. This is because these areas are drying from exposure and the blood vessels enlarge to bring more fluids in to moisten the area. This causes the patient to develop yellow plaques on the whites of the eyes, from larger molecular cholesterol, plaques, and calcium becoming clogged at the smaller sized vessels.”
I think, but am not sure, that the Biomedics 38 two-week disposables are low-water content lenses—in case that has anything to do with it.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can provide some info on this!
LT
I was wondering if it is possible for contact lenses to cause dry eyes that STILL PERSIST a full year after stopping contact lens use?
A little background: I am female, in my early 30s, and have been suffering from dry eyes for about a year. I wore soft contact lenses (2 week disposable Biomedics 38) for 7 years, usually 16 hours per day. I never had a problem with dry eyes, and was always comfortable in my lenses.
In Feb 2004, I had a Lasik evaluation, was pronounced an ideal candidate (by one of the most respected and expensive Lasik docs in my area), and stopped wearing my contacts in preparation for the surgery. Well, I chickened out of the surgery, and never had it done. However, at the same time, I began to suffer from a foreign body sensation in my left eye, and was diagnosed with small pingueculae in both eyes, so I never went back to wearing contacts. My opth said the foreign body sensation and ping-related redness were due to dry eyes (still, my eyes had never FELT dry), and prescribed 2 weeks of steroid drops (no help), then Restasis (quit after a few weeks). After this treatment, my eyes began to FEEL very dry and I could no longer cry normal emotional tears (just a few sticky ones if lucky).
So, I have two questions regarding the symptoms I’ve experienced after stopping contact lens use:
If I had had the Lasik surgery as planned, I would certainly be blaming my dry eyes on the procedure. Could my 7 years of contact lens use have caused a similar long-term corneal denervation? Is this permanent, or will my corneas recover in time? I haven’t worn contact lenses in over a year, and my eyes are still dry. (This actually makes me wonder how many cases of post-Lasik dry eyes occur in former contact lens wearers, versus those who hadn’t worn contact lenses pre-surgery; any such data out there?)
Also: I have small pingueculae, 2 in each eye, which formed right at the edge of where my contacts sat (3 and 9 o’clock positions). I’ve always been the type to stay out of the sun (I have very fair skin), wear sunglasses, etc. Could my contacts have caused these pingueculae, by sucking up the water at these edges and causing dry spots? I read something to this effect on the following web page, and was wondering if it has any scientific validity:
http://www.goldenvisionclinic.com/Blinking.htm
In particular: “They [contact lens wearers] tend to blink infrequently and/or partially where the top lid just flickers. This leads to a syndrome of fogging, red eyes at the 3 and 9 o'clock areas of the whites of the eyes, and yellow plaques developing in these areas. This is because these areas are drying from exposure and the blood vessels enlarge to bring more fluids in to moisten the area. This causes the patient to develop yellow plaques on the whites of the eyes, from larger molecular cholesterol, plaques, and calcium becoming clogged at the smaller sized vessels.”
I think, but am not sure, that the Biomedics 38 two-week disposables are low-water content lenses—in case that has anything to do with it.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can provide some info on this!
LT
Comment