Autologous serum in 50% saline...what the heck is happening here?

[vivian3090]

When I read these posts from patients who seem to be at the "edge" it really worries me. I am an eye care provider and I often wonder what the point of recommending the very same things over and over to patients who seem to get no relief.

"I will honestly say I am losing hope with this.I feel like I am going to miss out on my entire life. :/"

There are so many things that I never seem to see discussed here that I just wonder sometimes who you folks go to as providers.
For instance, I seldom see a reference to Lacriserts. Oh I know..those didn't work for this patient or that patient...so, they just don't seem to be mentioned. I seldom see reference to simple bandage contact lenses...oh I know, that didn't work for Sally or Suzy...so, its seems to seldom be discussed.

PROSE gets some attention, but it costs a fortune(upwards of 10K) and even those who use it have problems after a while. Can you say 24mm Hard contact lens without kind of swallowing hard? I see an occasional mention of hormone drops...they really really work.

I am personally experimenting with a new product for my patients...ProKera...its an amniotic membrane which promotes healing. I mentioned it directly to the administrator, but I still do not see any discussion.

Periodically I post, but seldom do I see my posts appear. Like some of you who feel like giving up, I occasionally feel like giving up on this site.
Because I am not a dry eye sufferer and so I cannot speak from personal experience. Instead I can tell you the experience of hundreds of patients. I do try to help patients and I try to offer suggestions on this forum because some of you seem to be in such pain that I want to offer a professional opinion.

I realize the rules for self promotion on this site, but I feel there is a lack of professional input because of those rules.
If this post does not appear..and it may very well never get posted because it always says..."your post will be reviewed by a moderator" and it never appears..I am going to quit watching this site. Few of you will miss that fact as I have not seen my suggestions appear.

BTW...I have personally never seen serum work. What I feel is really at work is a very expensive drop that patients actually use because it took a pint of their blood and $150. So, they actually use it.

I hope this actually appears because all I see are the same suggestions over and over again.

EyeMech,
I tired to PM you, but your inbox is full!

[bassfan]

Vivian - Do you have or have tried punctal plugs? I don't think you will really find anything that will make an immediate change with your eyes except those. Whether they help you at all is a different story. Plugs didn't help me because of evaporation issues but nonetheless its apparent they do something. I doubt we will ever have a magic pill to make things better. I've been at this dry eye nonsense for 7 years now I think and I've come to the general conclusion that less is more and throwing the kitchen sink at the eyes just makes them angry.

Eyemech - I would also like to PM or email you. Would you PM me please? I'm at least in the same state as you (so is Vivian).

[littlemermaid]

I am personally experimenting with a new product for my patients...ProKera...its an amniotic membrane which promotes healing. I mentioned it directly to the administrator, but I still do not see any discussion.

Eyemech, There is a lot of interest in amniotic membrane - please keep posting on progress

[vivian3090]

Vivian - Do you have or have tried punctal plugs? I don't think you will really find anything that will make an immediate change with your eyes except those. Whether they help you at all is a different story. Plugs didn't help me because of evaporation issues but nonetheless its apparent they do something. I doubt we will ever have a magic pill to make things better. I've been at this dry eye nonsense for 7 years now I think and I've come to the general conclusion that less is more and throwing the kitchen sink at the eyes just makes them angry.

Eyemech - I would also like to PM or email you. Would you PM me please? I'm at least in the same state as you (so is Vivian).

I have lower plugs. I just want to get to a point I don't have to put drops in every 15 mins. I go through so many drops in one day its getting expensive.....

[bassfan]

I have lower plugs. I just want to get to a point I don't have to put drops in every 15 mins. I go through so many drops in one day its getting expensive.....

Try uppers too then. It can't hurt other than the cost. I did a few years back. One fell out after a day so I pulled the other one out myself (which I am not advocating, but im capable). However, when I had those uppers in, it looked like I was crying the whole time. I would have to wipe away tears every few minutes. Was outside for a bit and the wind was blowing tears all over my face. I couldn't believe the difference between just lower plugged to all four plugged. I guess when the lowers are plugged the uppers flow a lot. I don't think plugs are right for me so I didn't go any farther than that otherwise I would have also tried the plugs that let a little through.

I'm no medical professional but I would stay away from the "fully inside the duct" plugs whatever they are called...been a while. I used Eagle Vision plugs. I think its a huge benefit to be able to see the little mushroom head protruding if it doesn't cause too much bother. It's nice to know its there.

PS - sorry for getting off topic No Tears in ATL. To your original question, if you can't handle saline it makes sense 50% saline would be an issue as well.

[vivian3090]

I am allergic to the mushroom ones. Which is why I have the ones that go right into the duct and dissolve after 3 months. My ophthalmologist doesn't want me to have upper ones. So I'm kinda outta luck there.

[bassfan]

I am allergic to the mushroom ones. Which is why I have the ones that go right into the duct and dissolve after 3 months. My ophthalmologist doesn't want me to have upper ones. So I'm kinda outta luck there.

Ok we'll I guess the dissolving ones are okay. Allergic to the materials? That seems odd. What is the reason for optho not wanting the upper ones? I can see an issue with something blocking the upper ducts for 3 months when you don't know if it would be good but I would be interested if the optho had other reasons than that. However if you have good tears and lack them, keeping them in your eyes is a sure way to comfort. If you have bad tears like me, then it's of little use and possibly counter productive.

[vivian3090]

Ok we'll I guess the dissolving ones are okay. Allergic to the materials? That seems odd. What is the reason for optho not wanting the upper ones? I can see an issue with something blocking the upper ducts for 3 months when you don't know if it would be good but I would be interested if the optho had other reasons than that. However if you have good tears and lack them, keeping them in your eyes is a sure way to comfort. If you have bad tears like me, then it's of little use and possibly counter productive.

Well I had a bad reaction to it regardless. My eye got extremely bloodshot with them in. When they were taken out the bloodshotness and stuff went away.

He said he doesn't recommend it because too much tears wont drain and i'll have over flowing tears. they can easily take the plugs out. I have no clue if i had good or bad tears...I do know I have instantaneous tear break up time thought... :/

[farmgirl]

I asked for 3 month dissolving ones and my specialist says he has never heard of them. i could only get 3 week dissolving ones. He told me if i ever found out what they were called to let him know. Why don't you ask your opht for 3 week dissolving ones that way you can at least try them. Uppers didn't help me, ditto for the lowers but when I got both upper and lower I went from needing drops every 20 - 30 min to needing only the serum drops and restasis and maybe the odd drop during a day INSTANTLY. If you should be so luck as to have so many tears that they are overflowing then at least you know that in 3 weeks they will be gone. You could try just one upper for starters (your worst). Maybe you need a new ophthalmologist??? IN my opinion, if they are as dry as you feel they are, he/she should at least let you try them....F/G

[vivian3090]

I asked for 3 month dissolving ones and my specialist says he has never heard of them. i could only get 3 week dissolving ones. He told me if i ever found out what they were called to let him know. Why don't you ask your opht for 3 week dissolving ones that way you can at least try them. Uppers didn't help me, ditto for the lowers but when I got both upper and lower I went from needing drops every 20 - 30 min to needing only the serum drops and restasis and maybe the odd drop during a day INSTANTLY. If you should be so luck as to have so many tears that they are overflowing then at least you know that in 3 weeks they will be gone. You could try just one upper for starters (your worst). Maybe you need a new ophthalmologist??? IN my opinion, if they are as dry as you feel they are, he/she should at least let you try them....F/G

I'm so sorry, they are actually 4-6 month plugs. I believe this is what they are called http://www.lacrimedics.com/plugs-dis.htm

I am seeing a new optometrist tomorrow. I have only seen one opthamologist (who did my lasik) and a cornea specialist. This doctor I am seeing tomorrow speacilses in dry eye. I figured getting a second opinion from someone not associated with my lasik procedure will be good. Maybe he wont automatically shrug it off as lasik induced dry eye, but actually attempt to see if something else is causing it as well. WIsh me luck! I will try to ask him about putting uppers in, but I'd rather have the doctor who put in my original plugs in do it though, that way i wont be bouncing back and forth between doctors and wasting more money...

[spmcc]

Maybe he wont automatically shrug it off as lasik induced dry eye, but actually attempt to see if something else is causing it as well.

You can print off your early posts from when you joined DEZ in Feb to show the doctor that you recorded your eye problem before you had Lasik. DEZ can be a place to keep your "medical diary"!

[vivian3090]

You can print off your early posts from when you joined DEZ in Feb to show the doctor that you recorded your eye problem before you had Lasik. DEZ can be a place to keep your "medical diary"!

That's right!

Reading those make me so pissed off at myself though. You all WARNED me not to get lasik...but I went ahead and got it b/c the doc said my dry eye was under control, I wanted to believe it and that I wasn't going to the be that 1% of people to get worse after lasik. but ALAS I am.

[spmcc]

I was so confused by the thread you started on Sept 16 asking when to use steroid drops (and more confused when you tried to clear up the confusion) that I went back to re-read all your posts. I think, aside from your posts on make-up etc., you can use all your posts as a diary to remind you of what has *really* happened.

If you condense everything, you can present it to a doctor... easy to read and understand.

And please avoid using the word "inflammation" because it's meaningless as a symptom (and you just mean "redness"). Stick to your actual symptoms (not what you think is happening i.e., "inflammation")... see this page http://www.dryeyezone.com/encyclopedia/symptoms.html

Tell the doctor when your symptoms happen (AM, PM, sleep on left side, blink a lot, etc.). If you want an article by Scheffer Tseng published in Cornea 2011 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21912234), PM me your email address and I'll send you the pdf. It may help you explain your DE symptoms to a doctor (and us).

The important thing is to get a real diagnosis... and you need to know what your eye problem was BEFORE Lasik. So perhaps go back and get the records from the ophthalmologists and optometrists you saw before your surgery. Concentrating on post-Lasik dry eye (IMO) isn't going to work... your problem started BEFORE surgery.

[farmgirl]

Thanks for the link Vivian, I'll pass that on to him...F/G

[vivian3090]

And please avoid using the word "inflammation" because it's meaningless as a symptom (and you just mean "redness"). Stick to your actual symptoms (not what you think is happening i.e., "inflammation")... see this page http://www.dryeyezone.com/encyclopedia/symptoms.html

So the dry eye specialist I saw says I have severe inflammation.... (I PROMISE I didn't mention ANYTHING about inflammation at all, HE SAID IT!)

He is saying to keep up with what I am doing with restasis and serum drops.

He gave me a sample of FreshKote to try 3x a day.... (I'm not sure if I see any difference? only have used it twice so far, but yet again something dramatic happened and I had a good cry)

He also is telling me to use Lotemax 4 times a day in my Left eye and 2 times a day in my right (I think for about a week, since I see him next thursday for a follow up).

He is saying something about a new drop he is going to start using next week, which I have a feeling I will recieve it when I do the follow up, but I have a feeling I have seen some posts regarding it. It is some new revolutionary drop that is supposed to stay on the eye for quite some time and help with dry eye and stuff...IF and when I get it I will post about it..