Eyes burn and bloodshot after serum dropping

[No tears in ATL]

Recently I had a big flareup. This has been going on a few weeks now. I always had a little bit of a problem with this after putting in my serum drops but it would settle down after about and hour or so and I didn't worry.

So my eyes have continued to be inflamed and I've had to use my serum drops as usual. Now, when I instill the drops, within a few minutes I get a burning sensation and eyes end up being very bloodshot.

Why is this? Is this the veins trying to come to the surface for the serum? Or does this mean my eyes are terribly dry? One clue is that the drier one, the left one, has more of the burning/bloodshot reaction.

Serum is 72/25, which initially seemed more comfortable than the 50/50, but now I am having second thoughts...

Thanks for any help/advice.

[MartyM1985]

Honestly, I think you're just extremely dry at the moment.

I've had two flareups in my life... the most recent being the worst of the two by far. During my first, less dry one last summer, I was able to use Fresh Kote drops without any issues whatsoever in regards to pain or redness. It was easy.

But during this flareup, I have been much worse. As a result, the Fresh Kote drops sting my eyes and cause them to temporarily redden after inserting the drops.

So I wouldn't worry about it. Bite the bullet and take the pain. It will probably get easier as you gain more tears. Restasis definitely stung when I first started using it in January, but now it's not as painful (and I have more tears).

And pass the serum this way, eh? Dying for my doctor to make it for me, hopefully sometime soon.

[No tears in ATL]

Thanks, Marty. Like your avatar pic! Hope your doc can make them for you soon. Insurance will not cover them--I wonder if that is your doc's hesitancy to prescribe them? I just told mine I was willing to pay out of pocket. Mine cost $150 for about a three month supply, but the research one of the posters showed here says they can actually keep about 6 months in the freezer unopened without degrading. So I can stretch mine a little bit further.

[Rebecca Petris]

NTIA,

Now, when I instill the drops, within a few minutes I get a burning sensation and eyes end up being very bloodshot.

Personally I would not continue using something that did this to me. At the least I'd be on the phone with the dr and probably emailing photos.

What's your serum diluted with?

I have known cases people getting infections from contaminated serum... also cases of people reacting to what it's diluted with... so if there's a consistent adverse reaction I'd want to get to the bottom of it...

I agree with Marty about flaring potential (my bad eye will act that way on a bad day when I put Dwelle in unless I buffer with a little saline first - if I remember to that really helps) but Freshkote, dwelle etc have very high concentration polymers which are hard on a very dry surface... I'm speaking in some ignorance here because I've never actually used serum but I don't believe it should do what polymer drops do as regards provoking that kind of surface irritation.

[No tears in ATL]

My serum is diluted with saline at 25%. As a side note, I've also tried using unpreserved saline from the drugstore (I think you have it mentioned here on the website) and I get the burning/bloodshot reaction as well. Do you think the drops can rinse away the good oils?

I've not been diagnosed with any related dry eye conditions like ocular rosacea, but I wonder if this is a possibility. Seems as though the rosacea sufferer's eye surface is sensitive to a lot of things.