Lacrimal Gland PRP injection & PRP drops - Prof. Alio, Vissum, Alicante

[Meibum Ian]

Meibum Ian thank you for sharing your experience. As I have really bad red eyes, I would like to ask whether your eyes turned to normal from red after the PRP injection procedure?

I think it's fair to say they're back to their pre-procedure colour.

[Meibum Ian]

Day 14 Update:

I think it's fair to say there's been a bit more progress. My situation-dependent comfort seems improved relative to where it would have been pre-procedure. I am mostly comfortable at home, not in a breeze.

I had an NHS followup appointment today, and was told there was no staining! That seems like a pretty big deal. While I've been told I have everything from grade I - IV staining, this same doctor said in May that I did have some staining (and that and I would never feel comfortable because of it - not so helpful).

The big problem is still the irritation from the nearly-always blocked upper glands, but the oil in these is becoming a bit thinner and more expressible I think. I will have a manual gland expression (keeping it gentle) next week, which will be useful as a diagnostic to see a) overall oil quality and b) how badly blocked these glands are and whether they might need probing.

[Guest]

Glad the update is positive, no staining is great. I can’t believe the dr said, and you’re never going to be comfortable. Drs do not understand what that means to a dry eye patient, especially because it’s not always true.

[hopeful_hiker]

Meibum Ian thank you for the update! Would you say the injection made a difference in the amount of aqueous tear component?

[farmgirl]

Have you tried IPL to deal with the blocked glands?

[MGD1701]

Congratulations.

The big problem is still the irritation from the nearly-always blocked upper glands, but the oil in these is becoming a bit thinner and more expressible I think.

Does it mean your lower glands are not blocked as uppers? Do you know how to see/feel these?
That is interesting as most people seem to have blocked glands at lowers -
saw an expression old video from UK, that doctor said so too.

[Meibum Ian]

Glad the update is positive, no staining is great. I can’t believe the dr said, and you’re never going to be comfortable. Drs do not understand what that means to a dry eye patient, especially because it’s not always true.

It would have been easy to infer that staining does not resolve and that I would be stuck with it. Only because I was educated on the subject did I know differently. All in the space of a 5 minute appointment in which no treatment was offered or suggested.

[Meibum Ian]

Meibum Ian thank you for the update! Would you say the injection made a difference in the amount of aqueous tear component?

It's hard to be sure, and tests for this haven't been done yet, but that would be my guess (and was the intention of the treatment).

[Meibum Ian]

Have you tried IPL to deal with the blocked glands?

It would make sense to do. However, my dry eye problems begin soon after an IPL facial treatment (and became worse with a subsequent one). No way of knowing if that caused it, but it makes me too nervous to do again.

[Meibum Ian]

Congratulations.

Does it mean your lower glands are not blocked as uppers? Do you know how to see/feel these?
That is interesting as most people seem to have blocked glands at lowers -
saw an expression old video from UK, that doctor said so too.

The lowers have never been as badly blocked, and do not have that tender feel when I massage. I and doctors can generally get something decent out of the them.

[quattroboy]

Day 14 Update:

I had an NHS followup appointment today, and was told there was no staining! That seems like a pretty big deal. While I've been told I have everything from grade I - IV staining, this same doctor said in May that I did have some staining (and that and I would never feel comfortable because of it - not so helpful).

It's sad the NHS has such a poor approach and attitude to dry eye. Honestly after seeing one nurse at the Eye hospital in Manchester I was close to committing suicide, comments along the lines of "put up with it there's nothing any doctor anywhere in the world can do for you, dry eyes are you companion for the rest of your life." and general man up!

My NHS consultant is much better, no issues with getting Ikervis and I think generally does want to help me, I think I've mentioned before he suggested AST might be option if I show no improvement, but didn't pick up the things Mr. Walker did or explain things to me in the same way as Mr. Walker.

He was dead against AMT, upper plugs or other things.

Didn't pick up my nerve or corneal sensitivity issues. Actually told me nothing wrong with my nerves.

The upper plugs have been a game changer.

Then you learn from forums like this, googling about and the support groups on Facebook, that there are lots of things that can help or try. And many people get their dry eyes under control to a point where the can lead normal lives again.

[deep_dry_eye]

It's sad the NHS has such a poor approach and attitude to dry eye. Honestly after seeing one nurse at the Eye hospital in Manchester I was close to committing suicide, comments along the lines of "put up with it there's nothing any doctor anywhere in the world can do for you, dry eyes are you companion for the rest of your life." and general man up!

My NHS consultant is much better, no issues with getting Ikervis and I think generally does want to help me, I think I've mentioned before he suggested AST might be option if I show no improvement, but didn't pick up the things Mr. Walker did or explain things to me in the same way as Mr. Walker.

He was dead against AMT, upper plugs or other things.

Didn't pick up my nerve or corneal sensitivity issues. Actually told me nothing wrong with my nerves.

The upper plugs have been a game changer.

Then you learn from forums like this, googling about and the support groups on Facebook, that there are lots of things that can help or try. And many people get their dry under control to a point where the can lead normal lives again.

Drs who make blanket statements like "nothing wrong with your nerves" are probably not very good, there's no way to tell if there's something truely wrong w ur nerves or not. i.e., there's no true negative test.

AMT is low-risk, you should definitely give it a try. Unfortunately, our (the world) healthcare system sucks, sometimes you can't get the healthcare you need in your own country and need to pay-out-of-pocket to get it in another country. How much is your health worth? I would say more than $100k , so its worth the risk to do AMT in another country. It probably costs like $5k CAD round-trip to fly from UK->Canada, airbnb + AMT cost (1.5k / eye CAD).

[Meibum Ian]

Day 50 Update:

Oops. I didn't mean to leave this so long..

I'm doing quite well. I feel there has been some further improvement since my last update. I'm generally more comfortable in a given situation than I would have been pre-procedure and also since my last update. There are times when it gets bad still, but less often than before.

I had confirmation from my trusted optometrist that there is no staining now - just some surface irregularities revealed by TBUT test in one eye.

I am often aware of the feeling of more moisture, which I think has to be from improved aqueous production. It may also be down to meibum flowing better, or just more comfort from the improved ocular surface. I'm kind of dreading my followup appointment next week for this reason - fear of being told that the aqueous production hasn't improved. Don't really understand why I feel like this way given that I do feel better. Probably because I want to be better still, and know that improvement here is necessary.

The few blocked glands in my upper lids are still a problem. I've just started doing heat (blephasteam goggles) and massage again. I'm now getting something expressed from the blocked glands where this wouldn't have been possible before. And while it still feels bad in the eye, it's not quite as bad as before. I'm hoping that if I continue this, eventually the glands will produce something decent and not get blocked all the time.

[Alix]

Day 50 Update:

Oops. I didn't mean to leave this so long..

I'm doing quite well. I feel there has been some further improvement since my last update. I'm generally more comfortable in a given situation than I would have been pre-procedure and also since my last update. There are times when it gets bad still, but less often than before.

I had confirmation from my trusted optometrist that there is no staining now - just some surface irregularities revealed by TBUT test in one eye.

I am often aware of the feeling of more moisture, which I think has to be from improved aqueous production. It may also be down to meibum flowing better, or just more comfort from the improved ocular surface. I'm kind of dreading my followup appointment next week for this reason - fear of being told that the aqueous production hasn't improved. Don't really understand why I feel like this way given that I do feel better. Probably because I want to be better still, and know that improvement here is necessary.

The few blocked glands in my upper lids are still a problem. I've just started doing heat (blephasteam goggles) and massage again. I'm now getting something expressed from the blocked glands where this wouldn't have been possible before. And while it still feels bad in the eye, it's not quite as bad as before. I'm hoping that if I continue this, eventually the glands will produce something decent and not get blocked all the time.

Do you find that Blephasteam helps? I am thinking about buying this out of sheer desperation, the only time my eyes feel "normal" is when I am having a shower and straight after, so I am thinking maybe humidity might help me - I have evaporative dry eye, not aqueous deficiency.

[Meibum Ian]

Do you find that Blephasteam helps? I am thinking about buying this out of sheer desperation, the only time my eyes feel "normal" is when I am having a shower and straight after, so I am thinking maybe humidity might help me - I have evaporative dry eye, not aqueous deficiency.

*If* hot compresses help you, then it's effective and convenient.

Worth trying other methods of heat first to confirm that it is a good thing for you, I think.