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First, a big thanks to Rebecca for helping me get Autologous serum, and to Diane, for being so supportive.
I've had it about two weeks now and wanted to report. I thought about posing sooner, but my experience with the serum at the beginning was extremely positive, and I didn't want to post a very positive message and then have to follow it up with a disappointing one.
Fortunately, so far I can say that the serum has been great. Here's some history on my dry eye. No dry eye whatsoever previous to LASIK in 1998, followed by terrible dry eye, particularly at night. In November of 2004, I decided to use a bunch of meds in combination. So...I stacked on Restasis, FLM, NAC drops, and doxycycline drops. Basically, I decided to simply ignore the potential for drug interactions and adverse effects, and instead hope there would be some synergistic effects. Sometimes I'd run out of one or the other, but for the most part, I used them all simultaneously and also religiously did hot compresses and lid scrubs every morning. When I started, I had a Tear break up time measured at zero seconds...instantaneous. By combining all those drugs, I think I made it up to two or three seconds (though tear volume was much better). Then about six months later I began to develop tinnitus, ringing in the ears. My guess is that it was from the doxy, but I can't say for sure. Anyway, I panicked and stopped everything and in about two months, the tinnitus subsided. I'm glad it did, because in its own way, it was worse than the dry eye. First I couldn't sleep through the night because of the dry eye, then I couldn't get to sleep because of the tinnitus.
The doctor is Richard Hector in Bradenton, FL. I saw Dr. Hector in the afternoon, then stayed overnight with a friend, because the serum would need to be frozen before I could make the three hour drive home. So, I went to the lab the next morning and they drew my blood...quite a lot of blood, I thought, but less than a donation. That was spun down into serum and put into syringes...100 of them, for a 100 day supply. The dosage is four drops per eye per day. The syringes are kept in the freezer. I withdraw one each morning, thaw it under the tap, use as necessary and put it back in the frig. Any unused serum is thrown out each evening. There's probably enough for about 8 drops a day per eye in the syringe, I'd guess. I doubt you can overdose on it, since it's your own tissue, but I don't absolutely know that.
Anyway, the serum has been really great. I don't think it's a cure for dry eye, but it's definitely better than eyedrops. Whereas with Restasis, I felt like it was trying to force my eye to do something, the serum seems to work with my eye. And why wouldn't it, since it's my own tissue. My main dry eye problem has been waking up in the middle of the night with "sandpaper eyes," followed by blurry vision in the morning. All of it has diminished noticeably.
Raj
I've had it about two weeks now and wanted to report. I thought about posing sooner, but my experience with the serum at the beginning was extremely positive, and I didn't want to post a very positive message and then have to follow it up with a disappointing one.
Fortunately, so far I can say that the serum has been great. Here's some history on my dry eye. No dry eye whatsoever previous to LASIK in 1998, followed by terrible dry eye, particularly at night. In November of 2004, I decided to use a bunch of meds in combination. So...I stacked on Restasis, FLM, NAC drops, and doxycycline drops. Basically, I decided to simply ignore the potential for drug interactions and adverse effects, and instead hope there would be some synergistic effects. Sometimes I'd run out of one or the other, but for the most part, I used them all simultaneously and also religiously did hot compresses and lid scrubs every morning. When I started, I had a Tear break up time measured at zero seconds...instantaneous. By combining all those drugs, I think I made it up to two or three seconds (though tear volume was much better). Then about six months later I began to develop tinnitus, ringing in the ears. My guess is that it was from the doxy, but I can't say for sure. Anyway, I panicked and stopped everything and in about two months, the tinnitus subsided. I'm glad it did, because in its own way, it was worse than the dry eye. First I couldn't sleep through the night because of the dry eye, then I couldn't get to sleep because of the tinnitus.
The doctor is Richard Hector in Bradenton, FL. I saw Dr. Hector in the afternoon, then stayed overnight with a friend, because the serum would need to be frozen before I could make the three hour drive home. So, I went to the lab the next morning and they drew my blood...quite a lot of blood, I thought, but less than a donation. That was spun down into serum and put into syringes...100 of them, for a 100 day supply. The dosage is four drops per eye per day. The syringes are kept in the freezer. I withdraw one each morning, thaw it under the tap, use as necessary and put it back in the frig. Any unused serum is thrown out each evening. There's probably enough for about 8 drops a day per eye in the syringe, I'd guess. I doubt you can overdose on it, since it's your own tissue, but I don't absolutely know that.
Anyway, the serum has been really great. I don't think it's a cure for dry eye, but it's definitely better than eyedrops. Whereas with Restasis, I felt like it was trying to force my eye to do something, the serum seems to work with my eye. And why wouldn't it, since it's my own tissue. My main dry eye problem has been waking up in the middle of the night with "sandpaper eyes," followed by blurry vision in the morning. All of it has diminished noticeably.
Raj
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