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I have been unable to find any commercial products that have enough of a seal to serve as an adequate moisture chamber for my one dry eye. And in this dry weather we have having now in the middle of winter, even the moisture chamber that worked the best just wasn't enough.
So I've been experimenting with other creative solutions. I haven't found any perfect fixes, but I did want to list the things I've tried, possibly for people who don't need as perfect of a seal as I do. I should clarify - if my moisture chamber is not completely foggy, then it's not enough of a seal. Luckily I have only 1 dry eye, so I can manage (i.e. drive and function ok) with one foggy eye.
Here is the short list:
Moisture chamber (single): http://goo.gl/DG2YGQ
Smooth-On" brand "Dragon Skin" liquid rubber
CVS Ultra-Soft Silicone Earplugs Antimicrobial Protection
Grafix "Dura-lar" polyester film in CLEAR
Moormedical Adhesive foam 1/4"x6"x72" rolle #09237
Moisture Chamber Retention Goggles http://www.tecfen.com/medical/ophthal/dry.html
Curad x-large 2x4" Plastic bandages
Walgreens Clear Water Shield Bandages
Nexcare Knee and Elbow Bandages. Latex free.
Pac-Kit 1-475 Woven Bandage, 4-1/2" Length x 2" Width, Large (Box of 25)
Habitat Monitor XXL Auto-Fill Humidifier with Digital Controls - auto fill humidifier
The most effective (and actually cheapest) solution seems to be a combination of the single moisture chamber with a coating over the foam. The foam on this thing http://goo.gl/DG2YGQ drives me crazy - it's itchy and makes my skin very irritated. But it's one of the few that's big enough not to creep into my big deep set eye.
So I decided to try coating it with silicone. I found "Smooth-On" brand "Dragon Skin" liquid rubber. I actually bought this with the hopes of molding my own custom fitted moisture chambers for regular classes, but that hasn't gone so well do the thin consistency before curing. So instead, I dipped the foam in and let it dry about 3 times. It stuck great to the foam, and made a nice smooth surface. The ugly patch does not look any different than it did originally. And it added a bit more surface area to hold the patch in place. The downside - the patch is thicker so I can't put glasses over it (couldn't really before either).
CVS Ultra-Soft Silicone Earplugs Antimicrobial Protection are my next find. This is the squishy ear plugs you buy for swimming. I can mush this onto the dragon skin layer, or directly onto foam, and form it to my face so that there is a perfect contour. It's also a bit sticky, so that helps even more with a seal and to prevent sliding. On the inside of sunglasses it's hard to see. But it's pretty gross looking on regular glasses or eye patches - so I try to use thin strips of it.
Grafix "Dura-lar" polyester film in CLEAR is my newest toy. This is very thin plastic that you can find in booklets or sheets from art stores online. It comes in a few different thicknesses, so I bought a bunch of pads to try then all out. This could be good if you are trying to make your own moisture chambers for regular glasses. I had hoped to use this with the dragon skin to make my own patches, but I haven't figured out a good way to get the dragon skin (or much else for that matter) to stick. So instead I tried making a much larger patch, with no rim or padding at all. I'm actually pretty pleased with the result. Despite being much bigger, it's much more subtle than the huge ugly moisture chambers (which ALWAYS results in little kids in Walmart coming up and saying "Why are you wearing an eye patch? You are like a pirate. Arrrrrrrr."). It's not as irritating to my skin around the edge and is much more clean than the moisture chambers. and if I replace the nose piece off my regular glasses with a tiny piece of ear silicone, I can wear my prescription glasses and hide the patch even more. Not a perfect seal, due mostly to the injuries to my face, but with a little ear silicone to fill in the gaps, it's an improvement.
Moormedical Adhesive foam 1/4"x6"x72" roll #09237. I actually haven't used this for anything yet, but it's got the same type of material as the moisture chamber protection shields - so I know it's soft and non irritating. If I can figure out a good way to cut it. I think this would work great for homemade chambers using the Dura-lar, for in home use mostly.
Nothing stays on at night except bandages, so my go to bandage right now is Curad x-large 2x4" Plastic bandages. The smaller 2x3" ones someone recommended here were just not big enough for my deep set eyes, so these 2x4" are an improvement. I do put antihistamine cream on immediately before applying the bandage - partially because I'm allergic to adhesive, and partially because some bandages are crazy sticky and the extra oil fixes that. I also tape around the outside a bit and over the top for extra moisture retention since I think these are technically breathable. Hard to tell, but they ARE latex free.
Walgreens Clear Water Shield Bandages are also latex free. They don't fit my eye (2x3" is too small), but they are nicely waterproof and let a bit more light in.
Pac-Kit 1-475 Woven Bandage, 4-1/2" Length x 2" Width, Large (Box of 25). Do not say latext free.
Nexcare Knee and Elbow Bandages. Latex free.
Habitat Monitor XXL Auto-Fill Humidifier with Digital Controls - auto fill humidifier. Awesome if you can't get a whole house humidifier and have a possible water line nearby from a sink.
So I've been experimenting with other creative solutions. I haven't found any perfect fixes, but I did want to list the things I've tried, possibly for people who don't need as perfect of a seal as I do. I should clarify - if my moisture chamber is not completely foggy, then it's not enough of a seal. Luckily I have only 1 dry eye, so I can manage (i.e. drive and function ok) with one foggy eye.
Here is the short list:
Moisture chamber (single): http://goo.gl/DG2YGQ
Smooth-On" brand "Dragon Skin" liquid rubber
CVS Ultra-Soft Silicone Earplugs Antimicrobial Protection
Grafix "Dura-lar" polyester film in CLEAR
Moormedical Adhesive foam 1/4"x6"x72" rolle #09237
Moisture Chamber Retention Goggles http://www.tecfen.com/medical/ophthal/dry.html
Curad x-large 2x4" Plastic bandages
Walgreens Clear Water Shield Bandages
Nexcare Knee and Elbow Bandages. Latex free.
Pac-Kit 1-475 Woven Bandage, 4-1/2" Length x 2" Width, Large (Box of 25)
Habitat Monitor XXL Auto-Fill Humidifier with Digital Controls - auto fill humidifier
The most effective (and actually cheapest) solution seems to be a combination of the single moisture chamber with a coating over the foam. The foam on this thing http://goo.gl/DG2YGQ drives me crazy - it's itchy and makes my skin very irritated. But it's one of the few that's big enough not to creep into my big deep set eye.
So I decided to try coating it with silicone. I found "Smooth-On" brand "Dragon Skin" liquid rubber. I actually bought this with the hopes of molding my own custom fitted moisture chambers for regular classes, but that hasn't gone so well do the thin consistency before curing. So instead, I dipped the foam in and let it dry about 3 times. It stuck great to the foam, and made a nice smooth surface. The ugly patch does not look any different than it did originally. And it added a bit more surface area to hold the patch in place. The downside - the patch is thicker so I can't put glasses over it (couldn't really before either).
CVS Ultra-Soft Silicone Earplugs Antimicrobial Protection are my next find. This is the squishy ear plugs you buy for swimming. I can mush this onto the dragon skin layer, or directly onto foam, and form it to my face so that there is a perfect contour. It's also a bit sticky, so that helps even more with a seal and to prevent sliding. On the inside of sunglasses it's hard to see. But it's pretty gross looking on regular glasses or eye patches - so I try to use thin strips of it.
Grafix "Dura-lar" polyester film in CLEAR is my newest toy. This is very thin plastic that you can find in booklets or sheets from art stores online. It comes in a few different thicknesses, so I bought a bunch of pads to try then all out. This could be good if you are trying to make your own moisture chambers for regular glasses. I had hoped to use this with the dragon skin to make my own patches, but I haven't figured out a good way to get the dragon skin (or much else for that matter) to stick. So instead I tried making a much larger patch, with no rim or padding at all. I'm actually pretty pleased with the result. Despite being much bigger, it's much more subtle than the huge ugly moisture chambers (which ALWAYS results in little kids in Walmart coming up and saying "Why are you wearing an eye patch? You are like a pirate. Arrrrrrrr."). It's not as irritating to my skin around the edge and is much more clean than the moisture chambers. and if I replace the nose piece off my regular glasses with a tiny piece of ear silicone, I can wear my prescription glasses and hide the patch even more. Not a perfect seal, due mostly to the injuries to my face, but with a little ear silicone to fill in the gaps, it's an improvement.
Moormedical Adhesive foam 1/4"x6"x72" roll #09237. I actually haven't used this for anything yet, but it's got the same type of material as the moisture chamber protection shields - so I know it's soft and non irritating. If I can figure out a good way to cut it. I think this would work great for homemade chambers using the Dura-lar, for in home use mostly.
Nothing stays on at night except bandages, so my go to bandage right now is Curad x-large 2x4" Plastic bandages. The smaller 2x3" ones someone recommended here were just not big enough for my deep set eyes, so these 2x4" are an improvement. I do put antihistamine cream on immediately before applying the bandage - partially because I'm allergic to adhesive, and partially because some bandages are crazy sticky and the extra oil fixes that. I also tape around the outside a bit and over the top for extra moisture retention since I think these are technically breathable. Hard to tell, but they ARE latex free.
Walgreens Clear Water Shield Bandages are also latex free. They don't fit my eye (2x3" is too small), but they are nicely waterproof and let a bit more light in.
Pac-Kit 1-475 Woven Bandage, 4-1/2" Length x 2" Width, Large (Box of 25). Do not say latext free.
Nexcare Knee and Elbow Bandages. Latex free.
Habitat Monitor XXL Auto-Fill Humidifier with Digital Controls - auto fill humidifier. Awesome if you can't get a whole house humidifier and have a possible water line nearby from a sink.