Quartz goggles and nighttime dryness

[ryanross]

My dry eye problems seem to happen mostly at night time. During the day my eyes rarely bother me (redness still persists, but my eyes usually don't FEEL incredibly dry). Nighttime, however, is when my symptoms kick in. I wake up every morning with my eyes extremely dry and red. I recently got the quartz goggles to try and help this problem, but they don't seem to help. I have used them with gel drops and nighttime lubricants, but my I still wake up with my eyes red and dry. The goggles are usually wet by morning time, so I don't understand why my eyes are still getting so dry. I believe that my nighttime symptoms are what causes most of my eyes problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[calli66]

It's possible that you are allergic to some ingredient in the gel or ointment.

Other than that, you may have some chronic inflammation, which causes what I call "the products of inflammation"---debris, cells with irritant-receptors. There's a proper term for it, but I don't know what that is.

Anyway, during the night there isn't much tear activity, and therefore nothing to dilute or wash away the bad stuff so it just sits there, causing more inflammation.

Hopefully somebody can come up with a better answer.

It's good, though, that you still feel comfortable during the day.

Calli

[Rebecca Petris]

I wake up every morning with my eyes extremely dry and red.

Really need to explore this with a good doctor.

Are you getting erosions at all at night/early morning? (Usually marked by stabbing pain and some blurring of vision.)

Some other possibilities to check out:

1) Are you allergic to something you're exposed to only at night. Consider non allergenic pillow, and changing what you launder your pillowcase with.

2) Blepharitis? it's one of the things that sometimes is a match for mostly-at-night dry eye. If you're not already, maybe try good lid hygiene and mild warm compress just before bed.

3) Agree with Calli re: allergy to a lubricant. Some people are very sensitive even to the ubiquitous carbomethylcellulose or hydroxypropylmethylcellulose drops.

As an experiment, you might try taping your lids shut for 1 night (try Micropore paper tape - it's in most drugstores) without using any lubricant... see if it's better or worse that way.

[ryanross]

Thanks for the replies. I don't think that I am allergic to the eye products, because I have used multiple different types, and I have tried using non at all, all coming out with the same results. As for blepheritis, the first optometrist that I went to said that I had blepharitis, but the following opthamologist that I saw said that he doesn't think so, and he is suppose to be an eye disease specialist (or claims to be), so I was taking his word for it. He also said that my corneas are looking healthy, and that this isn't really hurting my eyes is any way except for them being dry and veiny. The whole situation seems strange because I just woke up one random morning like this about 7 months ago, and nothing seems to help it. I've started using restasis (i've heard both good and bad things about it), so hopefully that will help in the long run if this is due to inflammation, but for now im going to try taping my eyes shut to see if that helps.

[calli66]

Hope you feel better soon.

Sometimes it takes awhile to figure out what triggers the irritation, and it's hard to advise, because the reasons seem to be different for each person.

How about your pillow and bedding? Are there any fragrances in detergents or fabric softeners that you are sensitive to?

Sometimes when my eyes are bad because of pollens or low grade blepharitis, I rinse them occasionally with unpreserved saline solution (Unisol). Washes out the pollen and debris and calms things down.

Calli

[EyeFubar]

This is a story almost identical to mine. I have been diagnosed with corneal errosion but so far the Dr's I've seen haven't been able to offer anything that is full proof. Guess that will never be.

I've replaced my tranquil eyes with the Onyx to see if there is any improvement. It's only been a week, but so far so good. I too still wake up with dry eyes and usually once a night will re-gel with Genteal gel. No ointment like a lanolin based works for me.

At 40 years of age I now fear the winter. Not for blizzards or snow delays at airports, but my dry eyes at night. I fear the waking up in the severe pain that most here are familiar with. So far in my life, it's the worst pain I've experienced, and that's saying something.

I use a humidifier every night starting in the fall all through the winter. Our heat vent in the bedroom is completely shut and of course no ceiling fan.

Even with these precautions I average 3 tears a season. That's up from 1 tear about 5 years ago. Once I have a tear, the pain goes away in a day, but the blurriness stays for about 3. I dread if I ever had a tear in each eye the same night...definately not going to work that day

[EileenL]

When my eyes are really bad, I find lying on my back, no pillow, and applying drops until the whole eye socket is moist, helps a lot.

I am a die hard stomach sleeper. It took 9 months of pregnancy to teach me that I could sleep on my back and find some night time relief from dry eye. The drops have a much harder time dripping out that way.
Good luck finding your magic bullet

[EyeFubar]

Well crap. Last night I had a a corneal tear in my right eye. That is with Genteal night time gel, humidifier (55%) and the Onyx goggles. I don't know what else I can do. Maybe I should move to Florida? Maybe that would help.

[EileenL]

"Last night I had a a corneal tear "
Ouch! I am not familiar with what that is. If they are increasing it sounds like the cornea is becoming more fragile. Are you taking just as many measures in the day time as at night? If so have you considered the sclaral lense?

The greasy ointment can be irritating. What they help me with is preventing chapped eyes and lids. Instead of using a lot frequently perhaps a dab ocasionally would act like a lip gloss for the eye and protect it.
The ointments themselves can harbor bacteria and attract dust so I can see how they might cause more problems for some folks. Oh yeah and even if you don't want the crease in the eye, I do recommend smearing a dab on the lids to act as a moisture barrier. All these drops in the winter really make my eyes very chapped.
Eileen

[Rebecca Petris]

Well crap. Last night I had a a corneal tear in my right eye. That is with Genteal night time gel, humidifier (55%) and the Onyx goggles. I don't know what else I can do. Maybe I should move to Florida? Maybe that would help.

If it were me, I'd use tape (or maybe even ask dr. for bandage lens) until things were under better control and/or I found some more effective combination. From the sound of it Tranquileyes might be a better bet than Onyix for you.

Do you have ABMD? If you don't know, ask your dr.