Tranquileyes make morning vision blurry

[Bojax]

A little bit about me. Due to ptosis surgery in my teens, my left eye does not close all the way at night. I have tried everything to correct this problem. Taping, gels, ointments, drops, and even a home-made mask with velcro straps. Nothing has worked... So I made the $50 investment in tranquil eyes with high hopes. Unfortunately, #1 - they don't seem to help the dry eye, as I wake up in the middle of the night and feel that same familiar scratchy pain on my cornea, and #2 they actually make the vision in my eye worse in the morning.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm thinking that the compression on the eyeball during the night actually deforms the shape of the eye. It can be as much as 3 or 4 hours before my full vision comes back. I've only had the Tranquileyes for a few days, so I'm not entirely ready to give up on them. Just wondered if anybody else had similar problems?

Thanks.

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi there & welcome! Sorry to hear about the lid closure problems. It's a very frustrating thing to deal with.

Couple of thoughts about your tranquileyes experience so far...

First, in my personal experience it can take a lot more than just a few days to see the benefits, so (assuming you can resolve the vision issue) I would try and give it some more time. Eye Eco recommends 3 weeks as a reasonable trial period. When I got started I don't remember noticing any particular difference the first few times. But over time, I noticed a big difference and now, when I don't use it, my right eye feels awfully gritty in the morning.

Second, re the blur... Do you sleep on your back, side, or front?

It is certainly possible for it to be pressing against your eye enough to cause some residual blur in the morning. I've had that happen before when I left Thermoeyes in overnight (it stiffens after cooling) and then shifted to my side... the pressure can give a little temporary astigmatism.

Fitting of tranquileyes varies a lot from individual to individual, based on eye anatomy and so on. If it's pressing against your eyes, my first suggestions would be (1) Try it one night without the moisture pads and see if you still get the blur. If you don't, and you want to use the moisture pads, then... (2) Loosen up the strap as far as it will go. You can also get a longer strap for it. If that's not enough, (3) Try a thinner pad. The Thermopads that come with the Thermoeyes are one option. There was a thread here somewhere where users discussed using some other types of pads, I'll try and find it.

[kitty]

The same thing happened to me with the Tranquil Eyes. Rebecca sent me thinner pads and the blurred vision resolved.

[Bojax]

Thanks so much, both of you, for replying! This board is really great! I had no idea there was so much info on the net until I discovered the word "lagopthalmos." Once I had a name for my problem, I found a ton of great stuff.

Anyway, just wanted to report that last night I had some success. What I did was totally remove the moisture pads. Then I placed the lower edge of the outer foam against the lower part of my upper left lid (I only have lagopthalmos in my left eye). To my surprise, this held the eye shut quite well! There was enough tension to hold the lid closed and, because I'd removed the pad, there was nothing pressing against the upper part of the eye. It worked even when I turned my head side to side during sleep. No blurred vision, and my eye felt fantastic this morning!

I'll have to see if I can keep getting this result, but I'm certainly encouraged!

The blurred vision thing was weird though. It happened to me even after a brief, half-hour nap. The weird thing is that I was using the moisture pads (using warm water) on BOTH eyes at the same tension, laying on my back. Why would only my left eye be blurred? And it was really bad blurring too! I couldn't see properly out of that eye until late that night, so it stayed pretty blurry for at least six hours!

Anyway, thanks again for your responses!

[Guest]

Bojax

Good to hear that your new strategy is working.

I must admit I wasn't fussed with Tranquil Eyes either when I first tried them. I have persevered and wear them everynight since about July of last year and now I love them, I don't bother with the insert anymore, just the Tranquil Eyes.

Have you tried a nighttime gel as well, you MAY find that this COULD help with your night time dryness. Fortunately to my knowledge, I don't have your condition but I and many others would not get through the night without the thicker gels.

Just a thought

Ian.

[Bojax]

I have tried almost every ointment and gel known to man!

In fact, I was really surprised and delighted to find people posting on these forums that the typical nighttime ointment (50% mineral oil, 50% petrolatum) is irritating to them. I have found these oily ointments absolutely intolerable! They may protect the cornea, but they leave me feeling the next day like I got a black eye. My eyelid swells and the oiliness does not wash out of my eye fully for a long time.

And yet, every time I go to an eye doctor about my problem, they say: have you tried Refresh PM, Lacrilube, etc? Ughhhhhh

The one that does work great is Genteal Gel. The only problem is it doesn't last a whole night. You have to get up several times during the night to reapply it and, if you don't, you get the old scratched cornea again.

The good news is the goggles held my eyelid shut again last night. Has anyone seen this or tried a headband device for holding the lid shut?

http://www.guldenophthalmics.com/ccp...t&cat=&catstr=

[Lucy]

Bojax, you can actually tape your eye shut at night, although you'd do this as an emergency or experimental situation. Medical tape will do the trick. I'm just throwing this out there for anyone reading this thread and wondering what they could do to try closing their eye(s) during the night. A bandaid could be used, also.

Now, I promise you taking the tape off in the morning isn't a good feeling, but the taping can give some relief. Prior to my having Tranquileyes, and if my cloth face masks weren't to be found, I'd put some ointment/gel in my eye and do the taping and off to sleep.
Lucy

PS. I wouldn't advise duct tape.

[Silverlady]

Tried it

Bojax,
I don't think there is much of anything I haven't tried. I wish I could say that the goggles really were great, but I found them to be extremely uncomfortable. The foam wasn't soft and it irritated my skin. I also tried the band that came with it and it would not stay in place on my face when I slept. I wouldn't waste my money on it. Wish I hadn't .

Billye

[Bojax]

Well, after two weeks of using TranquilEyes, I must say they have helped quite a bit. I actually have not been using them wet, but I cut one of the pads in half and that did seem to get rid of the blurry eye problem I was having. They are not a perfect solution, but they do hold my eyelid shut pretty well and are more comfortable than other things I've tried - especially if I wrap another mask or bandanna around the goggles to apply a bit more pressure. I'm also able to sleep on my side without any problems and the mask stays on well (although I can see how someone who really tosses and turns might have problems).

I would like to see velcro straps on the mask rather than the rather weak and hard to adjust strap that is there now. Velcro is much, much easier to adjust and offers more choice in how tight you want the mask to be. And a tighter fit would help with people who toss and turn.

All in all, I'm happy with them though - they are certainly a better option than tape or ointment.

[calli66]

I know what you mean about the strap. After mine got stretched out, the adjusters wouldn't hold it--I ended up just tying a funky knot and trying different lengths till I found what worked.

C66

[Rebecca Petris]

Suggestion - jot down any thoughts you have about modifications that could make Tranquileyes more user-friendly. We're going to have a dry eye chat session soon with Suzanne Davison, who invented it and runs Eye Eco. I am sure she would be very interested to hear all your thoughts.

[Guest]

Rebecca

I love the tranquil eyes as you know but what would make them better is a better adhesive that hold the pads in place.

I wear mine every night and they only last a couple of 3-4 weeks and then the pad is all over the place and the glue comes off.

Maybe a second model where the pad is permanently fixed to the goggle somehow and can be cleaned each day - just a thought.

Also the little clip holding the strap is not particularly useful, both of mine have broken off so I have tied a knot in each side of the strap - this seems to be working.

Otherwise, fantastic product and I am happy with it as it is but if something could be done about the adhesive and pads falling off I would be a happier bunny.

Cheers

Ian

[Silverlady]

No change for me

I love this product just as is. I'd hate to see anything done to this soft band. I've had to sleep in some stiff straps and they are not comfortable. The stiff ones cut the tops of the ear area. When you have slept in these things for 2+ years and been thru various "upgrades" (some that worked and some that didn't), I have seen how and why they are made like they are. Anything hard in the temple area gets very uncomfortable when you are a side sleeper. The side of your head gets sore. And velcro gets caught in long hair. It is just very difficult to keep a goggle soft enough to enjoy sleeping in. There will always be things about these goggles that people don't like, but I for one, like it just like it is.

Billye

[Bojax]

I'm confused SilverLady... Didn't you say a few posts up that you hated the TranquilEyes goggles and wished you hadn't wasted money on them? Or were you talking about a different product?

[Bojax]

Very sorry Silverlady, I reread your post and saw you were talking about the Gulden goggles.