Moist heat and infection

[RobLIC]

Hi all. Many of us use moist heat to loosen MG secretions. I recently doubled the amount of time I do it and am now fighting a nasty bacterial infection in both eyes with serious inflammation. Wondering if anyone else has ever had the prescribed moist heat environment actually make matters worse? There's logic on both sides of this argument - it sure does seem like an environment that would allow bacteria to thrive! Thanks, Rob

[Guest]

So far, I've been ok with the moist heat thing...

I use freshly boiled water in a small Tupperware container to apply heat to my lids via steam. Maybe having a sterile source of moist heat helps?? who knows... I only steam my lids for 5 minutes, then use a q-tip dipped in the still-hot water to express the glands. I don't wipe away the expressed oil like dr latkany describes in his book tho, because I am concerned that I might "contaminate" my eyeball if I accidentally touch it and cause an infection.

Back in the summer when my eyes were crazy red all the time, the heat treatments made things worse, so I quit.

I restarted the heat treatments a few weeks ago when my eyes were no longer so red and inflamed - I had much better results.

Now that my eyes are only a tad pink, or even white sometimes, the heat treatments help quite a bit.

[Guest]

Do you use a moist washcloth to apply the heat?? If so, do you use a fresh cloth each time? or do you re-use the same cloth? I was thinking that re-use of the same cloth would increase the chances of bacterial infection...

[dave25]

Hi all. Many of us use moist heat to loosen MG secretions. I recently doubled the amount of time I do it and am now fighting a nasty bacterial infection in both eyes with serious inflammation. Wondering if anyone else has ever had the prescribed moist heat environment actually make matters worse? There's logic on both sides of this argument - it sure does seem like an environment that would allow bacteria to thrive! Thanks, Rob

Sorry to hear that Rob. Sometimes I wonder whether the heat from showers would be adequate enough to properly loosen the glands. You are definitely right about moist heat creating a good environment for bacteria. I used to use warm washcloth compresses and now I use the orange heating pads from the dry eye shop. I think the orange pads are more convenient and work just as well, at least for me.

[ricmerry]

Do you use a moist washcloth to apply the heat?? If so, do you use a fresh cloth each time? or do you re-use the same cloth? I was thinking that re-use of the same cloth would increase the chances of bacterial infection...

I've seen disposable lint free wash clothes used in hospitals. I actually briefly looked for some of these today while I was out and about.
I think it would be more convenient and easier than regular wash cloths...but harder on the landfill.
I Googled "disposable lint free dry washcloth" and found many options.

[ringo]

As many of us are using Restasis and/or other immunosuppressive medications in the eye, extreme care should be taken with what goes near the eyes ( and that is including pillow covers or even occasional touch with unsterile hands or tips of bottles of eye drops, or massaging the eyelids, etc.)

It is quite hard to maintain awareness of this fact, as dry eye often makes you touch the eyes or the area near them unknowingly. I constantly disinfect my hands or wash them and take care with whatever comes near my eyes, but I still worry about potential infection.

I shared this with my doctor, and he advised that I keep with me a tube of Fucithalmic ( its kind of antiseptic/antibiotic for eyes) and in case I think something contaminated my eye to instill a drop or two, though he said hat does not guarantee stopping an infection. He laso advised me to touch or if needed rub the eye only with sterile tissues, even when I wash my face ( i dont use towels any more , just the paper tissues). So i always try to keep clean tissues around as well.

My point is that there are so many other possible reasons for your infection besides the heat treatment. I would think the heat treatment is potentially unlikely to cause bacterial infection.

[RobLIC]

Everyone - SAAG especially - thanks for the excellent thoughts here. Sometimes I forget that circumstances (redness) suggest you might back off a little bit, and I'm afraid I made things worse.

Dave, there's a lot of research (particularly by Don Korb) about the degree of temperature and length of time necessary to melt meibum and get it flowing. When I saw him, he said 30 minutes 2x a day was necessary, 10 wouldn't do much for me. It's obviously case specific.

I also have "complicated feelings" about the orange pad vs. the rice baggy (yeesh, and I need to get a life ) .... The pad is a lot more convenient, and I suspect more sanitary than the rice bag. But it's not good at fitting the contours of your eye, so I doubt it's doing as effective a job loosening the meibum in the more temporal and nasal glands of your lids. The rice bag, on the other hand, fits your face.

Guys, thanks again for all the input. Rob