Rice Baggy made my eyes worse

[Francesco]

Hi,

i've been doing warm compresses with the rice baggy for several weeks and i noticed that my eyes are even more red now ...i guess warm is not good for an already damaged ocular surface.....by the way i was using it warm (30 sec. microwave) not extremely hot . bye

[Rebecca Petris]

Francesco have you checked with your doctor about the increased redness?

There are situations where warm compresses (especially if applied frequently) can irritate, but I would expect it to irritate the lids not the eyes. I don't know of any reason why the presence or absence of ocular surface damage would make a difference to the helpfulness of a compress, since the compress is a treatment for the MGs. You may want to post a question to Dr Latkany about this though, perhaps he will have some idea why the redness has increased.

[Francesco]

Hi Rebecca,

thanks for the quick answer....well yes, I know that warm compresses help the glands...and they helped in my case too but i don't know maybe cold is like a vasoconstrictor while warm can make other vessels come out...the problem is they didn't go away hehe .......I dont know what to say...anyway I'll ask my Dr...Thanks!

[rubyslippers]

Heat can increase inflammation. When my eyes were very inflammed as a reaction from medication, I was not allowed to use any heat at all as my doctor said it would make the redness and pain worse and slow my healing. He did have me use ibuprofen and that helped significantly.

[NYer]

No heat for Rosacea!

There are situations where warm compresses (especially if applied frequently) can irritate, but I would expect it to irritate the lids not the eyes. I don't know of any reason why the presence or absence of ocular surface damage would make a difference to the helpfulness of a compress,

Rosacea!! Ocular rosacea affects not only the skin of the lids, but the eyes themselves (hence the red veiny eyes in addition to the red lids). Heat aggravates rosacea eyes. That's why Dr. Latkany suggests that those of us with rosacea do NOT use the hot compresses and, instead, just let the water in the shower hit your closed eyes for a bit and then do the gland compressions when you get out of the shower.

[Francesco]

thanks but i dont have rosacea...yes I know you shouldn t do them if you have that!

[Plat]

How do you know it is not Ocular Rosacea. The opthmologist can not really tell most time. Have you ever tried Tetracyclines? I was told it may be Ocular Rosacea also. It may be? Ok thanks doc, please see link.

http://rosacea-research.org/wiki/ind...._Mannis%2C_MD

Q: Why is it so hard for some ophthalmologists to recognize ocular rosacea? Aren't there any medical tests to verify this diagnosis? What ocular symptoms most commonly suggest that ocular rosacea is present?

A: Well, the most common ocular symptom is the sensation of burning and redness of the white of the eye between the lids - a sort of 'racing stripe' on the front of the eye. These patients experience fairly significant burning and tearing sensations. Unfortunately there is no current test that clearly diagnoses ocular rosacea. Our lab has, for the last two years, been working on exactly that problem. We are investigating patients who have rosacea and analysing their tears for a variety of substances, including proteins, lipids, and mucopolyasaccharides. We're trying to find single substances which are present in rosacea patients, which are not present in either normal patients or in patients with other types of ocular inflammation. If we can demonstrate that there is a factor in the tears of rosacea patients that is distinct from other patients, then we will succeed in determining a specific diagnostic test. But at the present time, it's pretty much a clinical diagnosis based on history and clinical findings. We have been very fortunate that the NRS has given us a very generous grant...we are working on this very intensively.

[Francesco]

thanks but i've been visited by some of the best Dry Eyes experts and so i trust them..anyway interesting!

[Plat]

Have you tried tetracyclines?

[Francesco]

well i'm also on Doxy so if i really have rosacea that should help...but again I have MGD and i'm fine with that already

[Plat]

How long have you been on Doxy? and sorry did Doxy help your MGD? If so how can you tell it helped, I am thinking of trying it again. I took Doxy for a couple of months and then off for a month and then on for two, but I think I should have stayed on it for 3 full months to see if it helped. Thanks

[Francesco]

I've been on Doxy 40mg a day for only 2 weeks; my Dr. said to take it for 1 month and see if it helps..i also read a study (that is also somewhere here on DEZ) that a low dosage can be as usefull as a higher one (100mg), and that it should start helping after 1 month. So I still have to wait 2 weeks and then call the Dr....if things improve i guess he might give me another month of it....

[Plat]

I hope that Doxy for 1 month will help you. If you don't see an improvement, talk to your doc and try to stay on it for 3 months. I have heard some say it helps in a month but most it takes longer. Please let me know how you do on it. I think the dosage you are on it the right dosage and I agree 100mg is no better, but I think you need at least 3 months if you don't see improvements right away. I got discouraged and quit at 2 months, But I can tell you I did see a difference in my skin and blepharitis is supposedly a skin condition.

http://www.optometric.com/article.aspx?article=70379

4. Start patients who have meibomitis on 50 mg a day of doxycycline. Start obese patients on 100 mg a day because doxycycline is a fat-soluble medication. Also, advise patients to apply warm compresses to their lids and to perform lid massages twice a day. Teach patients to heat and massage their lids by closing their eyes and using a warm washcloth to gently massage the eyelids for about 5 seconds, paying special attention to the lower lids. The heat increases blood flow to the lids, decreasing inflammation. The massage helps reduce stasis of oil within the meibomian glands. This stasis of oil within the meibomian glands is believed to stimulate the inflammatory response.

See these patients again in 3 months. By that time, they'll notice a reduction in morning symptoms. Once morning symptoms have abated, reduce the doxycycline dose by half, and taper it every 3 months until the patient is off the medication or, more typically, on the lowest possible maintenance dose. Patients who work outdoors or who are exposed to lots of sun may take minocycline instead of doxycycline (50 mg of doxycycline is equivalent to 100 mg of minocycline).

[Francesco]

hope it works yes....btw i was talking about this ...

http://www.druglib.com/abstract/yo/y..._20051200.html

[bernmee]

Thanks for those posts...I have been on Doxy 50mg for MGD and was hoping to see a more drastic change, my RCE's seem better but from one day to the next my MGD is either better or worse, I was going to ask about an increase in dose but I won't now.

Francesco, can you explain the figures given in link. I never understand how these numbers work...can you help me with this!

......TBUT (9.42 +/- 2.87 sec, 9.54 +/- 1.58 sec, p=0.726), Schirmer test (19.98 +/- 4.05 mm, 19.65 +/- 5.02 mm, p=0.624),....

Does anyone know what a "normal" TBUT is, or a "normal" Schirmie test?

Thanks,

Bernadette