after gland expression-gook keeps coming out?

[jenny2008]

dryasadessert-does your doc know you use the paddle to express your glands? does it help you get more stuff out of your glands? is there any risk of infection by putting that in your eye yourself/??? thanks..

[dryasadesert]

he knows and wasnt concerned about it as long as I cleaned it with alcohol before use and didnt press crazy hard.

[irish eyes]

I would like to think I could trust myself with a Mastrata paddle but I think I would end up putting it in my eye!

My consultant is against expressing the lids; he said that there is little point if they just fill up again and he doesn't think it breaks the cycle of inflammation. My previous consultant (now retired) said it was essential so that's why I started with it. I still don't know who to believe but I practise it anyway although try not to traumatise the glands too much. I found that doing it daily was excessive and my lis were very puffy and sore.

[jenny2008]

Irish--i go to a doc now who expresses them hard.. although i have been to way more docs who say there is no point to express them as they clog right away.. ahhhh

[irish eyes]

Jenny - isn't it so frustrating? I try to visualise excess oil production causing a blockage if I don't express the glands. If I leave things as they are, is the oil still building up `behind the scenes'? When I first started expressing my glands, the oil was actually in hard clumps - and very difficult to secrete through the gland openings. I would hate my eyes to return to that position and I fear they might if I didn't have a go at getting rid of some of the gunk myself. Sorry for the unattractive description but I'm sure you are familiar with it all.

[jenny2008]

yes doing the compress helps.. but sometimes it still builds up-actually in my case it always builds back up-but at least i have a few weeks where i feel semi better-i have sjogrens too so my eyes are always somewhat dry..