does lacrimal glands secretion goes to zero after afew years of dry eye?

[bp77]

I have dry eye and bleph close to 2 years now and i feel much more dry now than befor. I have 2 plugs too. Does my lacrimal gland makes less tears now than last year without any restaises? Will i even have less tears next year? Is there any way to prevent this? any idea? thanks

[Rebecca Petris]

Totally an individual thing - there is no rule. Zero lacrimal secretion is really pretty unusual though - mostly either severe auto-immune or damage from reaction to a medical treatment (e.g. SJS or GvHD). And people can get into a pretty bad state and yet still recover to much better tear production. I wouldn't make any assumptions about progression - whether clinically or symptoms.

[Mawsky]

Thanks Rebecca for the encouragement, I have nearly zero tear production myself, didn't know it until I tried to cry one day, unable to produce at least enough tear to fill my eye or run down, this is pretty scary when you realize it, and overwhelming too, I imagine never being able to shed a tear again, and it causes a bit of anxiety for sure. I so far test neg to sjogrens and have not had a injury or a known medication that could have caused it. I'm on restasis also, and haven't seen much improvement, but have improved from my first bout with this several months ago, it is good to know that people do get better.

[Guest]

Thanks Rebecca for the encouragement, I have nearly zero tear production myself, didn't know it until I tried to cry one day, unable to produce at least enough tear to fill my eye or run down, this is pretty scary when you realize it, and overwhelming too

My eyes were like that in summer of 2009 - if I cried, my eyes would just get freakishly red - the left eye had no tears at all when crying - the right eye had the odd one, but nowhere near normal - very scary for sure.

However, they've improved since then - in fact, if I cry now, tears will stream down my face like crazy (both eyes!) So there's hope!!

[bp77]

Thanks guys for the reply, how about the basal tears?

[y-gwair]

It would depend on what is causing the dryness, also on environmental factors that affect evaporation etc. Even with autoimmune disease, dryness probably fluctuates depending on the degree of inflammatory activity, which can interfere with gland function without necessarily destroying the glands completely.

[Guest]

Thanks guys for the reply, how about the basal tears?

Those have improved significantly since that summer also... summer '09 for me was horrible - I couldn't read, couldn't watch TV, couldn't even handle cooking, work would not have been possible - basically, my eyes were so dry that if I dared concentrate on anything, my eyes would be in awful discomfort.

Today: I watch maybe 2 hours of TV per day, use the computer for 2-3 hours per day (with Work Rave reminding me to blink every 15 seconds), cook, work 20 hours per week, read the newspaper every morning etc. That's a huge improvement for me.

I still have to use all the usual treatments, goggles etc, but at least I can function somewhat decently now.

[bp77]

I am so happy for u, I hope u get even better.

[Mawsky]

I agree, happy to hear of so much improvement, gives me hope too. I have been so concerned about the lack of tears, you know the first doc who saw me for this, and I was dry as a bone, said he felt that this would just go away some day, I've been holding on to that ever since, seems like one day my eyes became horrible and and no one knows why.