Maybe some help!!!!!

[Alexandra]

Hi!!!

I am new here and maybe I can soon make a contribution to this forum.
Ive been suffering from dry eye for 1 year. It came from one day to another.
I am really unhappy about that because i am only 24 years old!

I probably suffer from a mild to moderate form. My doc told me that i dont produce enough lipid layer. Now, I cannot wear contacts anymore.

Sidefact: I used Diane35 contraception for 6 years.

Now, what I found: I live in Switzerland (Europe) and i found some place where they treat people with dry eyes with a eyebath from iodine-sulfur bath from a pours in south germany called "Bad wiessee".

I ve had already email contact with a doctor who does those bathes.

There are only 2 such bath centers in the german speakting parts (Austria, Switzerland and Germany) of Europe.

They made statistical scientifically based projects and they proved that this therapy which takes about 2.-3 weeks inproves the lipid layer and tear production for approx. 0.5 till 1 year in most of the patients!!!!

So this is my big hope for the summer!!!!

Maybe this will help you!!!

Take care!

[neil0502]

WOW!!!

Alexandra,

My wife and I are leaving in the middle of July for Europe. First, we go to France to meet with an eye doctor. Then ... we travel.

I love Switzerland.

They made statistical scientifically based projects and they proved that this therapy which takes about 2.-3 weeks inproves the lipid layer and tear production for approx. 0.5 till 1 year in most of the patients!!!!

Do you have any more information about these "statistical scientifically based projects" that proved the results?? I would like to send them to my doctor in America and to the doctor in France.

I looked at some information about the Spa:

http://service.tegernseertal.de/frei...schuere_gb.pdf

WOW (again)!!

I must do a little research.

Danke Vielmals!

Neil

[untkicker29]

wow, that sounds so promising. please post more info when you can.

[Supreme]

Hi yes i heard that they got thoose is Serbia to.

[Jessica Adams]

Please keep me posted

Yes please. Let us know how it goes for you. Germany is kin of far for me (I live in Central America) but I am willing to make the trip if this treatment can offer some relief from my condition: dry eyes due to lasik.

Bye.

[neil0502]

Skeptical ... as always ;-)

With absolutely no disrespect intended toward Alexandra, the spa, or its doctors, I am ... uh ... "moving rather slowly" on this one.

Because I'll be in that area, I will do a little research, but ... the magical curative powers of healing waters throughout the world get a lot of fanfare, but, personally, I've never seen any "proper" evidence that they're either safe OR effective, and you know me: I'm rather big on those things

In this case, I could find nothing on either PubMed or the broader Internet, though I have NOT searched in German.

I don't even know whether they propose to put these waters directly into eyes (sure looks that way, from Alexandra's post).

I'll try to reach out to the spa directly to see if they have anything further.

If I can gather anything, I'll surely post it here.

[neil0502]

Okay ... maybe I *am* getting somewhere....

It seems that the Spa uses "iontophoresis" to get iodine into the eye (nice, huh?).

If you look back at this post:

http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showt...=iontophoresis

I think you'll see that THIS IS what they're doing in the Spa that Alexandra posted.

I've forwarded this information on to my doc's.

Very in-te-res-ting....

[Alexandra]

More Infos to come soon!!!

Hi Everybody!

I will type the information I have on that bath thing as soon as I can.

Give me some time, Im really busy at the moment!! ;-) ... 1 Day

Take care!

Alex

[Alexandra]

hi!
okay, its quite hard for me to translate my text into english....

there were standardised interviews done:

The Survey was done by
PARACELSUS Society for iodine research in Bad Hall (Austria)
Phone Nr. 072 58 63 01 (Austria)

81 patients
76 from 81 said after the therapy that their eyes feel better
after a year they asked them again and
- 47% said that the positive effect stayed about 6 months
- 37,7% felt the positive effect even after 1 year
- 11,3 even more!

2/3 of the patients didnt need anymore eyedrops after the treatment
55% of them still didnt need the drops even after a year.

After that they write why they think its working. But I guess they dont really know why. Its a lot of blabla...

I must say, im also quite suspicious about this thing, but I ve asked the Doctor in Bad Wiessee (http://www.bad-wiessee.de/D/Jodschwefel/) if she found an improvement of the quality and quantity of her patients tears with dry-eye-tests. and she said, that she can determine differences.

So, since that this is my only hope, i will hope and check it out;-)

And I will sure tell you if it improved my eyes...

I will go there for two weeks in september.

I hope I could help you all! This forum is really nice, cause I can see that I am not alone with my problem!

And hey: There are other hopes around! And there WILL be a cure!
And since I am swiss and Novartis (our biggest hope) is a swiss company this WILL work!

Take care!!!!!!!

Alex

[neil0502]

I think it IS the same thing as I saw, Alex, and it IS very interesting.

I wish you good luck in September.

Who knows? I may see you there.

We will surely visit Switzerland ... I have a very good friend from Basel who now lives in Knoeringue, France. Yours is a BEAUTIFUL country!

And ... as always ... your English is SO much better than MY German

[Alexandra]

Hi Neil

Hi Neil!

When exactely are you visiting Switzerland?
Have you been zu Zurich? I come from Zurich, but I study in Fribourg (thats in the French part of Switzerland.

Are you considering on going to Bad Wiessee or is your vacation already fully planned?

And: Are you meeting an eye-doc in Switzerland for your dry eye?
The thing is, that compared to the US our doctors dont specialise on dry eye. There are only two doctors in Switzerland who are interested in this problem. And, they dont really know much about it... Thats quite depressing!

Thats the problem with our health care system: Everybody gets a really good care, but if someone needs speciall care you dont get it! Social thought: Everybody should het the same treatment... I think if you have enough money its nicer to have a dry eye in the US than in Switzerland

Anyways: visit me if you like!

Have a nice day!

Take care!

[neil0502]

I will respond to you in a private message, Alexandra.

I am a little afraid that people are beginning to yawn (Gähnen?)

[sazy123]

This must have escaped my attention somewhere down the line..

Is there anymore info on this? in english?

Neil: Is this exactly what they are doing at this treatment spa?:


http://bjo.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/89/1/40


Quote:
Originally Posted by LongHairedArticle
Iodide iontophoresis as a treatment for dry eye syndrome
J Horwath-Winter1, O Schmut1, E-M Haller-Schober1, A Gruber1 and G Rieger2
1 Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University, Graz, Austria
2 Paracelsus Society for Balneology and Iodine Research, Bad Hall, Austria


Correspondence to:
Jutta Horwath-Winter
Department of Ophthalmology, Auenbruggerplatz 4, A-8036 Graz, Austria; jutta.horwath@meduni-graz.at

Background/aims: Among the causes related to the development or perpetuation and aggravation of dry eye disease, oxidative reactions may have a role in the pathogenesis of this disorder. Antioxidants, such as iodide, have shown a strong effect in preventing the oxidative damage to constituents of the anterior part of the eye. In this clinical trial the effectiveness of iodide iontophoresis and iodide application without current in moderate to severe dry eye patients was compared.

Methods: 16 patients were treated with iodide iontophoresis and 12 patients with iodide application without current for 10 days. Subjective improvement, frequency of artificial tear application, tear function parameters (break up time, Schirmer test without local anaesthesia), vital staining (fluorescein and rose bengal staining) as well as impression cytology of the bulbar conjunctiva were evaluated before treatment, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after treatment.

Results: A reduction in subjective symptoms, frequency of artificial tear substitute application, and an improvement in certain tear film and ocular surface factors could be observed in both groups. A stronger positive influence was seen after application of iodide with current (iontophoresis), as observed in a distinct improvement in break up time, fluorescein and rose bengal staining, and in a longer duration of this effect compared with the non-current group. No significant change in Schirmer test results and impression cytology were observed in both groups.

Conclusions: Iodide iontophoresis has been demonstrated to be a safe and well tolerated method of improving subjective and objective dry eye factors in patients with ocular surface disease.

[neil0502]

This must have escaped my attention somewhere down the line..

Is there anymore info on this? in english?

Neil: Is this exactly what they are doing at this treatment spa?:


http://bjo.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/89/1/40

That's the stuff, Sazy, but ... I haven't been there yet. I've only worked with the French ophthalmologist, Baudouin, on a diagnosis. Other than the Doxy and the NSAID drops, he hasn't suggested any suitable or likely forms of treatment. He did, however, suggest that there was little harm--if nothing else--in trying the iontophoresis.

I need to get in touch with those people and see whether they can see, evaluate, and treat me ... or whether I should just get a massage at the spa and let the rest go ;-)

Take care,
Neil

[sazy123]

Ok thanks.

let me know what they say, and how much it costs.
I might see you there if it sounds good!

sx