Flucon Steroid eye drops

[Dotanne]

I am suffering dry eyes from Lasik treatment in October 2004. My Eye Dr has prescribed Flucon 0.1% drops (one drop 4 times a day). Looking in the fine print I see they contain benzalkonium chloride (0.1 mg /ml) as preservative. I read that this preservative is not good for dry eyes. However my eyes drive me nuts and I long for relief. I have queried the Dr but he is away till the 20th July. Please can someone tell me of their experience with steroid drops (my glands are OK but my eyes are dry and burn) - I don't want to get any worse.
I use Theratears in the day and Poly Gel (Alcon) (was using Visco Tears at night but read that Cetrimide preservative is not good long term) at night and sometimes in the day. I have just received my free samples of Dwelle and Dakrina so will be trying those.
I have had 2 lots of acupuncture and think I may have more tears (not instantly but several days later) but it wears off. I am going to keep up treatments every 2 weeks in hope that things will improve. Has anyone had success??
This website is so good - it is a little comfort to know that I am not the only one suffering. Has anyone started an email to warn of the hazards of Lasik surgery? I am thinking of tellling the Consumer Magazine about Lasik negatives too as everyone raves about it here. (Except me!!)
Cheers to all of you!!
Dotanne

[jcorbett]

Telling others about Lasik

In my experience, telling others doesn't do much good. I tell people of my problems and of others on this board. I give them the website information so they can read for themselves. And guess what? They go ahead and do the surgery anyway. I can't say I blame them, as it seems everybody I know who has had Lasik absolutely raves about it. In fact, that is one reason I had it. I knew so many people that absolutely LOVED it.
Marketing and word of mouth seems to drown us out.

[Lmchelle]

Dryness after Lasik

Other than here on this site, I seem to be the only person I know with a dryness problem after Lasik. I know it must happen alot, but it is odd that everyone else I personally know has had no problems. I guess I got the bad luck of the draw. When people ask me about Lasik, I tell them of my dry eyes, but I also tell them that I'm the only one I know that has it. When I talk to others who have had it, my first question is always - "do you use drops?" Every answer has been, "no - only the first couple weeks when they told me to". If only....

-Lori

[Dotanne]

I have 2 sons and a son in law that have had successful Lasik treatment for shortsightedness plus neighbours and others that said it was great - but for me..... it has virtually ruined my life. Thank goodness I am 60 and done fine up to now. Noone told me of the increased risk of dry eye because I was female and over 40. I would give anything to have the old glasses back and no discomfort. My husband has just had a successful cataract op and there is hope that when he has the other eye done he will be able to read and see in the distance without glasses. I have already managed to put 4 others off having Lasik, including another neighbour.
It is so good finding out more on this BB. It gives me the courage to carry on and hope that one day I will get relief. I live in New Zealand and would dearly love to know of anyone else with the same Lasik outcome here.

Dotanne

[Kyle]

I would give anything to have the old glasses back and no discomfort.
Dotanne

Wiser words were never spoken!
I would be careful of steroids all together. I was put on TobraDex and every dr I spoke with said not to use them more than a week.
Do you use Restasis? That seems to help me a little.
Hang in there. We're all praying for you..and each other.

[Lmchelle]

Do you use Restasis? That seems to help me a little.

Hi Kyle,

Does Restasis burn your eyes? I've been using it and am starting to skip days because of the burning. Some days it was so awful I'd rather have dry eyes and just dump more drops in.

I'd had such hopes too!

-Lori

[Kyle]

Lori,
Isn't it strange how we all seem to react differently to different things? None of the drops burn or irritate my eyes. I use Restasis, Theratears Gel and Refresh Plus. I tried Dwelle, but it just made my left eye run and run (with tears). I couldn't function like that, so I just stopped using it.
I'm trying to use the Genteal Gel right now, but I never can get it in my eyes!
It kind of blobs right onto my eyelashes and I try to push it in my eyes somehow.
I would say if Restasis bothers your eyes don't use it. sorry, maybe your doc can recommend something that might work for you better.
Kyle

[Lmchelle]

Hey Kyle,

Yes it is strange how we all react differently to medications. It seems the first time I used Restasis (when I just had some samples) my eyes didn't burn. Now that my insurance pays for it and I'm restarting it, they're burning like fire. Oh well. I'm not as bad off as a lot of people here. My eyes are dry as the desert most of the time, but drops make it liveable - most of the time. We'll see how the Dwelle works for me. I just ordered the samples. I love the Genteal Gel but can't find it here in Minneapolis. Many thanks go to Gaye for sending me an extra tube she had to tide me over until it comes back...hopefully!

-Lori

[Kyle]

Okay, two things...
How in the hell do you get Genteal into your eyes? Am I the only one that can't get it in? I feel like I am an expert at drops right now, so WHY am I having problems!? I even try to shake it up, but it is so thick it never drops in my eyes! What's the secret?
My hats off to Gaye too (from Virginia..yea!!) for sending me my Genteal too. A little angel in our midst I think.
Oh, and the second thing is, I only use the Restastis samples. I don't have insurance so I just call around and bug eye docs for samples over and over again. Maybe the bottled kind is a little different(?) If so, I'll stick to the samples!
Take care,
Kyle

[Lmchelle]

My method of getting drops into my eyes is actually pulling down my lower lid a bit and dropping the drop in there. Then blink, blink, blink...and hopefully I didn't put too much in so it globs out. My eyes are freaky about getting too close so the lower lid trick works the best for me.

Restasis is Restasis I'm sure. The samples look just like the prescription stuff. Individual little droppers. You know... the wasteful kinds where there is way more than one drop in them and you're expected to throw it away still full.

Yes - we do have an angel in our midst with Gaye. Actually I've seen quite a few angels on this board. The compassion shown to strangers here is quite amazing.

Time to squeeze out another drop of my flat tube of Genteal Gel and hit the sack. (I know there's another drop in it!)

-Lori

[jcorbett]

genteal

I pull down the lower lid and just squeeze some in. The tip of the applicator will usually touch my eyelid, that is the only way I can get it out. It is hard to control the amount, but practice makes perfect! My vision is usually a little blurry for several minutes, but as long as I am not reading....no big deal.

Another method would be to put some on your clean fingertip, pull down your lower lid, and just swipe it in your eye. I would do this if I were you, as you seem to have some sort of infection and you don't want it tranferrring to your other eye (if that is even possible to transfer the infection you have....I don't know). That is how I apply erythromycin. It is the only way I can do it without touching the applicator to my eye, and it is easier to control the amount this way.

[Kyle]

I use a Q-tip to apply my erythmycin..and I used to use one to apply the bacitrin too. That seems to work well. I look at it closely first to make sure it doesn't have any fly-away cotton on it (or if it does I take a dab of water and use it to secure the cotton down) and then I dab the antibiotic on the tip and use that to line my lids with. It works pretty well.

Lori, as far as the samples of Restasis go, you can re-use the sample bottles. I've had a ton of drs tell me to just use one drop in each eye and then stand the sample up in a shot glass or something. I use a shot glass and am sometimes able to have one sample last up to 3 days.
Hope that helps.

Thanks for the advice on the GenTeal. I'll try it tonight. And yes, I have to agree..there are many "angels" on this website. I didn't mean to leave others out. Diana, Jenny, Gaye, everyone it seems, has bent over backwards to help me out, send me samples, and give me words of wisdom. I don't know where I'd be right now if I hadn't found this site. I shudder to think.

[Gogo]

My research doctor told me that 5% of Lasik patients end up with dry eye. My problems started after cataract surgery. I had a reaction to the post operative medications. Tantamount to a chemical burn. My eye was never the same. The research doctor I found after the surgery told me "this happens more often than they tell you." He's an old fashion doctor just in the sense that he cares. I'm going for the second surgery but I'm in another part of California now so kaiser will be doing it. The new doctor is one that Dr. Sall referred me to because of his background. He seems good. Have good thoughts toward me on August 1. PLEASE

[Diter]

steroid

I am suffering dry eyes from Lasik treatment in October 2004. My Eye Dr has prescribed Flucon 0.1% drops (one drop 4 times a day). Looking in the fine print I see they contain benzalkonium chloride (0.1 mg /ml) as preservative. I read that this preservative is not good for dry eyes. However my eyes drive me nuts and I long for relief. I have queried the Dr but he is away till the 20th July. Please can someone tell me of their experience with steroid drops (my glands are OK but my eyes are dry and burn) - I don't want to get any worse.
I use Theratears in the day and Poly Gel (Alcon) (was using Visco Tears at night but read that Cetrimide preservative is not good long term) at night and sometimes in the day. I have just received my free samples of Dwelle and Dakrina so will be trying those.
I have had 2 lots of acupuncture and think I may have more tears (not instantly but several days later) but it wears off. I am going to keep up treatments every 2 weeks in hope that things will improve. Has anyone had success??
This website is so good - it is a little comfort to know that I am not the only one suffering. Has anyone started an email to warn of the hazards of Lasik surgery? I am thinking of tellling the Consumer Magazine about Lasik negatives too as everyone raves about it here. (Except me!!)
Cheers to all of you!!
Dotanne

Hi Dotanne

I've been on prednisone eyedrops. THEY ROCKED BABY
However some things to worry about them I guess... At least for the prednisone eyedrops there is a maximum limit of total drops you can use in a lifetime, if I have interpreted things the right way. It decreases thickness of something to do with your eye (dunno which part though). I thought I read somewhere a save max was 800 drops per eye (in the dosis I used that was).

I had to stop it because according to my eyedoc the eyepressure was becoming too high (25 or so, now back to 15/16). Damn I would love those drops back

Greetings

Chandler