What else is there?

[sparrow]

Just wondering......I've been on Restasis (2x per day) for about 2 years now, punctal plugs in both eyes, do rice bag compresses 3x per day, lid scrubs w/ ocusoft 2x per day, flaxseed oil, sleep w/ eye mask, and use Systane drops all day at least once an hour. My eyes are still uncomfortable most of the time, they water outside if it's cold or windy, looking at computer screen makes them sting if longer than 30 min (I'm a web developer to boot),. What else is out there? I go to my eye dr every 3 months and he hasn't come up w/ anything new to try for at least a year now. I don't have any other conditions (allergies, rosacea, etc.) it's just I don't produce enough tears (8 on the Schirmer in one eye and 14 in the other) and the ones I do have evaporate too quickly (7 on the TBUT). I have tried Lacriserts (couldn't ever put them in either w/ the inserter or my finger tip and it took my eye dr 20 minutes to actually get one into my eye so I could try it). What other drops are there? (besides the OTC genteal, Dwelle etc I've tried all of them) I don't have any corneal erosions or anything. Am I a candidate for a scheleral (sp) lens?

[sazy123]

Some other things that i have tried, none of which have helped that much but may be worth trying ( i really am at the end of options now, i have inflamed inner eyelids which will not be helped by ANYTHING!)....

Try to get a rx for progesterone cream made up at lieters pharmacy.
Azasite.. for mgd, bleptheritis.
doxy.
scerals.. you wont know if your candidate until you try them. If you have a half decent tear film you will be able to handle them better, so i wouldnt rule them out if your not severe.
Not a fan of A tears as they are useless for me, but best ive tried are clinicas but its not saying much.

[Judy]

You would not use Progesterone Cream on your eye area, right? I'm about to get off Premarin and also progesterone cream due to the harmful side affects of long use for the Premarin so I'm curious/puzzled as to why you are suggesting progesterone cream for dry eyes??

[dianat]

I think she meant testosterone...I hope.

[sazy123]

You would not use Progesterone Cream on your eye area, right? I'm about to get off Premarin and also progesterone cream due to the harmful side affects of long use for the Premarin so I'm curious/puzzled as to why you are suggesting progesterone cream for dry eyes??

Progesterone cream is being developed by dr connor for dry eye (evaporative mainly), he is also developing testosterone cream and a combination of testosterone and progesterone. It is a cream applied to eyelids, eyelash margins.

The progesterone was formulated for younger females and males who are not menapausal.

It has helped me, improved symptoms but a long way off comfortable. If you do a search you will find more info on it.

[irish eyes]

Hi Sazy

I've just noticed that you live in the UK.

Have I correctly understood your posting: i.e. that you have tried Azasite?

Do you mind me asking what part of the UK you are in to be able to try such a range of different things? I live in the North of England and things don't seem to have moved on at all in respect of Dry Eye / Blepharitis treatment.

Like you, I have had trouble finding suitable artificial tears - none of those prescribed by the NHS were any good for me. The insides of my lids are also very inflamed just now but I have been able to express a fair bit of oil from the glands and I wonder if that is causing some of the trouble.

I hadn't heard of Dr Connor so I will do a search on his work. Thanks

[Rojzen]

Dwelle versus artificial tears

Sparrow, so glad you supplied your Schirmer and TBUT statistics. Your numbers look relatively good, but doctors vary wildly in how they interpret our numbers. My eye docs generally consider a TBUT above 4 to be OK, and a Schirmer near or above 10 to be OK. Our symptoms, however, often bear no obvious relationship to the numbers we generate, because the integrity of our tear film requires measurements that are simply not covered in a Schirmer's or a blink test.

I wonder whether you may too quickly be lumping Dwelle in with other OTC drops. I just got a really thoughtful note from someone with DES who reminded me that Dwelle should not really be thought of as an artificial tear, in the sense of the products that are designed (roughly) to mimic the components of our tear films. Dwelle is engineered not to replace moisture and oil, but, rather, to change the way our tear films and outermost corneal layers behave. That's why I find it so important not only to give Dwelle a long, consistent try (which has worked brilliantly, in my long and previously unresponsive case), but also not to interfere with Dwelle's action by flooding the eye with artificial tears that un-do Dwelle's effect.

Dr. Holly has never, to my knowledge, advised users of Dwelle to shun other products, but I, for one, find that I do lots, lots better if I can just resist the temptation to drop anything moist in my irritated eyes. Over time, sticking to Dwelle as a standalone has actually been far more therapeutic for me than has any combination of products, prescription or OTC.

Since you are a heavy computer user, are you also giving your tear films a break by using highly protective eyewear steadily?

[sparrow]

I wonder whether you may too quickly be lumping Dwelle in with other OTC drops.

Since you are a heavy computer user, are you also giving your tear films a break by using highly protective eyewear steadily?

yes, I have been lumping Dwelle in w/ Systane etc., I would be willing to just use it alone though. I'll have to order another bottle and try it alone for a few months. As for protective eyewear, I have a pair of onion goggles that I wear a lot outside and occasionally inside but nothing specifically for when I'm using the computer, do you have any suggestions for good eyewear that helps w/ computer use?

[Rojzen]

Jerry-rigged eyewear for computer time

The Microenvironment Glasses now available were particularly designed and studied for use in people suffering from "computer syndrome," which seems to cover ocular surface irritation due to reduced-rate blinking. They look wonderful to me, but I have not yet tried them.

Pending my eventual purchase of MEGs (as a back-up for a time when I might again need moisture chambers), I am experimenting with wearing amber or yellow or clear fitovers over my progressive lenses, while computing. So far, this feels comfortable. If I ever land an office job again, I will have to get lots more serious about a more aesthetic indoor solution (:^).

(P.S. I also add a clip-on reader lens to my regular glasses while computing, because my regular glasses just don't help enough, for computer screen reading. Soon I will know whether there is a fitover deep enough to accommodate both glasses and the clip-on underneath them.)

[sparrow]

The Microenvironment Glasses n

what would be the difference between the MEG glasses and the onion goggles? At 10x the price of the onion goggles, you might look better but are you really getting that much more protection and comfort?

[Rojzen]

MEGs can carry Rx lenses

The important difference between MEGs and onion goggles is that MEGs are regular, high-quality eyeglasses, into which may be placed prescription lenses. Onion goggle frames are not designed to accommodate replacement of the lenses they come with, and they are also wrap-styled, which means that even if one could put Rx lenses into them, the curvature of these lenses could produce distortion in higher-strength prescriptions.

Think of MEGs simply as glasses with removable eyecups, and onion goggles more like nonprescription sportglasses, and the differences will stand out.

Maybe soon we'll have a report on someone wearing the MEGs in different contexts. . .

[sparrow]

Think of MEGs simply as glasses with removable eyecups, and onion goggles more like nonprescription sportglasses, and the differences will stand out.
.

I get it now. I don't really use glasses for computer use, just for driving. I had my onion goggles on all day yesterday in front of the computer and my eyes were very moist most of the time, well, maybe watery is the operative word. Today, I didn't have them on and after about two hours of computer time, my eyes just start to sting, I think it's the white background when reading text that does it b/c it's not so bad if I'm looking at graphics. My eyes also water and tear if I'm reading for any length of time and also if I"m trying to work on something up close (like fixing my bicycle). With the onion goggles, they still water, but at least they don't water from wind or onions!!