im using raw honey and im feel better

[Arj]

Raw unfiltered honey actually has Hydrogen Peroxide in it, a powerful antimicrobial compound. It's basically highly reactive oxygen.. in wounds it keeps microbes away, speeding healing time, and also reduces scaring

Kinda odd, damage from Hydrogen Peroxide in contact lens solution started this whole Dry Eye saga for me, along with Doxycycline Hydrochloride. However it does sound plausible to me that a honey mixture of some sort can alleviate some of the pain. Honey can be used for a lot of other non eye related cures.

[regina]

Now it makes sense why it would work for me...

I believe I have occular rosacea with minor facial rosacea. If you research natural herbs for healing rosacea... quite a few of them has honey as one of their ingrediants. So, it does make sense that it reduced my inflamation on my lid margins and helped the oil glands flow but still was suffering from dry eye balls.

One day while recuperating from some minor surgery on cipro 500 mg twice daily , my eyes never felt so good! Hmm...why?

I looked up cipro and it is used as an anti biotic for skin infections... rosacea is a skin infection disease so it makes sense why it helped me so much. I am now starting my oral doxy. Dont know if its going to work as well as cipro but at least im heading in the right direction! Its not my thyroid, sjorgrens, or menopause its occular rosacea! At least i know which direction to head now treating this dry eye disease for me.....

[Britta]

breaking my promise

I know I said I would not write in this threat anymore, but I cannot resist.
I have been taking manuka honey drops for one month and I still see steady improvement. 17 days ago I wrote I had to apply them every three hours, otherwise my eyes would burn. Now this is down to three times a day and often I have to remind myself of taking the drops as I completely forget about my eyes. Unfortunately, they are still redder than other people`s eyes, but they no longer get bloodshot in the evening. Yet my severe eye problems in autumn/winter made me humble, I`m not that vain anymore.

10 days ago I was finally diagnosed with ocular rosacea by my new eye doctor and he suggested doxy to me. I said I`d think about it and then looked into this stuff a bit. I found out that there is quite a long list of unpleasant side effects which really put me off and I don`t really feel like taking an antibiotic if it can be avoided. So I think I`ll stick to my honey for a bit longer before considering doxy. I have to admit that my eye doctor does not back this up as he does not know enough about honey to shoulder responsibility for it.

[regina]

taking doxy

Hi britta...Im taking doxy...and I am not having any bad effects from it. I figure...our eyes are so damaged that they need to heal fist in order to fully function again. I dont think short term will hurt you. There are a lot of people on here taking doxy so its proven okay to use especially short term. I am about 80 percent normal now....thank god! I am good everywhere but work now...I plan on staying on doxy till I dont see anymore improvement. I will keep you updated on my progress.

Again...imho honey seems to work for occular rosacea only...and only people who arent allergic to pollen...makes sense to me!

[avee]

I use honey too. Honey is an ancient remedy for eye problems, I don't believe it hurts unless you are allergic to it. Where I come from everyone has a friend who keeps honeybees. So far I've been using my own home-made honey but I just ordered my first manuka honey to try this out.

Just a few articles:
http://www.ibra.org.uk/articles/20080612_7
http://www.homestead.org/KarynSweet/HoneyHealth.htm
http://apitherapy.blogspot.com/2006/...-diseases.html

[regina]

Oh cool...three people now!

I use honey if I somehow pissed off my eyes and they start stinging...I close my eyes and put in on my margins and it feels better. I also still use it nightly when I go to sleep. But thanks for the feedback and the links!

[Musetta]

There is lots of work that has been done using honey in wound dressings, in particular with burns and deep ulcers that don't respond to treatment. But that has been with manuka honey (and another kind- lepto something??). It seems to have broad spectrum antibiotic activities.

To quote from the link "Four aspects of the composition of honey have been identified to contribute to its antibacterial activity. The low water activity inhibits microbial growth, particularly bacterial growth. Its low pH, a result of the formation of gluconic acid, also has a mild antibacterial effect. When diluted with water, hydrogen peroxide is formed by the action of the enzyme glucose oxidase. Finally, some honeys contain other compounds, largely uncharacterised, that have antimicrobial activity."

Read here for more information http://www.tga.gov.au/docs/pdf/cmec/honeysr.pdf

For all that, I've tried manuka honey on my eyes in the past, and it was a disaster for me!! But it works brilliantly for sore throats and stomach upsets, and I find it a very soothing face masque if my skin is acting up.

[Britta]

question @ chemia

:confused
Chemia, you`re certainly right about the facts and figures but what I don´t understand is how approx. three weeks of preservative-free artificial tears (ph certainly adapted to natural tears) could wreck my eyes whereas eight weeks of daily acid honey drops (honey diluted in ordinary boiled tap water) have given me so much relief. I`m honestly interested in any explanation. I took artificial tears for about three months trying different varieties (all of them preservative-free). They all made my eyes worse.
I am not encouraging anybody to put honey into their eyes. Too many people in this threat stated that honey had caused them much discomfort. However, no possible remedy should be discarded off-hand and for good just because we do not understand exactly how it works.
(Hi Regina, I am interested to learn what Doxy does for you. I still refrain from going on an antibiotic, but if it really meant a permanent/long lasting cure I`d give it second thoughts. Take care, Britta)

[needacure1991]

I have been tested for allergies and I have none...honey also has a anti inflamatory and healing properties. After reading about honey i have started my child on honey for her allergies! What the heck...it cant hurt.

Honey seems to reduce my inflamation on my lids...and lets my oil glands work for the first time in years....

I could be the only one that this works for ...but im sure there could be others and that is why i keep posting this...I would love one other person with stinging lids to try this...and tell me whether it helped them or not...someone try this for their stinging lids...and get back to me...please! Im trying to help here...like I said I cant possibly be the only one!

Regina, i have tried this once and my eyes felt soothed after applying it, but also sticky, during the night i woke up a couple of times with stinging eyelids and in the morning i washed the honey off and i had a little bit of relief from dry eyes, any tips on how to keep the honey from going inside my eyes? Thanks.

[jimorlik]

Tried homemade honey drops

Ok, read this thread about using honey for dry eye. Googled it and found some very interesting articles on a 20% honey and 80% water solution. Thought, what the heck, been living with dry eye, blurry and cloudy vision and irritated eyes for what seems like a lifetime. Tried every eye drop that I could buy at the drug store and although some worked better than others, none were magical.
That being said, I bought some honey and made this solution as described above. It's only been 4 days, but I will tell you this, this solution has worked better for me than anything I have tried so far. 4 days now and I haven't had to use eye drops other than the honey solution. Unbelievable, I cannot believe it.
Now I'm not telling you to run out and buy honey and make your own eye drops, and I'm not saying that it is good or bad for your eyes, all I'm saying is that it's working for me.

[regina]

whoot whoot....lol

I figured I couldnt be the only one it worked for...my eye lids and oil glands have been open since I started using it...now if I can just make some tears dangit...(sjorgrens) I am starting evovac tomorrow...hope that is finally my answer....

[Marcus from Scandinavia]

I'm really glad to read about all the positive results from using honey.. I will definitely try it.

Is manuka honey the one to use? Is the effect much better with manuka?

Is honeydrops more preferable then to apply it directly on the lids?

[regina]

Hi...hmmm

First everyone has been different. I tried the eye drops and it stung too much...but Britta did great with them.
All honey is good for your eyelids, but the manuka is thicker and seems to stay instead of traveling into the eye and stinging. I swab it on, doesnt take alot and then wipe off the excess around the eye and let dry. Mine helped with the inflamation of the eye lids and and let my oil flow again. Because I gave up on the drops, write to britta if you have any questions about that.

[Britta]

Hi Marcus

I bought sterile manuka honey at my local pharmacy as I didn`t trust my kitchen jar honey to be clean enough. The tube, once open, can be used for four months. It was expensive (48 €) but will really last for four months. Basically all honey has antibacterial potential, but it varies a lot and with real manuka you are safe.
I make strong drops (ratio about 1:1) from the honey, because if I smear the honey directly on the rims of my eyes I look odd (eyelashess all sticking together/shiny skin etc.), besides it stings much more. (However, I`d advise you to begin with a much lower solution to test how your eyes cope with honey. Make sure you boil all the equipment you need to mix and apply the drops. I make new drops every morning.)
It took a couple of days for me to notice an improvement.

[regina]

Hey britta ...thanks for responding so fast!

You know it does get a little weird in the eye lashes, so i just just a wet paper towel and run it across the tips of the eye lashes so they dont look sticky at least...! haha