im using raw honey and im feel better

[Marcus from Scandinavia]

Regina.. now when your melbomian glands are functioning much better. Don't you have any crusts or gunk in your eyes when you wake up in the morning?

[calli66]

Honey has a hygroscopic quality

It holds and attracts water. Do you think this is the thing that helps eyes?

C

[regina]

Hi marcus

No, I dont really have crusting in the morning anymore...I have a little gunk in the corner once in awhile when I wake up...but that is it. When I did have loads of gunk coming out...than when I started using honey...out of desperation! It slowed it down immediately...I went to bed with it and the next day it stopped. I havent had that problem since. Since bacteria cant survive in honey...I guess that is what changed it!

I dont know about holding water in...it does keep a barrier on your lids that was so relieving for me....

[Guest]

Well, I've got my sterile Manuka honey now...

Experiment #1: I mixed 1 part honey with 4 parts sterile preservative-free saline solution. I put a drop in each eye after supper yesterday. It stung like crazy (pretty much exactly the way my eyes sting after applying a drop of Maxidex)... they also got red... within 5 minutes, the redness and stinging had subsided... but holy cow...the stinging was pretty intense at first.

Experiment #2: I applied a tiny amount just underneath my lower lashes, and a tiny amount just above by upper lashes.... I rubbed it in a bit up to the base of my lashes. So far, I've experienced zero stinging and redness.

So, due to the discomfort of the drops, I think I will continue experiment #2 for a while... I figure if I continue to experience no discomfort from this, after a day or two, I'll try applying it in this manner at bedtime.... but for now, I didn't want to go to sleep in it until I'd seen for myself during daylight hours that I don't have any crazy allergic/irritation reaction to it. I figure worst case, if I experience irritation from it while trying it out during the day, I can wash it off... whereas if I try it at bedtime for the first time I was concerned that I'd sleep through any irritation and potentially wake up with an eye disaster on my hands!

I tend to think I won't be lucky enough to experience any kind of major relief with this, but who knows... maybe I'm luckier than I think haha

I just had allergy testing done in this past week, so I know I'm not allergic to pollen (or anything else for that matter!).

[Guest]

Well, so far, so good. I brought my jar of Manuka honey to work with me lol... I applied it a total of 4 times as described above (method #2)... a couple of times, it stung a bit as it leaked into my eyes... but it was pretty minor compared to my drops experiment.

Guess what? I had one of the best eye days I've had in ages... My eyes felt moist for most of the day, and I didn't have to use artificial tears as often as I usually do... I was even able to READ for over 2 hours (a continuing education module!)...

Until today, I haven't been able to read anything extensive at work since I've returned from mat leave in January...

Anyhow, I'm trying not to get excited about this... I mean really, as IF I will be so lucky to have honey really work for me... this could all be just a coincidence...

So, tomorrow will be day 2... it'll be interesting to see how it goes...

[regina]

oh cool

well good luck saag! For me honey was just steip one...for your oil glands and pain...you probably still have to deal with not enough moisture. Once you get the inflamation down...then you have to start figuring out remedies for your other symptoms... ;P I will be excited to hear about day 2!

[redandsensitive]

I have ordered raw honey now, and will try this as soon as I get it.
Hope this works!!

Thanx for sharing!

[Guest]

So here is my honey experiment update:

Well, it seems to be consistently making my eyes feel wetter... they water more...

It seems that I have to be careful to put only a very thin layer of honey on my upper and lower lids though...I put a tiny layer just below my lower lashes (and then spread it right up to the base of my lashes), and then the same thing on my upper lids...if too thick, then it gets into my eyes and makes them red and burn

With the thin layer, I notice it seeping into my eyes from time to time... but it only stings a tiny bit... after a few hours, the sticky honey residue on my lids seems to be completely washed away by any overflowing tears I have... so then I reapply the honey again.

So far, I'm not sure if it's doing anything for my MG's though... When I look at them under 10x magnification with a really bright flashlight, they look a tiny bit better than before honey... is it coincidence? or the honey??

...and I'm not sure if all this tearing is simply reflex tearing from the small amount of honey that leaks into my eyes, or if the honey is helping me in some other way... the tearing feels really nice though...

However, because I haven't seen any large improvement in my MG's at this point, I must admit that I am not terribly optimistic that this will fix my glands... but since the honey doesn't seem to be having any adverse effects, I'm going to give it a few more days at the very least... and then, well... I guess then I'll know if this honey is destined for use in my morning cup of tea or not haha ... err... or maybe in that honey-mustard chicken recipe that I soooo love to eat!... hmmmm....

Maybe if my lids were obviously red and irritated the honey would have made a more dramatic difference (assuming the redness etc. was due to bacterial infection...)... who knows...

In any case, I'm glad the honey has helped some of us here at least!

[Guest]

Hmmm... today I had a rather amazing eye day... used significantly less artificial tears than usual... felt more comfortable overall...eyes were whiter than usual... interesting... I'm feeling hopeful again... but trying not to get too excited here... I mean really... what are the odds that this will be my magic bullet... (I know it's helped others here, but what can I say... when it comes to it helping ME, I'm still a major skeptic ... as IF I'll be so lucky to have it help me... know what i mean?)

One more detail that I forgot to mention... I haven't used the honey on my lids overnight... After reading about some posters' really bad reactions to the honey, I was scared to put it on at bedtime in case too much seeped into my eyes while sleeping and caused major irritation.... I figure by using it only during waking hours if I start to notice any major issues, since I'll be conscious, I can just wash off the honey

[regina]

haha..your so funny!

Love reading your posts...i know...my eye doc looked incredulous too when i told him i was using honey. If you havent had a reaction to the honey....it will be fine at night I would think.

I am interested in seeing how it helps you though...since you dont have red lid margins like i did. But who knows...honey is pretty cool in your eye or in your tea!

[Guest]

I am interested in seeing how it helps you though...since you dont have red lid margins like i did.

The only way I think honey is likely to help me, if at all, is by helping my MG's IF bacteria is what is causing them to be dysfunctional. (or, as I speculated earlier, by causing reflex tearing due to some kind of irritant effect... of course if THAT is all that it does for me, then I won't continue with this for too long... don't want to do more harm than good in the long run...)

Do you guys remember that old thread about people using vaseline or olive oil on their lids in an attempt to add some oil to the tear film? Body heat would cause the layer of vaseline directly touching the skin to melt, and the more solid layer of vaseline on top would slide off the melted layer thus spreading out? This would lead to the vaseline slowly releasing into the tear film?

I'm kind of thinking applying honey on the lids might act in the same way... ie. slowly releasing the honey into my tear film/onto the MG's, but in such small amounts at a time that it doesn't cause nearly as much irritation as using honey drops would. Of course one has no way of knowing if the total amount of honey released in this manner over the course of a day is the same as the amount of honey one would be applying via drops. And I don't know if honey behaves in the same way vaseline does when applied to a warm surface (ie. skin).

Anyhow, this is just me rambling on and speculating... don't mind me...

[Filazafer]

This seems to be working for me too.

I have been reading this site on and off for 4 or 5 years probably. I am back since my eyes have gotten worse after doing pretty well for about a year. I have had dry eye since having Lasik about 5 years ago. At this point, I will try anything, so I tried the honey. And no one is more amazed than me that it's working.

It has only been two days and I was planning on waiting a week before posting, but you know how it is, when you get some results, you want to tell people. I ordered some of the Manuka honey, but right now, I am just using store bought honey. I did mix it with water, like 80/20, and try dropping it in my right eye, which is my worst eye. This didn't really hurt and seemed to work about as well as most every other eye drop, which is not very, but it is cheaper.

Then I tried just smearing a drop of honey on my top and bottom lid of my right eye. So far, this has given me the best results I have had with any treatment. I can't explain it, I don't understand it, but so far it's working. My right eye, which is usually worse, feels great and my left eye, with nothing on it, hurts. It makes my eye lid feel a bit sticky, but you really can't see it. I will let you know if this keeps working, but if it does, I will do this every day for the rest of my life. Like most of you, this condition negatively affects every aspect of my life. Unfortunately, Dry Eye Syndrome just sounds way too wimpy to make people understand.



Drew (35 year old male. No known medical problems, but this)

Lasik -It seemed like such a good idea at the time-

[Britta]

Some weeks ago I went on a trip with a group of friends and as we all had to share one bathroom it was difficult to stick to my daily routines so on day two I stopped applying honey drops. My eyes kept feeling good so when I had returned from that journey I thought it was about time to try to quit honey as I might not need it anymore. However, another four or five days later that bone-dry eye feeling returned which I had basically forgotten about as I had not suffered from it since early in March when I first tried honey. So now I am back on honey and feel fine again.

What honey does for me: elimination of menthol feeling and dryness; reduction of redness; reduction of burning sensation
What honey does not do for me: elimination of burning sensation; white eyes

I am still refraining from taking stronger medicamentation, i.e. antibiotics, to achieve this as my DES is managable now and I am afraid of long-term side effects.

P.S. Manuka honey is the most aromatic honey I`ve ever tried. Unfortunately, my € 48 tube would last for only two slices of toast.

[ema]

honey for ocular rosacea help?

has anyone with ocular rosacea tried the honey trick?

[Filazafer]

Honey in the eye

I agree, you should not go spraying just anything in your eye, but I think the dangers of honey are probably minimal. What I realize now is that anything that gets near my eyelids eventually ends up in the eye. This includes creams, shampoos, and any other irritant that gets on your face. I think your eye does a pretty good job of letting you know when you are letting in something really bad. It burns like heck.

And for me the actual dry eye causes my eyes to burn more than the honey. Which tells me that my eyes are saying you need to stop this dryness more than you need to stop the honey.

No way, I am sold on honey yet, but at the same time I am more scared of dry eye damage than I am honey damage. Right now, I still have a slight burning sensation after using honey, buts it's better than without.

Even if Honey was the cure to all dry eye, don't expect to see it released in any medical journals. It would be hard for the drug companies and doctors to make any money off of honey.

Besides there is no money in the cure, only in the treatment.