Lacrisert gel inserts.

[summer]

I was suggested from my opthalmologist to try the Lacrisert-hydroxypropyl cellulose inserts. Has anyone ever tried them? How good do they feel in the eye? and do they work? I have a righ eye that doesn't produce tears due to 7th nerve palsy. I already have a eye weight, plugs, and part of my eye sewen closed in the corner. Oh and how long do they last? Any help would be great. Thanks.......

[willwork4tears]

just started Lacriserts myself!

Hi. Today is day 2 of me trying Lacrisert. So I can only answer a couple of your questions. A little about me first. I have dry eye due to Sjogrens. I use high-dose cyclosporin eye drops, and recently had lower punctal cautery. I also use the Tranquileyes, a rice baggy compress and an assortment of eye drops and lubes that are disappointing and inadequate.

How good do they feel in the eye?

They feel a little weird. There's a little foreign body sensation. Nothing that can't be tolerated or that I don't think I'll get used to in a couple more days. It's kind of like having an eyelash in the eye or starting contact lenses for the first time. They are not painful.

Oh and how long do they last?

Day one I put mine in around 6pm and they were still in there at 6AM when I woke up. I took them out and put in fresh ones this morning. It's been 8 hours and they are still going strong.

and do they work?

Yes! I have more moistness today and sometimes even a wet feeling in the eye. So far I am liking them.

Yesterday was a bit weird. The right one kept swimming around under my eyelids. It started in the lower lid on the outside (4 o'clock) and somehow managed to move around to the upper lid on the inside corner (10 o'clock) twice. Today it's been behaving itself and I haven't found myself on a fishing expedition with it. Yesterday the left one popped out a couple times and I just put it back in. Today no problems. I tried the little applicator that came with it, but found it was much easier and faster just to pinch the little bugger between my thumb and forefinger and drop it in myself. Yesterday I found you can't maneuver the eyelid too much (no rubbing, no washing off eye makeup, etc) or they pop out. Today I washed my face, put my makeup on and then put them in and so far I haven't had any problems. I haven't repositioned them or had them pop out.

I would give it a go. Go to Lacrisert.com and there is a coupon for $20 off your copay for the first 3 months. My copay is $25, so I paid 5 bucks. Not a bad deal to try them out. And the savings was instant...no rebates to send in.

PM me if you have more questions and want an immediate response. You can respond on this thread too, but sometimes I only check DEZ every couple days, so I may be slower in responding.

[summer]

Thank you!!!

Thank you for all your wonderful help. Yes, I will try them out. At this point I will try anything. I live in the dry desert so anything should be a improvement.
Can you tell me how often do you need to put them into the eye meaning do they last long before they melt away?
Thank You!!!!!

[willwork4tears]

Day 3

Yesterday they lasted 12 hours before I got annoyed with them and wiped the rest out. The left one was nearly dissolved. The right one would have lasted maybe 2 or 3 more hours.

I was annoyed because they were starting to feel sticky and irritating. Today is better. I found an old post on DEZ where a guy had said "Lacriserts are like Sea-monkeys: you have to water them regularly." I got a good laugh out of that and took his advice today; when they start feeling sticky I add a drop of Systane.

The foreign body sensation is better. And my eyes feel even moister today, at least 5 times moister than usual. I think it takes a few days to get used to them. I also think they require a little patience and some "trickery," i.e. getting them in the right position, moistening them with some rewetting drops, etc.

I will try to keep these in until they dissolve completely and let you know how long they lasted. The product insert said 15-16 hours and I think that sounds pretty plausible considering they lasted 12 hours yesterday.

[DCRdryeye]

I find lacriserts only last 3 to 4 hours then my eyes are feeling very dry because the lacriserts turn into a blob, which blocks off any tears from saturating the area. So on the one hand they provide moisture, and on the other hand they can cause dryness.

I gave up on them and only recently giving them another go. I can't use punctal plugs because my left puncta's are too large due to DCR surgery, so plugs don't fit me. A few month ago I paid a top occuloplastic surgeon $400 to place plugs in my lower puncta's, she used the largest size "Eagle" brand makes for the large puncta, and Oasis plugs for the normal size puncta. The following day, the Eagle plug fell out, and I had the other one removed due to it scratching my eyeball.

I refuse the intracanicular plugs since they can slip into the tear sac.

It's Spring here in Australia, I don't get hayfever, but my eyes are playing up badly. Thanks to another post here I'm try Zaditen and it's helping a lot.

Let us know how you continue to go with the lacriserts, I'm going to use mine more frequently too

[Lucy]

Willwork.........I also found just using my fingers to insert the slippery little buggers way easier to use tan the instrument. I also lost many to the bathroom floor before I became aware of how little and slippery they are.

Then I'd sit at the kitchen table with a mirror lying flat so if it fell I could see it and retrieve it. THEY DID NOT WORK FOR ME. Just wanted to comment on the insertion thing, you've got it.

[willwork4tears]

I find lacriserts only last 3 to 4 hours then my eyes are feeling very dry because the lacriserts turn into a blob, which blocks off any tears from saturating the area. So on the one hand they provide moisture, and on the other hand they can cause dryness.

Based on my own personal experience, I kind of agree with this, and kind of disagree. I find that the Lacriserts are lasting around 12 hours. It's a little less for the left eye and a little more for the right. However, the COMFORT I receive from the Lacriserts only lasts about 8 hours. After that they do tend to feel like blobs and feel sticky and irritating. I usually start using more rewetting drops during this time and I'm hoping as I continue to get used to the product, these sensations will subside. I do not feel that they cause dryness. On the days that the blob/sticky sensation has bugged me enough that I've wiped the remainder out, I feel noticeably dryer the rest of the evening.

The package insert does clearly warn that it can take users several weeks of consistent daily use to feel better. From their website: "LACRISERT® users usually have symptom relief 2 weeks after beginning LACRISERT®, but it may take several weeks for your symptoms to improve."

The stickiness and foreign body/blob sensation is annoying, but I'm determined to stick with it as I feel these really are helping. I also think that most people will need to use them twice a day. I'm thinking about asking my doctor to change my prescription. That way, I can wipe the sticky old one out and start with a fresh one that I know will feel comfortable well past my bedtime.

[DCRdryeye]

Willwork, I didn't read about having to use lacriserts daily for two weeks before they provide more or longer comfort. I'll have to try that and I agree with having to use them twice a day.

They can also be a nuisance when travelling, eg: putting them in the eyes in a public toilet?... unless you are home it's not a convenient strategy.

Thanks for the information, was very helpful

[txmimi]

WillWork - How are you doing with the Lacriserts?

WillWork & DCRdryeye :
I started them on 11/15 and had a question about them. I don't have a problem inserting them & I don't feel them at all once they're in, but shortly after inserting them my vision begins to blur. The blurred vision gets worse the longer I keep them in. After two hrs., I can't see anything past 5 feet in front of me so I take them out. I've never lasted longer than two hours with them in because of that. I know the side effects include blurred vision, but I assumed that was a temporary thing. I keep trying them each evening, when I'm home for the night and don't have to drive anywhere - but still no improvement on the blurred vision. I read that someone here suggested supplementing the Lacriserts with Systane drops which I've tried, but it doesn't help. You two didn't mentioned blurred vision in your posts - did you experience it at all & if so, how long did it take before it went away?

I'm a fighter like the rest of us here & I'm not willing to give up on these things yet!

Thanks, Maria

[willwork4tears]

Day 25 update - Cautery + Lacriserts = Wonderful

Hi everyone. I haven't been on in awhile, so sorry to DCRdryeye and txmimi for not getting back to you sooner.

Well I promised myself I would use the Lacriserts daily for at least 3 weeks before I made a judgement and I'm soooo glad I did. They are more and more comfortable and helpful every day. There really is a long adjustment period for using this product so DCRdryeye, I would recommend using them daily for several weeks before you totally give up.

The foreign body/blob sensation is almost completely gone. I barely ever notice they are there anymore. I'm still getting about 10-12 hours of wear time out of them, sometimes a little longer. My biggest complaint is that they can become very sticky and goupy the last 2 hours. Depending on how dry my eyes are and what else is going on in my environment (e.g. humidity, heat in the car) the stickiness can be intolerable. I’ve tried nursing them along with various rewetting drops and found that the lubricant in the rewetting drops coupled with the lubricant from the Lacriserts is overkill. I’ve switched to unpreserved saline (Unisol 4) and can sometimes wet them or flush them with copious amounts of saline to make them less sticky. But most of the time I end up having to remove them. Otherwise, they become so sticky that they cause my eyelids to stick and adhere to my eyes. It’s almost like having rubber cement in the eye.

My new solution to that problem is I've started using them twice a day. That way if they become sticky/goupy, I can just wipe the remainder out and start with a fresh one. Today is the second day of twice-a-day dosing, so I'm curious to see how this goes.

You two didn't mentioned blurred vision in your posts - did you experience it at all & if so, how long did it take before it went away?

Sorry to hear you're having such severe problems with blurriness. I occasionally have blurred vision, but it is quite minor and can be fixed by a few extra blinks and dabbing the extra (that's right, extra!) tears out of the corners of my eyes. The only time I've experienced bothersome blurred vision has been while wearing soft contact lenses. Once I took the contacts out, I was fine. I would try rinsing your eyes with the unpreserved saline (Unisol 4) and see if that helps.

Overall, this is the best I've felt in years! I've had dry eye since 2003 and it just seemed to be getting worse and worse. But now I finally feel like I've got a handle on it. Finally!

[DCRdryeye]

txmimi,
sorry I've been on but find it difficult to keep up with all the posts. Have you had a schirmer's test done? If you blur after inserting lacriserts I can think of two things:

1. You are placing more coverage of tears on your eyes and creating an overload, thus blurring is occuring. Sure you have dry eyes, but 'how' dry are you? is it borderline? or extremely, severe dry eyes? If borderline, then that could be the reason for the blurring.

2. You are having a reaction to the lacriserts, irritation or allergic and it's causing tearing, thus blurring.

I have placed three lacriserts in each eye a few times and it STILL doesn't relieve my dry eye symptoms as much as I'd like. No blurring at all. I'm very very dry and cannot stay without moisture chamber glasses more than five minutes without pain.

It's not much of an answer, I hope it helps.

[hodgee10]

Lacriserts in Australia,

I noticed that one of the posters here was from Australia. Can I ask you a question please?
You said you were using Lacrisert inserts. Are they still available in Australia and if so where do you get them from?
I was using them until the dissapeared from the Australian market a few years ago, and I would love to be able to get them again as I have severe dry eyes and drops only help a little. I use Celuvisc drops up to 10 times a day and Bion Tears hourly.
Any information would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[Rebecca Petris]

Hodgee10, if you don't hear back from the other member, contact Aton Pharma at customerservice@lacrisert.com.

[hodgee10]

Lacriserts

Thanks Rebecca. I will try that.
Regards.

[shirley bailey]

shirl

Itried lacracerts they were so hard and irritating to my eyes, soooooo uncomfortable told my dr he said he tried them to see what they were like and agreed with me and told me to stop useing them. Do you you think I should continue and persevere?