Sensative to drops

[MiguelX]

I'm new here and I search this board for my wife. The Doctors say she has both anterior/posterior blepharitis along with dry eye. Not going into all that she has been going through for 4 month now and all 3 specialist, she is currently taking Dox 100mgs a day flax seed oil, 2000mgs a day and doing compresses 3 times daily and johnson baby shampoo eyelids washes once. We sleep with a warm humidifier going and that seems to help and have recently bought air purifiers in hope this will help. Every drop she used (moisture tears, theratears both kinds of systane) preservative free or not cause severe irritation and burning of the eyelashes. She tried the steriod drops with the same results burning and irritation. Since she couldn't use drops she has resorted to the plugs which she has had in now for 2.5 weeks and finally getting used to them. They seem to helping a little causing spurts of tears. My question is, is there anyone who has sensative eyes as my wife and cannot use any drops. We have read on this board about dandruff shampoo helping the bleph but with the sensative eye are concered about using it. Thanks for listening and thanks to all who take time to post on this board it is a great tool to go to that gives some hope to those suffering with this condition.

MiguelX

[kitty]

You might have your wife speak with an ophthalmologist regarding autologous serum drops. They are made from her own blood so there should be no irritation. Here is the link to the forum for this topic on this site:

Autologous Serum

[Rebecca Petris]

Welcome MiguelX!

With sensitive eyes, I would certainly ditch the baby shampoo. Personally I scrub my lid margins gently with a Q-tip dipped in Unisol (unpreserved saline, available in most drugstores). There are also prepackaged lid scrubs that may be less harsh than baby shampoo.

Interesting about all the tears irritating. Can you describe this... is it like a mild allergic reaction, or more of a transient discomfort on application? Are there any products that provoke a worse reaction than others?

[MiguelX]

Thanks you Kitty for that suggestion of the serum it might be another possiblity that needs to be looked into.

Thanks Rebecca for the advice of the baby shampoo. We will look into the unisol. She dilutes the baby shampoo 50-50and and only does it once because twice will definitely irritate the eyes.
Systane provoked a worse reaction no discomfort on application but after a couple of days eyes became red, irritated and stinging in the eyelashes. Theratears was probably the most gentle but after a week same red, irratited and stinging eyelashes. The steriod drops burned on the third day and eyes had great pain in upper lids and went back to the opth that day. This bought us to the conclusion that she couldn't use any drops. That's why she had the plugs inserted and with the compresses 4 times a days can make it through the day.
We really didn't understand what type of Bleph she had until just a few hours ago when we visited a website which had some photos of Bleph and notice that she has MGD.

Thanks again

[dianat]

SHe can also rinse her eye with Unisol sterile unpreserved saline. I know a guy on this website with the same problem. I believe he pretty regularly squirts Unisol in his eye. It's the only thing he can tolerate.

d

[SusieD]

I would also agree with trying the saline - I wouldnt of thought there are many people who wouldnt even be able to tolerate this. I use saline for lid hygiene too and fortunately the blepharitis calmed down. I was originally told to use baby shampoo but couldnt tolerate it either, my eyes are very sensitive. Diluting it 50/50 is pretty strong though - I was told to only use a tiny bit of shampoo otherwise it would likely irritate. Mind you even with that I still couldnt use it.

[dianat]

yes, 50/50 shampoo to water is REALLY strong. THere's probably a more reasonable recipe on this site somewhere. THat could be a source of irritation for your wife. Also, there are some products for lid hygiene at drug stores...can't remember what they're called. They are prepackaged and irritation-free. I actually didn't thrive on any lid hygiene product/recipe so I quite them altogether. I have never been diagnosed with blepharitis, however.

[jbrownac]

Hello,

My eyes are also very sensitive to eye drops (even saline). I like using Nature's Tears. Its basically a mist of water that you spray in your eyes. It is sterile and does not contain any preservatives. You can find it at any US drug store.

You may also want to take a rest from all eye drops. I used to keep on putting in many drops only to discover later on that my eyes would feel drier because I was allergic/sensitive to them. Taking a break maybe helpful for you.

[MiguelX]

unisol drops

My wife decided to dry the unisol. She used the baby shampoo only at night.
She wants to do the unisol twice since it so gentle. Hope it helps.

P.S. She rinses with warm water after cleaning

Thanks all for info and comments
Miguel X