Muro 128 seems to help...why?

[MikeM]

I recently tried Muro 128 gel at night in place of GenTeal PM. I notice much better morning vision which often lasts throughout half the next day.

Last Sunday and today I had an usually bad morning so tried the Muro 128 drops and chose not to use my serum tears in each case. In both cases my vision recovered significantly within an hour or two. Granted I have only tried this a couple times and it could be coincidence but I rarely get near term relief from artificial or serum tears.

My Dr does not think I have edema but said, "hey, if it works keep trying it." Why is this working, any ideas?

[DrGary]

Mike,

Muro 128 is a 5% saline solution. It is used to treat corneal edema and often various corneal dystrophies.

Edema means that the cornea is thicker than "usual" because there is excess fluid contained amongst the layers. This irregularity causes blur, distortion, glare, and halo usually. During the night time our eyes are closed. Thus, our cornea gets its nutrients and oxygen from the blood vessels on the eye, and to a lesser extent the fluid (aqueous humor) behind the cornea. Sometimes, it does not work as effectively, and creates a slightly hypoxic (low oxygen) state and the cornea starts to imbibe water. Just a little bit. So when you wake up and put Muro in, it reverses this faster than is natural. The Muro basically acts like a physiological water suction. Water wants to move to equilibrate, in this case, out of the cornea.

If you suffer from dry eye as well, I would suggest not using it during the waking hours as a higher saline content will cause dryness.

Dr. Matter

[UGH_my_eyes]

I recently tried Muro 128 gel at night in place of GenTeal PM. I notice much better morning vision which often lasts throughout half the next day.

Last Sunday and today I had an usually bad morning so tried the Muro 128 drops and chose not to use my serum tears in each case. In both cases my vision recovered significantly within an hour or two. Granted I have only tried this a couple times and it could be coincidence but I rarely get near term relief from artificial or serum tears.

My Dr does not think I have edema but said, "hey, if it works keep trying it." Why is this working, any ideas?

My dry eye journey is not that long...at least it hasn't been this severe for long. And during my subseqent investigation of the eyes and it's disorders, I discovered that a person can have regular IOP(Intraocular pressure) and still have Glaucoma. So you go to the run of the mill OD and they give you a puff test, that you pass, yet they may or may not detect said glaucoma.

Now we are discussing just the cornea, not the entire eye here. But the reason I'm mentioning this is because it's become pretty obvious to me that in this dry eye hell we call life, everything is not so black and white. Muro is sold over the counter, so I'm going to give it a whirl, too, even though the OD did not direct it. Reason being is A.) none of these hundred dollars worth of drops I already have seem to do much for me. And B.) The OD gave me a rX for steriod eye drops and advised cold compress over warm compress. So I did the math and he either suspects edema or actually witnessed edma, yet failed to mention it to me verbally..

I'm no doctor, but if you are getting results from the muro then your problem is probably corneal related...at least partially. I'm seeing yet another OD(3rd one this month) on Monday because I want to find somebody that has a very good understanding of DES and how to treat it. DES seems to be some sort of new age pandemic...a complicated science that most just dont get.

[Guest]

Are there any risks to using the Muro drops/ointment? Can it do any harm with long term use?

[mgshutterbug]

I was told to use the Muro 128 soln/ointment until my corneal pressure had stabilized, and I was erosion-free for 4 months. I have EBMD, MGD, and severely decreased tear secretion (the latter due to surgical damage to lacrimal glands in L eye). During the time in which I had frequent, severe, erosions, the corneal pressure was very high. At this point, I have not used Muro 128 for probably 2 mos or so. I have not had further erosions, am using Oasis tears, and 7eye moisture chamber glasses all waking hours. From everything I've been told, and what I have learned through reading, Muro 128 is not something that is advisable to just "try". It's for a very specific ocular condition. It most definitely is not a lubricant.

[UGH_my_eyes]

I have used muro 128 ointment the past two nights.

And my eyes have not felt this good and hydrated in a long time. Then again, I'm sneezing and stuff, so not sure if the ointment is to credit or the flu like symptom of sneezing has hydrated the eyes more.

Just like with the OP, about half way through the next day the eyes get all dried up again.

Just using this one time at night so far because I dont know how safe it is. I'm going to ask the OD about it. If they say it's ok then I'll get the drops as well. It's expensive but worth it, imo.

[Guest]

From everything I've been told, and what I have learned through reading, Muro 128 is not something that is advisable to just "try". It's for a very specific ocular condition. It most definitely is not a lubricant.

No worries, I wouldn't try it unless my doc said it is ok... was just wondering what others have been told by their docs, or what others have read... the last time I'd tried to find this info on my own, I wasn't successful

[Connected Visions]

Dear Ugh_my_eyes,

It sounds as if it has been very challenging for you to find treatments that are effective for your dry eye syndrome. I noticed that you also said you are looking for a medical professional who has a good understanding of what dry eye is and how to best treat the condition.

For these reasons, I wanted to briefly introduce you to PROSE treatment. Prosthetic replacement of the ocular surface ecosystem (PROSE) is a pioneering medical treatment for complex corneal disease that was developed by Boston Foundation for Sight (BFS). For patients with dry eye who were treated with PROSE, 93% reported "moderate" or "significant" success in improving their symptoms. PROSE treatment is offered at BFS and twelve other specialty eye clinics across the U.S.

If you are interested in learning more, here are some relevant links:

• Overview of BFS and PROSE Treatment
• PROSE Treatment for dry eye

Please let me know if you have any questions or need support in gathering further information.

Wishing you well,

Janice M. Epstein
Online Community Advocate
Boston Foundation for Sight
connectedvisions@bostonsight.org

[Irina2]

Dear MikeM,

I would like to add one more thing to the good comments above. Mure 128, a hypertonic salt solution, which takes the water out of the cornea thereby dehydrating it, also affects the epithelial cells (corneal cells on the outermost surface of your eye) making them adhere one to other more strongly. Dry eye may also come from punctate epithelial erosions and Muro counteracts that but making epithelial cells cover the corneal surface without any breaks in it. Make sure your doctor rules out anterior basement membrane dystrophy (the worst form of dry eye) which is actually treated with Muro 128. Also, there is an ointment form that you can use overnight to prevent the morning erosions - ask you ophthalmologist if it can benefit your eyes.

Hope it helps.
Sincerely, Irina Ganelis, M.D.

http://losangeleseyeinstitute.com

[spmcc]

Make sure your doctor rules out anterior basement membrane dystrophy (the worst form of dry eye) which is actually treated with Muro 128.

Hello Dr. Ganelis,

How does a doctor check for ABMD? Is it easy to detect? In other words, would a doctor who is not too interested in your case (which unfortunately is quite a few) be able to find it?

I've had dry eyes for 16 years and I have always been told very vague things. Granted that could be because I was such an 'easy' diagnosis - ocular rosacea. But, IMO, that doesn't divulge much. Also would a diagnosis of ocular rosacea (or anything else) necessarily rule out ABMD?

Thank you,
Sheila

[kitty]

Just wanted to chime in that I recently started the Muro 128 ointment at night. My eyes feel so much better in the morning and throughout the first part of the day. I believe I was getting small erosions (pain, redness, tearing etc. lasting anywhere from minutes to a full day) and thus far the Muro has seemed to prevent those from occurring. I will be speaking with my eye doctor about this at my next appointment in a couple of months. I had been using the Genteal gel for several years but it seems to have stopped working for me.

[loennrot]

I have read this thread with interest, but it seems there are conflicting opinions on whether Muro 128 should be used long term or not. I underwent what I thought would be a very simple chalazion removal procedure which sadly left with me with a dry eye and frequent erosions in the morning upon waking up or even during the night. I tried using basic dry-eye ointments during the night but it never worked (I could get through a couple of nights maybe, but then the erosions would reoccur). Then I tried Muro and discovered it worked perfectly for me, no more erosions at all. I use it only during the night, but I still feel uneasy because I am wondering if it might have some negative effects in the long run (I have been using it for about a year now). Can anyone provide more information on this? Thank you