Nighttime lubrication?

[oopsiedaisy]

Another question for the dry eye veterans:

Until I get to my eye doc next Tues., I'd like to have a product on hand in case I continue to experience excessive dryness at night (while sleeping).

Looking through the forums, lists, and polls, it seems like Genteal PM Ointment is a fave of many on here.

Would you guys recommend it, or would you recommend something else?

I may not even use it, but I do want to have it on hand in case just discontinuing the baby shampoo lid scrubs (which I suspect are causing my dryness) is not sufficient. My eyes have really been bothering me at night and I worry about damaging them.

[subashli]

Genteal PM or Muro 128 .... Both are equally good.


- Subashli

[oopsiedaisy]

Thank you so much.

[LaDiva]

Systane works best for me. The others irritate my eyes. They have varying amounts of petroleum/mineral oil, and Muro contains sodium chloride as well. Genteal is 15% mineral oil and 85% petrolatum. Systane is 3% mineral oil and 94% petrolatum. My eyes don't like the mineral oil, and am not sure about the sodium chloride (don't know exactly what that is), but Muro did not agree with me either. I only used ointment for a short time when my eyes became light sensitive. When my eyes got better, I stopped. Good luck. Everyone is different.

[spmcc]

sodium chloride (don't know exactly what that is)

Sodium chloride = NaCl = salt

Personally, I can get away with using minimun drops/ointments at night if I seal my eyes. You can do this using goggles (e.g., Tranquileyes, Quartz Onyix), micropore tape, or even Glad Press N Seal.

The goal is to instill the best drops for you and then stop them from evaporating. As someone I know said, "Create a mini-Costa Rica".

With nightime cover, I use only Muro 128 drops (from behind the pharmacy desk, no Rx needed) or saline.

[AprilShowers]

Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink. I'm certain that what my eyes need. So at night I double-squirt them 2 shots of sterile water. A pharmacist can obtain it for you, better still you can buy small capsules of individual water packs, 20ml, and use them. Tap water in England contains clorines and other chemicals, I know it's safe to use, the water company tells us it's safe to use, but I don't trust it. If you do use tap water, boil it first then jar-store it. Make sure the jar is clean and not been washed in a detergent cleaner [problems, problems] check the the kettles not furred up etc. A pharmacist said if you add a small pinch of salt then you've got saline.

[alisonW]

I've had dry eye problems...

for 9 years now and have tried everything for night-time relief. Tranquil-eyes goggles, onyx, saran wrap, eye patches, and other sleep masks. Also all gels and ointments. I've discovered that I can not use any ointments that contain lanolin or it's derivatives and it's in almost all them. The only one I've found that does not contain any is Bausch & Lomb Soothe and I have to order it online from drugstore.com. Using this, and a ridged fabric sleep mask (when my eyes are closed the mask does not touch or press on them at all - used to be sold here at The Dry Eye Shop) is the best solution for me at night. I can go all night without having to put in my drops. With gels or drops I'm waking up and inserting them every few hours. Definitely experiment to see what works best for you and consider tha you too may need a lanolin-free option. (I don't use muro 128 since per my doc that's rec'd for people whose eyes are salt-defiicient and per my doc, mine have too much salt which is why Thera Tears Gel drops & regular drops work best for me during the day.) You can do a board search for more info on Thera Tears and why they are different then other drops. (Even disregarding the sodium chloride/salft info about the muro ointment, I tried it years ago before asking my doc about it and that too irritated my eyes.)

I hope you find a night-time solution that helps you.

[oopsiedaisy]

for 9 years now and have tried everything for night-time relief. Tranquil-eyes goggles, onyx, saran wrap, eye patches, and other sleep masks. Also all gels and ointments. I've discovered that I can not use any ointments that contain lanolin or it's derivatives and it's in almost all them. The only one I've found that does not contain any is Bausch & Lomb Soothe and I have to order it online from drugstore.com. Using this, and a ridged fabric sleep mask (when my eyes are closed the mask does not touch or press on them at all - used to be sold here at The Dry Eye Shop) is the best solution for me at night. I can go all night without having to put in my drops. With gels or drops I'm waking up and inserting them every few hours. Definitely experiment to see what works best for you and consider tha you too may need a lanolin-free option. (I don't use muro 128 since per my doc that's rec'd for people whose eyes are salt-defiicient and per my doc, mine have too much salt which is why Thera Tears Gel drops & regular drops work best for me during the day.) You can do a board search for more info on Thera Tears and why they are different then other drops. (Even disregarding the sodium chloride/salft info about the muro ointment, I tried it years ago before asking my doc about it and that too irritated my eyes.)

I hope you find a night-time solution that helps you.

Thank you. Turns out that the baby shampoo lid scrubs were causing me to experience dry eye. I stopped doing the scrubs as of Thursday night and, lo and behold, less than 48 hours later my eyes are completely fine. I still have ocular rosacea and will have to manage the symptoms of that, but I do not have dry eye and, luckily, will not be needing to use anything at night.

Thank you.