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**Rebecca Petris** · 02-Oct-2006, 10:21

Originally posted by Mikastef

hey guys
since 1and a half year im been using ointment ONLY (day&night) ...not artificial tears and this ointment-yeah ok there is blurry vision @ the start (only) but it quickly go away-is very longlasting and beneficial and not cumbersome-not having to put eye drop infront of my buddy or infront of lecturer!

infact ointment doesn't contain any medication so i fink it is good for continuous usage......no??(any comment bout this?)
also i have read in1website that continuous usage of artificial tear drop can make ur eyes more dependan on it(bcoz of medication) an it washes some importan thing from the (small) tears which ur eyes produce...

I'm not a doctor so take this for what it's worth... simply the opinion of ONE patient without medical qualifications:

1. Ointments.

I personally have come to believe that long-term use of ointments by chronic dry eye patients is more harmful than long-term use of artificial tears. I think that it interferes with proper lubrication of the ocular surface and if used frequently may prevent important substances found in natural tears from reaching and nourishing the eye surfaces.

On a purely anecdotal level - just reporting patterns we see here: We get a lot of people on these boards over the years saying "I really do think ointments made my eyes worse over time... I saw improvement when I stopped or replaced them". By contrast, we do NOT get a lot of people saying "I really do think artificial tears made my eyes worse over time..."

2. Harm from artificial tears.

I'm not aware of any scientific evidence that artificial tears are 'addictive' or contain any active ingredients which can cause dependency.

I do personally think (again, big disclaimer about my lack of medical background - this is just from gleaning patterns based on patient reports over the years) that too-frequent use of artificial tears may be bad for SOME patients, particularly those who are dosing every say 15 min to half hour, and for the reason you read about - that it can wash the "good stuff" out.

(On the other hand, of course some people especially those with severe aqueous deficient dry eye really do have to do whatever it takes to keep their eyes lubricated, even if there are drawbacks.)

**Maria1972** · 02-Oct-2006, 20:34

Ointments

My optometrist (not my ophtalmologist) told me that ointments further block the pores...I use them Only when my eyes are very irritated and at night only (not evrynight , just for bad days)

Regarding eye drops one resident (ophtalmology) told me it is better to try to blink several times rather than use artifitial tears...and the preservative free are better.
I try to do th eblinking thing specially when I'm at work (8 hrs in front of a computer -OUCH) I even put a pop up reminder to rememebr to blink my eyes! I use preservative free a few almost once an hr when I'm at work.

**Mika** · 03-Oct-2006, 08:42

ok ointmen seems not 2be sooo beneficial after all

........... but hey just after putting artificial tears i get the appearance of white discharge (n its stays4quite some time-even putting2dosage or more, its stays!!!! this muscus is very obstinate

!!)....aint it strange?...y is it?????

i use tears naturale forte (alcon)....in fact i have noticed dat wit other a.tears, its like dat too...

sometimes wen i USED a.tears bfore, i have to apply it many times in one hour depend upon factors of uncomfortability:aircon etc)...

wit ointment it doesn't appear greatly as the oil dissolve its.

n dat white discharge really trouble me...! i use supplement, even cpmpress n massage..

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