Trying Lacrisert today

[norabo]

I have been suffering from dry eye and corneal neuropathy for four months now and I am pretty much at the end of my rope. I am now being treated by a top notch dry eye specialist who is working very aggressively. I am taking nine medications, as well as autologous serum 8 times per day, and started the process for a scleral prose lens yesterday.

This afternoon I will be trying lacrisert and wondering if anyone found it helps with corneal neuropathy. I know people's experiences with Lacrisert have been mixed, but I am willing to give it lots of time. I could really use some relief. My pain and misery is pretty much 24/7.

Please let me know if you have any useful tips or tricks. Thank you!

[Hokucat]

Hi norabo. I tried Lacriserts several years ago when my dryness was pretty bad. It helped me only a tiny bit, but I think since I had little or no tear film, it didn't work well because it needs at least a little moisture to continue dissolving throughout the day.

I have since read some people who have success with it by:

1) Putting a few drops of preservative-free artificial tears in when they first insert the Lacriserts (which I believe it recommends in the instructions).

2) Putting a few drops in periodically throughout the day, to help it continue to dissolve and keep the eye moist.

3) Removing the Lacrisert before it is gone or when some still remains, and replacing it with a new one. Seems after it has been in the eye several hours, it does not dissolve as much, so not as effective providing relief.

I found removing the Lacrisert with a qtip easiest, as it stuck to the tip quickly.

Good luck to you with the Lacriserts, Norabo. Even if it helps only a little, that would be some relief.

[norabo]

I just put in my first Lacrisert about an hour ago. I couldn't do it with the applicator so I used my finger which worked well. I already feel some nice moisture, but I also feel the little Lacrisert pebble. Does this dissolve or do you feel it all day? Do you get used to having a pebble in your eye? Thanks!

[Hokucat]

It should continue to dissolve, and usually gets softer and flatter, so should get a little more comfortable. I do think after awhile you could get used to it and not notice it as much.

Good job inserting the Lacrisert with your fingers! I had problems using the applicator too, a few I dropped on the floor or on my bathroom counter. If I recall, the pebble was smaller than a rice grain.

Glad you are feeling some nice moisture already, hopefully it's soothing. Sounds like so far, so good!

[Omega3]

I tried Lacriserts a while ago. Mostly it was nice not having to worry about putting in drops constantly, but I didn't notice much change in pain. They get much easier to use after a week or two and the discomfort goes away. But once you get scleral lenses I would assume they would eliminate the need for Lacriserts. My optometrist told me that using lacriserts with scleral lenses causes the lenses to gum up so I'm not sure you can use the two together anyways.

So sorry to hear you also have corneal neuropathy. I hear serum is very effective for corneal neuropathy but can take a few months. Good luck.

[norabo]

My two attempts to use Lacrisert yesterday pretty much turned into a disaster. By the time I was ready to go to bed, my eye was in terrible pain, red and swollen. I got the remaining Lacrisert out and washed my eye with about 100 artificial tear drops. That seemed to calm things down. I will not be trying this again. Not worth the risk.

In the meantime, I am proceeding with the Boston Prose people at Cornel Weill here in NYC. I went for a first consultation, but the fitting and trying out of a lens is not until the 30th. The good news is that my insurance will cover the whole thing 100%. This is a big relief since I have already spent so much money on medical services. I'm sure you all know what that's like.

I am worried that the Prose lens will be hard to get used to and uncomfortable, and may not addres the corneal neuralgia. But since so many people seem to do well with it, I will of course give it my total effort.

Hokucat, you seem to be doing well with your Prose lenses. Any advice for a newbie? Thank you!

[Hokucat]

Hey Norabo. Sorry to hear the Lacriserts didn't work, but am glad to hear your insurance will cover the PROSE sclerals 100%. Most people are not as fortunate.

I didn't always do well with the PROSE lenses. Initially they helped a lot, and I thought I had resolved my problem and more comfortably continued working. But then the severity of my dryness continued to get worse, as evidenced by decreasing TBUT and Schirmer scores, making my lenses increasingly uncomfortable to wear. When I was close to zero tear film, at my worst I had 0-1 TBUT and zero Schirmers in both eyes, I could not tolerate wearing my sclerals anymore. They were uncomfortable and hurt as soon as I put them in. It was not until several years later when I got some tear film back after probing and drinking the lemon/tea, was I able to start wearing sclerals again.

So it is possible you may not be able wear sclerals comfortably at this time, but that doesn't mean you never will be able to. Perhaps the right time will be after your eyes get a little better with a few more months on Restasis or the autologous serum tears, or just more natural healing of the nerves over time.

I'm sure the PROSE people will identify and try things to help with the comfort. I've also listed a few things that might help in a past post to someone else in this forum having problems with scleral comfort, which might make more sense to look at once you start going through the fitting process:

http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/forum...his-make-sense

Sounds like you are moving forward. Keep us posted how it goes, or if you have any other questions. Good luck at your appointment.

[hosanna13]

I have severe dry eyes from LASIK (2013). I just started using lacrisert this week myself, so here are my pros/cons:

Pros:
Greatly reduces pain throughout the day, and my eyes *almost* feel normal. I'm a physician and work in drafty hospitals/offices all day, so I was really miserable. The only reason I didn't try lacrisert earlier was because my eyes can't tolerate drops of any kind in general without some kind of major rebound dryness.

In the morning, I'll wet my eyes with preservative-free saline drops (inhalation saline) and place the lacriserts into my lower eyelid pockets using the applicators or my fingers. There are tons of helpful Youtube videos out there that show different techniques.

Cons:
I can only tolerate them for about 6 hours before I have to take them out because the initial 2mm insert ballooned to a gigantic gelatinous blob. Not only does this blob make my vision blurry, they move around and hurt my lower eyelids. I am going to experiment by cutting the lacriserts into smaller pieces.

I, too, have scleral lenses, but find that they are really uncomfortable to wear. I have not used them in years. They may have decreased dry eye pain, but introduced a whole other sensation that I wasn't convinced improved my quality of life. Hope the PROSE lenses work for you.

[Guest]

I just noticed that Lacrisert is now owned by Bausch + Lomb. Does anyone know if this will reduce the prescription price? I have been using Lacrisert for years and because I have a high deductible health care plan the cost of Lacrisert is $400-500 per month if I have not met my deductible. After my deductible is met the cost drops to $100 for a 90 day supply. Bausch + Lomb is offering a coupon good for $35.00 for a one-month prescription through 12/31/2019. It is good for 6 one-month refills.

[Coop14]

Hi wondering if any of you are still using Lacriserts? I have used them for nearly 3 decades with great success so am horrified that production issues see them unavailable until who knows when. Am lookingnfor options but also to get a group together that can gently push for them to reappear sooner rather than later. Thanks all.