First day with Lacrisert's...

[alisonW]

and so far so good. I can't feel them at all and seem to be tolerating them well so far. I pray that these will give me some much needed relief. Thanks so much to member faithfully for mentioning how much they are helping her. I called my doc and asked about them and she said "well, I don't usually recommend them becuase most people say they are horribly uncomfortable but I'll prescribe you a box to try if you want." Geez....yes I want! I thought she was exhausting all options with me....guess not. I'm so thankful for this board or I would never have heard of them!

[liz56]

I'm so glad to hear that they are working! Thanks for keeping us posted.

I hope that your good progress continues, Alison.

--Liz

[msienkiewicz]

I am so glad to hear they are working for you. I have been wearing them to now for about a month. I saw a brochure for them at one of my numerous doctor's and asked about them. He said I didn't qualify. Then, I asked my other doctor, and he said the same thing that your doc did. People don't usually like them; they are too uncomfortable. I am so glad I persisted as I have done very well with them.

Keep us posted with how you are doing. Do you find that you have to add drops with them as well? How many hours do you wear them for? Just curious to see how they work for you.

I have considered wearing one to sleep in my right eye which is the eye that I had the surgery on and has the "scratchy"conjunctiva that is really irritating in the morning. I wonder if this would make the mornings easier. I'm chicken to sleep with them though.

Best wishes,
Melissa

[alisonW]

Thanks...

for the support Liz. I reallyappreciate it.

Today is day two and I am still loving them. My left eye is a bit watery but I'll take that over bone dry any day!

Melissa, yesterday I did use drops twice with them because I woke up extremely dry and didn't insert the lacriserts until around 1:00 in the afternoon. With them in I used drops once. I did remove them at night (around 9:00 p.m.) only because I thought I was supposed to - but after reading the patient insert and their site again I guess they are meant to stay in unless there are problems so tonight I amd going to leave them. Hopefully that will work out all right - I'm a bit nervous about it. I'm glad to hear they are working for you too Melissa.

I'll update on my progress again in a few days or sooner if there are changes.

[msienkiewicz]

Alison,

I also put mine in around one or two. Let me know how you do if you leave them in at night. I'm still too chicken.

Melissa

[alisonW]

Melissa...

I wore the Lacrisert's last night and the worked great! No problems at all. I'm finding I need to use two a day. By last night they had completely dissolved (I put them in at 8:00 a.m.) so I inserted two new ones around 10:00 p.m. This morning they were almost dissolved so I removed the little bit left (they can make my eyes a bit blurry at this point) and put new ones in a few minutes ago. It will be a bit more $ this way, but if it works I'll do it. I still can't feel them at all and the slight irritation I had the first few days is gone. Yay! If anything changes, I'll let you all know. Definitely give them a try at night.

[msienkiewicz]

I am so glad they are working well for you. It's so nice not to be adding drops all the time. I will try them at night as well, especially in my right eye.

Best wishes,
Melissa

[Gretchen]

Redness?

Hi Allison -

I am so glad to hear that the Lacrisert's are working for you. Are they helping at all with the redness?

Thanks,
Gretchen

[alisonW]

Hi Gretchen,

Unfortunately there' no redness relief yet. My eyes look a little glassy today actually - am wondering if my good luck is running out.

From what I've read on the Lacrisert site it takes a few weeks to gain optimal results so I plan on trying to stick it out for at least another week or two. I imagine that getting your eyes used to wearing them is like getting used to wearing contact lenses.

I do hope that if they continue to lubricate my eyes well, and don't irritate me down the road, that some redness relief will come too.

[Mariez]

Success with Lacrisert

My Doctor gave me a sample of Lacrisert to try several weeks ago and I could not get the things in. Every time I would try to insert them they would just pop out. I have very tiny, narrow eyes. I almost gave up on them but I decided to give it one more try. I found that if you follow the directions for inserting exactly as written they will stay in. The most important step is step 5--removing the applicator. After removing the applicator, look down as far as you can, then release the lower lid. Somehow this works like a charm in keeping the cylindrical insert in the bottom lid. I have had them in all day. They are comfortable and I have not had to use eye drops. The redness went away as well. You need to be careful, though, because if you pull down your lower lid after inserting they will pop out.

[izzy3usa2002]

Glad to hear several of you are getting relief with the lacriserts. i am on day 2 with them ad all I can say so far is less redness and I can feel some tears there where before I felt none. At this point i do feel them and it bothers me a bit but I am hanging in there and going to stick with it because the discomfort is no worse the for foreign body sensation with the DES. In fact I don't think it is near as bad. i hope i will be like you and get used to them in a few days. My other eye doctor didn't want to let me try these but I am now on eye doctor #2 and he was very reay to try these gave me a sample and a prescrption so he sems pretty good so far. good luck to us all trying these laciserts, I hope we all find some relief. i am so thankful for this site!

[izzy3usa2002]

Also, I forgot to mention that my eye doctor said it was fine to wear the Lacriserts at night.,the only thing that worrues me is I tend to rub or itch my eyes at times but the doctor assured me if I did that they would just fall out. Also, I use the tranquileyes goggles at night so maybe all will be fine tonight when I give it a try.

[watermelon]

What are Lacricerts? What do they do? Who is a good candidate for them?

[ricmerry]

This thread is encouraging, my doc told me virtually the same thing.
I am very familiar with having uncomfortable eyes all day long, if these help I think I could get used to that.
-Ric

[ringo]

Thank you for sharing your experiences....Does anyone know if Lacrisert is available outside US?