Zylet - Why is this working and is it safe?

[watermelon]

I have been having such trouble with my eyes for awhile now. I had plugs put in a couple of weeks ago and had to have one of them removed a week ago due to an infection and level of discomfort.

The doc put me in Zylet 4x a day. I finally feel a great improvement. Both eyes feel about the same right now - one with plus and one without.

I wonder if the Zylet got rid of an infection going on in both my eyes that it cleared up and now feels better, or if it reduced the inflammation in both due to dry eyes (due to Graves and allergies)

I am wondering why this worked more than anything else I tried to date? And now that it does work, can I ever get off it?

What side effects should I be wary of? I will see the doc in a couple more weeks. Is there anything I should know to ask?

[calli66]

I hadn't heard of this before. I found the ingredient list:

Actives: Loteprednol Etabonate 5 mg (0.5%) and Tobramycin 3 mg (0.3%). Inactives: Edetate Disodium, Glycerin, Povidone, Purified Water, Tyloxapol, and Benzalkonium Chloride 0.01% (preservative). Sulfuric Acid and/or Sodium Hydroxide may be added to adjust the pH to 5.7-5.9. The suspension is essentially isotonic with a tonicity of 260 to 320 mOsmol/kg.

"topical anti-inflammatory corticosteroid and antibiotic combination"---it cut down on the inflammation and cleared up the infection for you.

It contains the preservative Benzalkonium Chloride, which is not good to use long-term (I don't have a definition for "long term"--maybe somebody else knows these guidelines). More than a couple of months would likely be too much.

As to why this helped, and other drops didn't, it's anybody's guess. Companies like Bausch and Lomb are continually improving their products---read this description here. The same info is in the package insert. It sounds like this medication has exactly the combination of ingredients to help your specific situation.

Likely your doctor won't have you on it very long, so the key is to find what's causing the inflammation/infection and treat that. It's good to have this sort of med on hand for when you have flare-ups. I keep several meds like this in my fridge that I use occasionally. I have enough experience with my eyes to know pretty much when they're inflamed or mildly infected---then I'll use it once a day for a few days. If things get really bad, I go to the doctor, though.

C

[msienkiewicz]

Calli,

I was wondering about that. I have some lotemax and zylet that is not out of date. Does it go bad once opened? I have kept the lotemax in the fridge and it is still in date, but I used it approx 6 months ago. Would it be OK to use in a flare?

Melissa

[Lucy]

Melissa, my Michigan friend.........I think the docs like you to use fresh drops if you have an infection. If you've used the drops for a week or so and maybe twice a day, I'd think it would be contaminated. And you should throw it out.. You should only be using this with your drs instruction. Or call your pharmacist and ask him.
Lucy, from Michigan's west side.

[watermelon]

Can infections cause excessive tearing even without pus? I guess this is a question for my doctor - but I am wondering if it may be possible if an infection could have been causing my eyes to be so traumatized for the last few months that until I got a drop with antibiotic nothing else really worked. My gut is that the infection made it worse and now is cleared but the anti inflammatory is the main helper.

Is it possible to need anti-inflamatory to stay well?

[calli66]

Calli,

I was wondering about that. I have some lotemax and zylet that is not out of date. Does it go bad once opened? I have kept the lotemax in the fridge and it is still in date, but I used it approx 6 months ago. Would it be OK to use in a flare?

Melissa

Hi. I sort of wrote before I thought. I do keep my meds that I don't use too often in the fridge (except for Dwelle). I've even mentioned that I do this to my eye doctor, and he didn't even comment. So I guess you could ask your doctor's opinion. I'm personally not afraid of using them, but you never know. I think I probably add more bacteria to my eyes with the amount of fiddling, wiping, and digging-of-crud than a little bottle would add, but that's my excuse.

Even so, they do put preservatives in the drops and ointments for this purpose---so they have a shelf-life. They don't become immediately contaminated just because you've opened them. But the amount in most bottles is pretty small, so you probably end up using most of it up fairly quickly and it's not worth saving the rest.

C

[msienkiewicz]

Thanks for the responses. Just wishing I could get my left eye to cooperate more. It seems to need an extra push that the restasis is just not giving. Do want to give the dwelle a try as mornings are my worst time of day.

May have to go see doc again soon. Winter is coming....

Best wishes to all,
Melissa