Had a plugged pulled out!

[Missy]

Over the past couple of weeks I had noticed that my right eye was feeling really irritated and red some mornings. Then one day I woke up and it was blood red and stuck together - with gunk, not sleep gel. Well a few days later (Friday) this happened again. I looked very closely at my eyes and I noticed that the plug in the right one looked like it was poking out to far and irritating my eye. My regular eye doctor couldn't see me on that day so I called up my lasik place and made them work me in. The doctor looked at my eye and said that the plug was coming out and had gotten kinda sideways. He then pulled it out with a pair of tweezers. I have been a little panicked over this because I'm afraid that my eye is going to get horrible at any moment without the plug, but for the most part so far it has been okay. He wants for me to try to leave it unplugged for a while and see if it does okay. He went on and on about how great the Restasis I'm using is and that it may help that eye more if it is unplugged. I don't know about this but I'm trying it. Thankfully in a couple of days if I want he said that he will re-plug that eye.

[shells]

Hi Missy!

I hope that your eyes stay comfortable without the plug. Maybe you won't even need to get it put back in! After finally thinking mine were settled, I was scratching my eye a few weeks ago, and pulled one of them right out. It was floating around in my lower eyelid and I messed with it for about 20 minutes and actually was able to put it back in myself. I thought my doctor would freak when I told her, but she said I did the right thing. I was pretty shocked. Last time she put one in she even gave me the applicator thing and told me to adjust them if they were poking out and scratching my eye! Maybe she was just sick of seeing me so much and figured I could handle it myself! Anyway, good luck and I hope it all works out OK.

-Shells

[kitty]

So sorry to hear about the plug problem but I am glad you got in and got it taken care of. Recent literature suggests that Restasis + plugs is more effective than either Restasis or plugs alone. Give it a bit of time but because of this research, you might want to consider having that plug replaced.

[Missy]

Thanks guys!
So far my right eye is doing okay. It was scary though... when he pulled the plug out and told me that he wasn't going to replace it, I kinda freaked out. I think that that eye feels a little dryer but not too much worse.

Shells, Your doctor must have a lot faith in you to let you adjust your plugs. I've always been scared to touch mine!