Permanent plugs

[patrick]

Some three weeks ago i had permanent plugs inserted.
I felt immediate relief and was very happy with them. It honestly was a hughe improvement in comparisson to the period before where i did not have plugs.
However after approximately two weeks the relief got lesser and lesser until the point my eyes hurt as never before!
Couldn't really understand what possibly causes the incredible discomfort i currently experience.
That was untill yesterday. i did a quick inspection at the magnifying mirror an to my horror i saw while i did express a few glands they were all clogged with hardened meibum! Not as severe as it ever was,but still. I haven't had any clogged glands for months since i did a three months course of doxy at the end of 2012.
I think you can all understand my disappointment when i saw all these clogged glands.
I now do know where the increased pain comes from though. Still don't like it at all of course.
Could this have anything to do with the permanent plugs i have in at the moment? Which would surprise me bit since my eyes have been more moist lately. my guess is there has been better lubrication and less friction between my eyelids and cornea.
I was also told to use systane balance up to 6 times per day since i had the permanent plugs in. I did this religiously,but i've now quit these drops. I did not feel very much relief of them and i'm a little afraid they've caused my meibomian glands to react the way they did. Could this be? Don't know anymore..

Anyone here who can clearify this for me a bit?
Any input is very much appreciated..

Patrick

[zuzu70]

Patrick, I've never had permanent plugs so I don't have much wisdom on the subject, but I always feel bad when no one replies to a post I've posted, so I wanted to chime in. I don't know for sure if the Systane caused your glands to clog, but I do know that Systane is one of the drops with oil in them (I believe Sytane and Soothe have synthetic oils, and Optive Advanced has castor oil). Could perhaps the oil in the Systane be plugging up your glands? I never use drops unless my eyes feel like they really need them. (To me, my regular tears feel so much better and less irritating than drops...plus my puncta are so big that drops drain out pretty fast anyway.)

Have/had you been doing a warm wet compress to keep your glands open?

[Tankie]

Hi Patrick,

I personally doubt that the plugs have blocked your glands. The systane might have had a negative effect, although I have to admit I'd be surprised to hear this. My recommendation would be to stay off drops as much as possible (or all together if you can) for a few days, and just stick to hot compresses and lots of blinking and see how you do. Obviously if it's unbearable then by all means put drops in or whatever else makes you feel better, but I would think that you should try to let your natural tears do the lubrication. One other piece of advice, try to never use the TV or computer for a few days. It helps some people a lot.

[patrick]

Hello,thanks for your replies!

Hi Zuzu; its very nice of you to reply. I really appreciate it. I actually don't feel bad if nobody replies because i can very well understand that maybe at times i can post a thread that is very important to me,but is not at all important to someone else. I can understand that very well. No hard feelings.
Many times i'd like to respond to someone else's posts,but i'm a little hesitated because obviously english is not my native language and it takes me quite some time to make a decent and readable post without a bunch of misspellings in it. ( i'm sure there still are numerous faults in it,but i hope it is somewhat understandable english)
My eyes often feel not very good to say at least,so my computer time is fairly limited and i just can't afford to spend too long at the computerscreen.
You're right about the drops. Many people already recommended various eyedrops to me,but honestly i never in all this time had one drop that did anything for me. Literally! They all made my eyes feel worse. Maybe its just me,but i see this remarkably often on these boards. Lubrication drops in many cases of dry eye are not all that effective.
I am aware that warm compresses are THE most important treatment for mgd and i do warm compresses as often as i possibly can,but i have to admit that i slack off at times. It is so time consuming and i sometimes just don't have the time to do them. Or after a long day i'm too tired. I then just want to brush my teeth an go to bed asap. I know,wrong! I'll try to better my life in that respect.

Hi tankie; i fully agree. Its my plan to quit drops all together (already did) and just stick with the warm compresses maybe twice a day initially. Later on i want to lower the frequency to once a day and in a few weeks to a month i want to bring that to three times per week and keep it that way for a much longer period.
Using the computer,i have an i-pad btw. And tv as little as possible is quite a difficult task i have to admit. It is amazing to see how dependent we have become on these devices! Unbelievable. I'm sure however that it could help tremendously. At times my eyes hurt as much from eye strain as they do from plain dryness. Oh man what a mess! By now its even getting hard to remember the time i did not have any eyeproblems at all. There actually were times i even didn't feel my eyes were there. I had them,they were fully functional and never ever hurt. Pff,that was once. I most certainly looked different then to....

Patrick.

[patrick]

Oops,accidently posted this twice. Sorry for that. Can't find how to delete one of these posts...

[DCRdryeye]

My ophthalmologist who treats dry eye said MGD and ATD go together. So if you have more lubrication, it should assist the MGD and vice-versa. But then, recently I read that anyone with MGD should not wear plugs (an Australian dry eye specialist gave me that information, but didn't explain why).

[soaps]

Umm that is very conflicting info by drs. I feel like we r left to solve a who dunnit mystery ourselves .
My glands are horribly blocked and nothing works so perhaps its those pesky plugs . but the plugs manage pain.

Im sorry i have no real answers.

[patrick]

Hi there,

Thanks for responding!
I think it indeed is a case of trial and error.
What works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.
What i've learned in the course of time is that info provided by different doctors commonly is conflicting.
And the one and only explanation for that is that opthalmologists really don't have a clue what to do with mgd and dry eye issues in general. They just don't have a clue.
Asking an opthalmologist to fix your dry eye issues is somewhat similar to asking a monkey to fly a jet plane.
Something in the back of your head is telling you its gonna be disaster...
I generally consider myself as a very reasonable and patient guy,but at times i really get so fed up with all this that i can't stand it anymore. Sorry for that. I hate to sound negative. Its unfair to rant like this,but it is what it is..

Btw. Soaps,i don't know what this hymnbook is,but i'll look into it later on today. Promise. Thanks in advance..

Patrick.

[DCRdryeye]

Soaps, have you had your meibomian glands probed then expressed in the one session yet? Also try the new thick drop for MGD and ATD that hank posted on here (we got this information from an australian ophthalmologists, he uses it on his patients). It's called Optimel, here is the link: http://www.melcare.com/optimel.html - the beauty about this product is it's not your normal drop that evaporates after a few minutes. It's TREATING the cause of the problem since it has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. A colleague of mine is trialling it and found his eyes haven't felt better in years.

[soaps]

Thanks Patrick. u made me laugh. yes disaster alert - wish it was on wen i had lasik . i agree drs give conflicting info even conflict their own info. So therefore i have now reached a comfortable but non functioning stage and very hesitant to try anything else. I remember reading early on on some post that perhaps its time that healed not all the millions of drops .

Those drops look interesting but redness is a possible side effect and my eyes r bad enough. i wil ask Dr.
Which Dr recommended this if u don't mind me asking in Sydney ? Pm me if u prefer.
I havnt had probing but just expressed in Dr visits. Expression is very poor and quality is poor.

[HNautumn]

Soaps it is good that you have reached comfortable level. I have PRK surgery 1 year ago and have severe dry eye since. May I ask what is your current treatment?

[vinnieblanco]

Any improvement in using the new manuka honey optimel eye drops? has anyone here have tried this product?