how do you feel when you have permanent silicone umbrella plugs?

[tealeaf]

Chella,

Yes, I truly understand how desperate you are to get out of this DES misery. Same here. How long have you been experiencing dry eyes?
May I know which part of Asia are you staying in? I wonder is gum cellulose available in Singapore, where I stay.

Yes, I am still using the permanent plugs with cap. They are less irritating now. But the effect is really marginal. At times, I do feel the tears retained but by lunch time, I have to start using eye drops every 2 hourly.

Do you experience good effect from the plugs? How often do you have to apply eye drops?

[chella21279]

Chella,

Yes, I truly understand how desperate you are to get out of this DES misery. Same here. How long have you been experiencing dry eyes?
May I know which part of Asia are you staying in? I wonder is gum cellulose available in Singapore, where I stay.

Yes, I am still using the permanent plugs with cap. They are less irritating now. But the effect is really marginal. At times, I do feel the tears retained but by lunch time, I have to start using eye drops every 2 hourly.

Do you experience good effect from the plugs? How often do you have to apply eye drops?

Its only been about a month and a half for me. I feel like its been forever

Are you asian as well? I actually don't live in asia. I live in Chicago, Illinois. According to the pharmacist I spoke to gum cellulose is actually really well known overseas. I believe he said in Europe though but I'm not sure. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to obtain it in Singapore.

Did you experience the same outcome when using the temporary plugs? I sort of feel the same with the plugs. They're helping but not by much. I still feel the grittiness/itchiness. But at least I'm not blinking every second.

In conjunction with the gum cellulose, I also use Refresh Optive (non preservative). I use the gum cellulose about 2-3 times a day in the right eye. And about 4-6 times a day of the Refresh Optive in both eyes. Not terrible, considering i was using drops every 20 minutes for the first month.

[spmcc]

I wonder is gum cellulose available in Singapore, where I stay.

I believe that gum cellulose (aka methyl cellulose, CMC) is often used as a vehicle or base for active ingredients. For example, I had cyclosporine compounded in methyl cellulose to make "Restasis". So, your best bet is to contact a compounding pharmacy and ask if they have it. And, actually, I usually don't hear of it being used on its own, but it makes sense since its supposed to be hypoallergenic and nontoxic (mine was also preservative free so it had to be kept refrigerated and used up within a certain amount of time).

Good luck.

[tealeaf]

SPMCC,
If I am already using Restasis, then gum cellulose should be already in it.

Chella,
Yes, I am an asian.

1 day of DES seems like forever, I fully understand. Guess, plugs help only marginally. I still feel the grittiness on and off. I cannot take Refresh Optive, it creates a "tight" feeling on my eyes.

[spmcc]

SPMCC,
If I am already using Restasis, then gum cellulose should be already in it.

Restasis is cyclosprine in castor oil. What I was saying was when I got *compounded* cyclosporine ("Restasis" in quotations meaning *fake restasis*), the compounding pharmacy put the cyclosporine in methyl cellulose (gum cellulose). So, if you contact a compounding pharmacy you may find that they carry gum cellulose which could be prescribed by itself as an eye drop.

[tealeaf]

spmcc,

Oh I see, ok thanks for the information

[BlueAboutRed]

Dear all,

The previous 1 month, I used temporary dissolvable plugs in lower tear ducts and could feel some improvement in my eyes. As the plugs keep dissolving, I have proceeded to put in permanent silicone plug with cap yesterday.

Question here is that I feel my eyes drier than before the plugs ... is it still early days? When I had temporary plugs, within 24 hours, I felt my eyes more comfortable (though not a lot but I could feel some improvement), but with this permanent ones, I feel drier and have menthol sensation. Is it because the eyes are still adjusting to the cap (There was abrasion in my eyes yesterday but today, abrasion is much lesser)? Anybody has issue with this? I also feel a bit of itch near the area of tear ducts, it is normal?

My opth. did not measure my tear ducts, she simply put in the smallest plugs (Odyssey Parasol Small - 0.35 to 0.65mm).

Appreciate your kind response. Thanks!

Hello Tealeaf. I've had silicone plugs with caps in my lower puncta for about 3 months now. I have good and bad days with them. Some days my eyes feel comfortable and well-lubricated and somedays they don't. I'm not sure where you're feeling the menthol sensation, in your eyes, in your nose or both, but I have that as well. It seems to be from the corners of my eyes closest to my nose and also in my nose. I believe I may be feeling this menthol sensation due to dryness I'm experiencing in my nose and nasal passages due to the reduced amount of tears draining into my nose because of the plugs. While I've been told by both my ophthalmologist and my ENT doctor that they don't believe reduced tear drainage affects the sinuses, I believe it does. I've read where several others on here have also had sinus issues with plugs. I will find the name of that thread and edit it into my post here.

The name of the other thread I posted to about the dryness is: "Punctal plugs and nasal passage discomfort"