MGD(Ocular Rosacea) & 4 plugs question

[GeorgeT]

Hi,
Six weeks with 4 plugs were by best in the last year, although I had to wipe off my eyes many times. I have used no drops, only doxy every day and fish oil. I just realized some pain in my right eye for two days and significant redness under my lower eyelid.
I know that Dr. Latkany did not advice 4 plugs for ocular rosacea, but my pain was too much.
Is there anyone with ocular rosacea and 4 plugs? Does really plugs trap bad tears on the eye?
Thank you!!

George

[Natalie06]

Ocular rosacea and plugs

George, I too have been told I have "potential" ocular rosacea. It seems to go hand in hand with Meibomian Gland disorder..though I don't know what came first. The specialist I am seeing does not want to plug me for exactly that reason. If you have any type of inflammation, then a stagnant tear pool is literally trapping debris in your eyes.

I can tell you that within 4 weeks of being plugged (after developing severe dry eye after Lasik) the standing tears in my eyes no longer felt soothing. Even though they were full of tears, my the surface of my eyes were burning, almost like they were inflamed. And then the tears started to dry up. And then the intense itching of my upper eyelids started. But I wasn't on Doxy until after that happened.

I asked the specialist at my appointment this past Thursday about being plugged again and she really doesn't want to do it. Since I have zero tear production it probably wouldn't do much good anyway.

I can't address your specific situation but be on the look out. If your eyes continue to get worse, you may need to be "unplugged".

Are you doing lid scrubs and hot compresses to keep the glands flowing? That can help a lot.

Natalie

[GeorgeT]

Hi Natalie,
Thank you so much for your answer.
Have you tried doxy?
I just started restatis, hoping that I can replace doxy....
All the best !!

George

[Natalie06]

George

Yes, I am still on Doxy, 100 mg a day. It definitely helps. As soon as I stop it, the intense itching and swollen eyelids start up again. The specialist says I will be on it at least until September but I suspect it will be longer. Maybe if I can tolerate the restasis, I'll be able to stop the antibiotic.
Natalie

[GeorgeT]

Hi,
Doxy helps me too. Especially the blurriness.
I stopped doxy a week ago. I've been on it for 12 weeks.
Meanwhile, restatis burns me very much and makes me tear more. I am very disappointed.
Have you already tried restatis?

George

Yes, I am still on Doxy, 100 mg a day. It definitely helps. As soon as I stop it, the intense itching and swollen eyelids start up again. The specialist says I will be on it at least until September but I suspect it will be longer. Maybe if I can tolerate the restasis, I'll be able to stop the antibiotic.
Natalie

[Maya]

Ocular rosacea ?

Hey everybody ..

Iīve been suffering from severely dry eyes for almost two years now.

Being very foolish, I started to use whitening drops because I noticed my eyes were getting itchy, red and irritated quite easily.. and now I have big veins all over in the sclera and the conjunctiva, that are permanently dilated, and these are are definitely a result of these drops. I donīt think that time alone will make it better, because I think thereīs permanment damage..even though I didnīt use any whitening drops for two years now, the redness and dryness have gotten worse.. I notice more and more tiny blood vessels appearing on the surface of the sclera and in the conjunctiva as well. If it had stopped or gotten betrter with stopping Visine etc, I would not worry that much. Iīm afraid!
Now I have constant pain in my eyes, sometimes I cannot even keep my eyes open because everything just hurts !

After trying all the lubricating drops available, and totally changed towards a healthy lifestyle, consulted dozens of eye docs (who, like always, didnīt care or didnīt know what to do) I found an eye doctor who specialises in laser treatments, he put four smart plugs in my tear ducts and promised me that he would treat me with laser to close the red veins, which would make the straining and burning sensations disappear as a result..
How naive I was ! In the midst of the third laser session he suddenly told me, that he canīt help me, because these veins sit in my sclera, and my condition was probably inherited, told me that I sooner or later will develop deep varicose veins in my legs, and then he said goodbye ( up to then , he had already made me pay lots of money for his `treatments`).

Today I was wondering... I looked at my mothers` eyes, and I noticed that her eyes too are full of permanent veins..and her skin always appears `flushed`, and she gets little bumps on it. She always complains about her skin and tries to cover it with make up. Then I noticed that her dadīs face is red as wel and he has many tiny dilated veins in it. So I looked on the internet, I found, they both probably have ROSACEA, an inflamatory skin condition that can start in childhood, and seems to affect the eyes about 50% in patients diagnosed with the disorder. Well, Iīve noticed for long that my face gets red much more easily than in other people. Hm, Iīm wondering. Has anybody else here noticed his/her skin to easily get red ? I just started to read a bit on the internet.

Could it be, that I have ocular rosacea ?
I think I have to go consult someone who is a specialist for rosacea, hopefully, if it turns out I inherited it from my mother, there is something out there that can help..me, my mum and my grandpa.
Does anybody know what to do in this case ?
Does anybbody know a specialist for this condition ?

Please help !
Maya

[GeorgeT]

Hi,
Seems that you did not find the right doctor yet.
If you read throughout this forum you'll see that ocular rosacea pts generally use doxy and/or restatis. I don't particularly have acne rosacea but I had acne in the past. Doxy works good for me.
You can also find a good doctor searching this forum. There are a few dry eye clinics in the US.
All the best!

George