restassis for eye inflammation

[maurice]

I have been suffering from mgd for the last three years. This has led to an ongoing and progressive problem with dry eyes which have had as an unfortunate side effect perpetually red eyes with a spidery network of blood vessels over the surface of my corneas. I
Recently, using a combination of patanol and nutritional supplements, I have been able to relieve much of the discomfort. However, the bloodshot apperarance of my eyes and corneal infammation have persisted.
My question is this:
What can Restasis provide in way of anti-inflammatory properties to offset, reduce, or reverse the appearance of these bloodshot vessels and inflammation?

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi Maurice, welcome to Dry Eye Talk!

How long have you been using the Patanol? I'm no doctor, but if you have a poor quality tear film from the MGD then I would think that regular use of patanol (which has some benzalkonium chloride as a preservative) could be a bit harsh and might even be causing some redness as a result.

Warm compresses, and sometimes oral antibiotics can be very useful for MGD in addition to the omega 3 supplements.

[maurice]

patanol

Thanks for the reply rebecca. Yes, I have been using Patanol for a while now. Sometimes I suspect that there have been instances where it has aggravated the dry eye. Thanks for the info!

[Amy09]

patanol made my dry eyes worse and more red. i would agree that you should try not to take it. if allergies is part of the problem w/ your eyes maybe you should try allergy shots or sudafed non-drying sinus medicine instead.

also, i feel like restasis helps with inflammation more than anything else for me. it definately doesn't completely get rid of the redness. it usually just helps for an hour or two, but it also just really really comforts my eyes. a lot of people would disagree with me, but hey, one thing i've learned while on this site is that different drops work for different people, so its good to give everythinig a try until you find something that provides you with some relief. good luck with everything!

[sazy123]

also, i feel like restasis helps with inflammation more than anything else for me.

AMY: Doctors here tell us that steroids are the best thing to combat inflammation so if steroids havent worked then restasis wont. what was your experiance of steroids coz i know restasis worked well for you? does restasis do the same thing as steroids but just in a stronger dose? i know someone who said steroids didnt work for him but restasis does.

I have some allergies in my eyes and was given patanol a while ago i think it made my eyes feel worse, coz the main problem is the dry eye not allergies unlike what they keep telling me. Ive been on other allergy eye drops for longer peroid and they never helped with the symptoms.

[SusieD]

I would also be interested to hear about that. Will restasis not help if steroids dont? This IS definately the opinion of alot of doctors in the UK.

[Amy09]

sazy, yes I used steroids, but unfortunately, they only helped temporarily w/ inflammation. I took steroid drops called FML a little over a year ago. It would help for a few hours in clearing up my eyes, but then would wear off again. my doctor eventually had me get off of them after about a month because if you take steroids for too long you can have more complications with your eyes.

i definately wouldn't put restasis and steroids in the same category though, atleast when it comes to how each of them made my eyes feel. yes, steroids temporarily cleared up inflammation, but i didn't feel like it really moisturized my eyes like restasis does. also, this probably sounds really gross to say, but the consistancy of the mucus that came out of my eyes when using FML was very very different from the mucus that restasis flushed out.

im not really sure why i feel like restasis helps some w/ inflammation, but so far, it just seems like it kind of does. Since I began using it about a year and a half ago, it is the only things that REALLY flushes out all the mucus I have in my eyes (mucus is one of the problems that causes my inflammation i think). So once the mucus is flushed out, my eyes just feel really clear and clean and moisturized and it seems to clear up inflammation.