What success have you had with restasis?

[Hopeful2]

Hi everyone,

My doctor talked about putting me on Restasis. From what I have read here, it sounds like Restasis is not very effective at increasing tear production. I am wondering if there are dry eye sufferers who can say that Restasis has definitely helped them? Also, has anyone been able to go off Restasis?

I am desperate for a solution as I had been able to lubricate my eyes with yawning and blinking, however, that seems less effective now. All drops I have tried leave my eye feeling more sore than before the drop. I get a suction like feel to my eye after the drop. I had lower plugs which fell out after a week. Interestingly, I feel drier now than before having had the plugs inserted.

Bella

[y-gwair]

Hi Bella,

I'm not on restasis, I've actually been taking a slightly stronger ointment version of ciclosporin for about a month now. I don't know what effect it will have had on dryness symptoms until I see ophth. next week, but I have noticed a dramatic increase in meibum over the time I've been using it. Previously, if I expressed the glands beads of oil would appear, evenly spaced like studs on a dog collar. Now the beads actually run into one another, and completely cover the margin (apart from a few that have more significant damage, though it may have helped these as well).

I can't really say my eyes feel better, they are pretty sore but unfortunately I'm taking a fairly strong blood pressure medication that worsens dryness, plus the ciclosporin seems to make the eyes a bit sore by itself. As with all these things, how well any treatment works probably depends on one's personal situation, I seem to need something to control inflammation regardless of plugs, lubrication, lid hygiene etc.

[jenny2008]

i am on an increased dose of cyclosporine .2%-=is it helping? hmmm that is the question.. i took restasis for years. it is worth trying.. in my case i am scared to stop it but my eyes are still terribly dry..but i know for some people Restasis works wonders! i would try it

[y-gwair]

My ointment is .2% as well. I have read that in one trial, 0.1% solution was more effective than the 0.05% used in restasis.

Found this study looking at the effects reducing the dose in those using topical ciclosporin long term:

"...patients whose treatment dose was decreased to once daily demonstrated statistically significant improvement in tear break-up time...and lissamine green staining score; fluorescein staining score, Schirmer test results, and ocular surface disease index did not change significantly. Furthermore, the once-daily group demonstrated significantly superior ocular surface disease index compared with the twice daily group. The remaining outcome measures between once daily and twice daily were not significantly different... Seven of 50 patients (14%) in the once-daily group (vs. 0% in the twice-daily group) ended the study early because of worsening dry eye symptoms...and went back to twice-daily dosing."


The Effect of Decreasing the Dosage of Cyclosporine A 0.05% on Dry Eye Disease After 1 Year of Twice-Daily Therapy.

Curious to know what by what mechanism lowering the dose improves "ocular surface disease index"...

[NeedMyEyes]

I took Restasis for 6 months and the only thing I noticed was tons of burning and stinging for about 30 minutes after instillation.

There was one report of Sjogren's patients i think that showed 15% had improved tear production but 5 had improved tear production with just Refresh
Endura (Restasis minus the cyclosporin).

So, in patients who actually have autoimmune inflammation of the lacrimal glands - only 10% had increased tear production with cyclosporin....

I don't have autoimmune anything ... so I guess it wasn't supposed to help my tear production

However, it sounds like y-gwair had improvement of the meibomian glands with Restasis. I have read about that in some papers but I haven't experienced that myself.

Still have a 6 month supply of Restasis sitting in my refrigerator. Don't have the strength to throw it away...

[zoso967]

Restasis

I am on Restasis for the 4th time. The first 2 times (3 mos, 1 year apart - before the winter months) it helped tremendously. On my 3rd try it did nothing but burn my eyes but I had bad dryness and inflammation at the time.

I am on Restasis again. This time I am on month 4 and plan to continue to month 6.
I can say that I don't feel like I am making any more tears but the anti-inflammatory effect seems to make my eyes more comfortable.

On a side note, I noticed marked tearing after instilling Restasis. It is annoying but I can't help but wondering if causing my glands to tear excessively will help to keep them from atrophying buying me more time for a better treatment or cure ...

Finally, I like to instill Restasis while lying down. I try to drop it right at the top of the globe right about where the lacrimal gland is and let it sink in with my eyes closed. I do this until the dropper is empty.

I'm not sure if this is effective or not but it seems to make sense to allow the drop to reach the LG's ...

[Mawsky]

Hi, I was on restasis for about 5-6 months and didn't think I saw much improvement as far as tears. I noticed that my eyes burned like acid about 5-10 minutes after putting them in, and I still am producing no tears. I did have times when my eyes seemed almost normal while I was on it, but then there would be times when they would be just awful, I still have about a box and half, and like other here I cant bring myself to throw it just yet, after I quit, I had a long period where my eyes were great, right now they are not so great, I would try the Restasis, and see if it works for you, I would try anything to see if I could get help, I'm working on getting up the gumption to get my punctums sewn shut, to see if that would help at all (too large to wear plugs) and then I guess if it works they will permently close them. Good luck, I hope it helps you.

[Hopeful2]

Hi,
I saw my lasik doc on Friday and he says he doesn't like to use restasis because he doesn't think it works well enough for enough people. So for now I'm going to pass on it. The lasik doctor did say that he has success with plugs and steroid drops. He did go ahead and offer the plugs which I declined on Friday, but today I am thinking I wish I had gotten them. My eyes at times are so dry that I my only relief comes from shedding tears.
Thanks for your response. Hope the punctum stitching helps.

[FaithO]

Restasis

I have Sjogrens Syndrome and have been on Restasis for over 5 years. I too question how Much it helps, but am afraid to stop it. I can tell you that before Restasis, I was using OTC drops all day long. Now I use Restasis 2x day and GenTeal gel drops and gel mostly at night. As long as I have insurance to cover it, I will probably keep using it. I have leaned a way to make it go farther. I store it in the refrigerator and open one vial at night and place it in a container where the tip doesn't touch anything, then use that same vial upon awakening next morning. I used to use 2 vials a day. I like the cold feeling better too.

[magoo]

Restasis seems to be helping

I was put on Restasis and FML drops about three weeks ago. At first my eyes were very irritated. It turned out that strangely, it was the FML that was irritating and not the Restasis. I had the same reactiion to another steroid drop a few years ago.

Anyway, today for the second day in a row I woke up without having to peel my eyelids off my eyeballs. This has not happened twice in a row for probably a couple of years. In general, my eyes are feeling better.

I have had hopes dashed in the past, as many of us have had, but so far I am feeling more hopeful than I have in a long, long time.

About five years ago an ophthalmologist put me on Restasis. (my eyes at that time were no where near as bad as they are now) After a month I simply asked him if they could be irritating my eyes. His reply: "Yes, stop using them' and put in plugs that day - which did no good at all. I only learned on this forum that it can take a very long time to get results from Restasis. The irritation I was asking him about was mild and I would have had no problem continuing using them. Apparently he did not know how long it could take for results. sigh.....

[y-gwair]

Curious about the irritation. I'm not using restasis, but veterinary ointment with 0.2 % ciclosporin in a corn oil/soft paraffin base. I don't find it stings at all on application (I had problems with lacrilube which I found very irritating, much nicer to use than this) but about 12 hours after applying, my eyes start to feel very dry and start to burn. This lasts for a couple of hours then wears off. I've tried varying the time I put it in, and find the burning phase always happens with the same time gap. It's not pleasant, but doesn't sound like the intense burning that people seem to suffer with restasis, maybe there is some addition irritation from the other ingredients in the suspension?

[kez123]

I would try Restasis. If you don't like it, or feel like it isn't helping, then you can always stop. Trust me, the sooner you try it, the better. Don't wait until there are blood vessels starting to grow into your cornea like I did...

Restasis seems to work for some people, and it's definitely worked for me. For me, it's the difference between being able to look at a computer screen, and not being able to tolerate a computer without drops every 10 min.

[dave25]

I would try Restasis. If you don't like it, or feel like it isn't helping, then you can always stop. Trust me, the sooner you try it, the better. Don't wait until there are blood vessels starting to grow into your cornea like I did...

Restasis seems to work for some people, and it's definitely worked for me. For me, it's the difference between being able to look at a computer screen, and not being able to tolerate a computer without drops every 10 min.

I agree 100%. Since everyone is different it is hard to tell what will work for you specifically. I think Restasis is at least worth trying. I have been using Restasis for about 4 years now and it has made a noticeable difference in how my eyes feel.

[bvendig]

my doctor told me something interesting about restasis

Hi All
I saw my doctor today and he asked if i was still using restasis.
i said that i am even though i don't think it helps.
he said it's important to continue using it anyway because without it my eyes would get even dryer. he said that the constant inflammation from dry eye causes them to get even dryer.
i had never heard that before but just wanted to mention it.
Betty

My doctor talked about putting me on Restasis. From what I have read here, it sounds like Restasis is not very effective at increasing tear production. I am wondering if there are dry eye sufferers who can say that Restasis has definitely helped them? Also, has anyone been able to go off Restasis?

I am desperate for a solution as I had been able to lubricate my eyes with yawning and blinking, however, that seems less effective now. All drops I have tried leave my eye feeling more sore than before the drop. I get a suction like feel to my eye after the drop. I had lower plugs which fell out after a week. Interestingly, I feel drier now than before having had the plugs inserted.

Bella[/QUOTE]

[bakunin]

Hi everyone,

My doctor talked about putting me on Restasis. From what I have read here, it sounds like Restasis is not very effective at increasing tear production. I am wondering if there are dry eye sufferers who can say that Restasis has definitely helped them? Also, has anyone been able to go off Restasis?

I am desperate for a solution as I had been able to lubricate my eyes with yawning and blinking, however, that seems less effective now. All drops I have tried leave my eye feeling more sore than before the drop. I get a suction like feel to my eye after the drop. I had lower plugs which fell out after a week. Interestingly, I feel drier now than before having had the plugs inserted.

Bella

Bela,

I have the very same problem with eyedrops. My eyes get sorer after using them, including Endura (Restasis is Endura plus cyclosporine). The doctor I saw today suggested me to start with Restasis. I made schimer and it was 10 in one eye and 3 in the other.

My question is: what have made you feel better nowadays, if so?