permanent damage from restasis?

[HopeItsOkay]

Hello all!

I got LASIK several years ago, and my eyes were slightly drier after the surgery. Nothing too bad, but I need a correction and I was worried it would make my eyes worse. I figured I'd try Restasis first.

I thought it was helping. I would occasionally feel my eyes well up with tears after three months. After more time, however, my eyes were itchier and more uncomfortable than ever before! My eye lids sometimes feel like they're burning on the inside, and it often feels like something is stuck in my eye. I quit taking it, but my eyes still feel awful all the time.

Will my eyes ever go back to normal? What should I do? I really want to get the lasik correction, because itchy eyes and bad vision is the worst, but I hate for my eyes to be unbearable. I wish I had never tried Restasis, but everyone kept saying to give it ruins, and I thought the eyes filling with tears was progress...

[DryLondoner]

Dear HopeItsOkay,

I would never let a refractive surgeon near my eyes again!! Especially as you have some dry eye issues already. My eyes apparently were perfect, I had lots of tears and incredibly healthy eyes. 10 months down the line they look awful and feel tired and heavy.

It's personal experience, but I would embrace the glasses rather than do more damage to something so precious.

[LaDiva]

Hi HopeItsOkay,
I agree with DryLondoner. I had PRK in 2007, and developed severe dry eye in 2010. I have talked to many people who have had refractive surgery and now have dry eyes. Many. It is your decision, but living with severe dry eye is life-changing, painful, and there is no cure. Ultimately I traded wearing glasses for a pair of sealed goggles. The goggles make ANY pair of glasses look glamorous. Whatever you decide, best of luck to you.

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi HopeItsOkay,

1) Are you getting good enough medical help for all these symptoms (dryness, burning, foreign body sensation, itching, it sounds like?) What are they telling you diagnostically? Usually the first step to getting better is finding out exactly what is wrong and... if possible... why.

2) What treatments are you on now? Is anything helping?

3) When you say "itchy eyes and bad vision is the worst"... What exactly is going on with your vision? Can you explain?

If I've understood right that you're looking at getting additional LASIK - that is, that they will lift the flap in one or both eyes and laser them some more, you've got a lot of red flags here. Even if you're not worried about your dry eyes getting worse, I would be concerned about the likelihood of healing properly and getting a good visual outcome from surgery when your eyes are this dry.

Will things ever get back to normal? Not sure. Quite possibly. But, got to get to the bottom of what's going on. It can be really challenging for all of us getting good solid information and even more challenging to get effective treatment... but it's doable