Do sclerals lessen the pain of MGD?

[MLE]

Hi everyone,

Long story, but I have both ATD (STT of around 2) and MGD, but the MGD is by far the worst part of my disease. When I have a flare-up I get tons of reflex tearing, stinging, am confined to goggles, can't even read, and my eyes feel like "peeled grapes". I've tried everything- surgeries, probing, bandage lenses, and nothing works- at least long term. Sjogren's syndrome has been ruled out by both salivary gland biopsies and bloodwork, and allergies are the only thing that seem to be left responsible for this misery. Unfortunately, I can't tolerate allergy shots because they provoked such severe eye pain and allergy meds don't seem to be enough.

Yeah. Screwed.

So my question:

For those of you with sclerals AND MGD, do the scleral lenses help lessen the signs of MGD (burning, stinging, reflex tearing etc?) I'm about ready to accept the fact that I'm "end stage" and considering scleral lenses just to lessen my pain- but wanted to hear from others with MGD before I go through this very extensive and expensive process.

Thanks,
MLE

[Rebecca Petris]

MLE,

Not so much from personal experience, and definitely not a professional opinion... consider this hearsay from conversations/observation: I think that one of the 'wild card' factors with MGD and sclerals is to what extent all the discomfort is coming from the cornea - as opposed to, say, the underside of the eyelids. Sclerals are awesome for the cornea, but they are also a large object in the eye and so they can occasionally present issues for special cases with very tender eyelids, very tight eyelids, etc. giving a step-forward, step-backward end result.

nothing works- at least long term

Out of curiosity... what works best short-term?

[MLE]

Probing. Probably the most dramatic change I've had, but lasted only a few months. I should add that my Mgd pain is on my ocular surface- my lids never really bother me. Daily disposable CLs have provided some relief too, and I am able to wear them because of punctal cautery. But still the relief is incomplete.

[Reggie]

Although I've never had much pain in my eyelids, I've been told my evaporative dry eye is cause by MGD by Dr. Johns at BFS and Dr. Latkany in New York. PROSE has helped me tremendously but my symptoms don't appear to be severe as yours. The thing about scleral lenses is that you'll never know if they can benefit you till you are fitted with them.

[sazy123]

MLE,

Not so much from personal experience, and definitely not a professional opinion... consider this hearsay from conversations/observation: I think that one of the 'wild card' factors with MGD and sclerals is to what extent all the discomfort is coming from the cornea - as opposed to, say, the underside of the eyelids. Sclerals are awesome for the cornea, but they are also a large object in the eye and so they can occasionally present issues for special cases with very tender eyelids, very tight eyelids, etc. giving a step-forward, step-backward end result.


Out of curiosity... what works best short-term?

Thats exactly it.

I have sore, inflammed inner eyelids. I tried Sclerals and although i had no burning on the ocular surface. I couldnt tolerate them because they irritated my eyelids and my eyelids felt worse. Also there was still a dry feeling.