Tweet
Hello everyone. What a great site this is. I have ready many of your stories and I am truly moved and inspired. I will share my story in hopes of finding some more answers, and maybe being an active part of this community will prove to be cathartic.
I am 28 years old and moved to Boston just over 3 months ago to start my residency in Anesthesiology. I moved from Florida where I did medical school and a year of internal medicine. On my second day of work, I entered an operating room to setup with UV lights on, which are intended (not much proof exists) to help sterilize the operating room. I didn't know I supposed to be wearing UV protective goggles. I was exposed to this light for maybe a little over 15 minutes. That night I noticed a severe dry eye feeling, like I was closing my eye on sandpaper. I experienced photophobia and had rope like discharge from my eyes. The photophobia has for the most part gone away, but I continue to have some white rope like discharge from my eyes. My eyes continue to feel like there is sand in them almost 24 hrs a day and very frequently I feel like there is a foreign body in my eyes. These symptoms are remarkably disabeling. I struggle on a daily basis and have started to get very severe daily headaches. I have seen several ophthalmologists and after about three months have started to see some very mild relief of my daytime symptoms. I sympathize with all those who write about their conditions on this forum, because there are no words to explain how terrible this condition can be. In fact, I don't even both to tell those close to me, including my employer (where I was injured), the true extent of how I feel because I fear that I would try to explain myself and it would fall of deaf ears or be viewed as an excuse. In my opinion this is truly one of the hardest psychological effects of this disease, as many of you know and have written about.
I will detail what I have tried and what I think has provided me with some success in hopes of helping others. I have read many of the journal articles on this topic and have become incredibly well versed on the medical literature since as a physician I have access to it. I think it is crucial to find a compassionate ophthalmologist who is well versed on dry eye, as some practictioners may not be as up to date on this topic. About a month ago I had my lower ducts plugged without any relief and this was followed by my upper ducts being plugged about 2 weeks ago. Along with my upper ducts being plugged they started me on restasis. The restasis has made a significant improvement in many of my symptoms, including the sand like feeling and foreign body sensation. Since all of my ducts are plugged I get significant tearing during the day which blurs my vision and makes work as a resident in anesthesiology very difficult. Despite having lots of tear production this did not relieve my symptoms. About 10 days after I started the restasis the quality of my tear became thicker and my symptoms improved somewhat as I mentioned. I am still using Lotemax (steroid drop) which I have been using now for almost 6 weeks. I also use ketorolac drops about 15 minutes before placing the restasis as this not only helps with burning but also has been shown in a study to improve the occular surface conditions associated with dry eye. Lastly, I have been using zaditor for when my eyes feel itchy and this seems to help as well as Theratears fish oil supplement. For me none of the tear supplements have helped and in fact many of them made my eyes burn and feel worse. I do use Refresh Endura (purchased online from a canadian pharmacy, as is now off the market in the US) as needed. The Refresh Endura is the carrier solution of restasis, so it does not have the active ingredient of cyclosporine, but is otherwise the same.
I would be very interested to hear if any others feel their dry eye was caused by exposure to UV light, whether in a tanning bed or maybe even from snow blindeness or other sources. I continue to struggle with severe nighttime symptoms and have recently started using the tranquileyes with hope that this will help. There is some medical literature out there to suggest that systemic/oral cyclosporine (active ingredient of restasis) is very therapuetic for the most severe cases. I'm interested if anyone has tried this or oral steroids (to my knowledge no literature on oral steroids). I'm curious if anyone has experience with serum eye drops or vitamin A eye drops. There is some literature that suggests vit A drops may be as effective as restasis which is not very well known. Maybe the restasis in combo with Vit A would be very benficial as they work via two different mechanisms. I'm optomistic about this and curious about others' experience with either serum drops or Vit A.
If anyone has a good suggestion for moisture glasses/goggles please let me know. Dry eye is a terrible thing with enormous consequences, but I'm still hopeful that I can manage my symptoms and continue my medical career. I must admit there are times where this seems impossible. I hope to hear what others have done which helps and I hope to provide some additional insight given my medical background.
Wish for relief for all,
Todd
I am 28 years old and moved to Boston just over 3 months ago to start my residency in Anesthesiology. I moved from Florida where I did medical school and a year of internal medicine. On my second day of work, I entered an operating room to setup with UV lights on, which are intended (not much proof exists) to help sterilize the operating room. I didn't know I supposed to be wearing UV protective goggles. I was exposed to this light for maybe a little over 15 minutes. That night I noticed a severe dry eye feeling, like I was closing my eye on sandpaper. I experienced photophobia and had rope like discharge from my eyes. The photophobia has for the most part gone away, but I continue to have some white rope like discharge from my eyes. My eyes continue to feel like there is sand in them almost 24 hrs a day and very frequently I feel like there is a foreign body in my eyes. These symptoms are remarkably disabeling. I struggle on a daily basis and have started to get very severe daily headaches. I have seen several ophthalmologists and after about three months have started to see some very mild relief of my daytime symptoms. I sympathize with all those who write about their conditions on this forum, because there are no words to explain how terrible this condition can be. In fact, I don't even both to tell those close to me, including my employer (where I was injured), the true extent of how I feel because I fear that I would try to explain myself and it would fall of deaf ears or be viewed as an excuse. In my opinion this is truly one of the hardest psychological effects of this disease, as many of you know and have written about.
I will detail what I have tried and what I think has provided me with some success in hopes of helping others. I have read many of the journal articles on this topic and have become incredibly well versed on the medical literature since as a physician I have access to it. I think it is crucial to find a compassionate ophthalmologist who is well versed on dry eye, as some practictioners may not be as up to date on this topic. About a month ago I had my lower ducts plugged without any relief and this was followed by my upper ducts being plugged about 2 weeks ago. Along with my upper ducts being plugged they started me on restasis. The restasis has made a significant improvement in many of my symptoms, including the sand like feeling and foreign body sensation. Since all of my ducts are plugged I get significant tearing during the day which blurs my vision and makes work as a resident in anesthesiology very difficult. Despite having lots of tear production this did not relieve my symptoms. About 10 days after I started the restasis the quality of my tear became thicker and my symptoms improved somewhat as I mentioned. I am still using Lotemax (steroid drop) which I have been using now for almost 6 weeks. I also use ketorolac drops about 15 minutes before placing the restasis as this not only helps with burning but also has been shown in a study to improve the occular surface conditions associated with dry eye. Lastly, I have been using zaditor for when my eyes feel itchy and this seems to help as well as Theratears fish oil supplement. For me none of the tear supplements have helped and in fact many of them made my eyes burn and feel worse. I do use Refresh Endura (purchased online from a canadian pharmacy, as is now off the market in the US) as needed. The Refresh Endura is the carrier solution of restasis, so it does not have the active ingredient of cyclosporine, but is otherwise the same.
I would be very interested to hear if any others feel their dry eye was caused by exposure to UV light, whether in a tanning bed or maybe even from snow blindeness or other sources. I continue to struggle with severe nighttime symptoms and have recently started using the tranquileyes with hope that this will help. There is some medical literature out there to suggest that systemic/oral cyclosporine (active ingredient of restasis) is very therapuetic for the most severe cases. I'm interested if anyone has tried this or oral steroids (to my knowledge no literature on oral steroids). I'm curious if anyone has experience with serum eye drops or vitamin A eye drops. There is some literature that suggests vit A drops may be as effective as restasis which is not very well known. Maybe the restasis in combo with Vit A would be very benficial as they work via two different mechanisms. I'm optomistic about this and curious about others' experience with either serum drops or Vit A.
If anyone has a good suggestion for moisture glasses/goggles please let me know. Dry eye is a terrible thing with enormous consequences, but I'm still hopeful that I can manage my symptoms and continue my medical career. I must admit there are times where this seems impossible. I hope to hear what others have done which helps and I hope to provide some additional insight given my medical background.
Wish for relief for all,
Todd
Comment