I'm 20 years old and I'm a junior Molecular Biology major pre-med student. My dry eye problem started at the end of june, after an eye infection that I did not get treated (passed on its own). Every morning after the infection, my eyes would be extremely dry and on FIRE. So I would just wash them out with water and let it go. This continued on and became so bad that I went to my first optometrist, at walmart... Anyways, he said he didn't see anything wrong and just told me to get lubrication drops, which I already had gotten when this started.
Problem continued on and I went to another optometrist, he said I had blepharitis and he put me on tobradex for 2 weeks and told me to do warm compresses and eye lid scrubs. I started the tobradex and used it 4 times a day for a week when my symptoms got worse, so he told me to stop suspecting I had a reaction to it. I went back and saw a different doctor (original doctor was out) at the same place, idiot told me my problem is I didn't know how to blink. I was trying not to blink while he was looking at my eye. So I just left and gave up on the place.
I went to a DIFFERENT doctor, she put me on lotemax for weeks. Didn't help at all. My eyes were still extremely dry and she couldn't explain why. So I go see a different doctor, he has no idea what's going on and he refers me to a different doctor. He made me stop all lubrication drops (I was using non-pres only by then) and put me on an anti-biotic drop called besivance, and small dose of doxycycline for 2 weeks. Didn't help, I go back and he says I have a dendrite in one eye so he put me on an anti-viral ointment called zirgan (just released a couple of months ago). Didn't help, I go back and he says this time he sees it in both eyes... Yes, bilateral dendrites, something almost NEVER seen. So I go to a different doctor and he says he doesn't see them, and he thinks it's blepharitis. So he puts me on azasite. I do that, my eyes didn't get better at all.
Sooo, I go to a DIFFERENT doctor, he wanted me to start on restasis and xibrom. He did a shirmer's test, I got a 6. He didn't know what else to do. He told me to start taking Theratears nutrition, which I am still taking today. So I go to a different doctor, tells me I have dry eye syndrome (yes, at 20 years old). So I leave the office furious because he would not listen to what I had to say. I go to a different doctor, and I'm still following her plan. Basically she said that somehow the infection affected my meibomian glands, and they are very clogged. So my tears are evaporating at a rapid rate. The tears evaporated almost immediately after I blink, the few that are there. So she put me on doxycycline (100 mg twice a day) and told me to rub azasite on my eye lids every night after I do my warm compresses/lid scrubs.
So here I am, perplexed at how this happened. I educated myself on this extremely in the past few months but I wanted to get your opinion. I am soooo frustrated that this is happening because I also deal with chronic back pain and this addition is just making everything worse.
So if anyone could PLEASE help me out, I would GREATLY appreciate it. I'm not taking any other medicines so side effects are not an issue. I am on refresh non-preservative tears, which I found to be better than anything else; yet still very inefficient.
If you guys have any questions please ask. Sorry about the long post. Oh and BTW I do have lagophthalmos but I got the tranquileyes and have been using them for a week now (Didn't help much).
Problem continued on and I went to another optometrist, he said I had blepharitis and he put me on tobradex for 2 weeks and told me to do warm compresses and eye lid scrubs. I started the tobradex and used it 4 times a day for a week when my symptoms got worse, so he told me to stop suspecting I had a reaction to it. I went back and saw a different doctor (original doctor was out) at the same place, idiot told me my problem is I didn't know how to blink. I was trying not to blink while he was looking at my eye. So I just left and gave up on the place.
I went to a DIFFERENT doctor, she put me on lotemax for weeks. Didn't help at all. My eyes were still extremely dry and she couldn't explain why. So I go see a different doctor, he has no idea what's going on and he refers me to a different doctor. He made me stop all lubrication drops (I was using non-pres only by then) and put me on an anti-biotic drop called besivance, and small dose of doxycycline for 2 weeks. Didn't help, I go back and he says I have a dendrite in one eye so he put me on an anti-viral ointment called zirgan (just released a couple of months ago). Didn't help, I go back and he says this time he sees it in both eyes... Yes, bilateral dendrites, something almost NEVER seen. So I go to a different doctor and he says he doesn't see them, and he thinks it's blepharitis. So he puts me on azasite. I do that, my eyes didn't get better at all.
Sooo, I go to a DIFFERENT doctor, he wanted me to start on restasis and xibrom. He did a shirmer's test, I got a 6. He didn't know what else to do. He told me to start taking Theratears nutrition, which I am still taking today. So I go to a different doctor, tells me I have dry eye syndrome (yes, at 20 years old). So I leave the office furious because he would not listen to what I had to say. I go to a different doctor, and I'm still following her plan. Basically she said that somehow the infection affected my meibomian glands, and they are very clogged. So my tears are evaporating at a rapid rate. The tears evaporated almost immediately after I blink, the few that are there. So she put me on doxycycline (100 mg twice a day) and told me to rub azasite on my eye lids every night after I do my warm compresses/lid scrubs.
So here I am, perplexed at how this happened. I educated myself on this extremely in the past few months but I wanted to get your opinion. I am soooo frustrated that this is happening because I also deal with chronic back pain and this addition is just making everything worse.
So if anyone could PLEASE help me out, I would GREATLY appreciate it. I'm not taking any other medicines so side effects are not an issue. I am on refresh non-preservative tears, which I found to be better than anything else; yet still very inefficient.
If you guys have any questions please ask. Sorry about the long post. Oh and BTW I do have lagophthalmos but I got the tranquileyes and have been using them for a week now (Didn't help much).
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