Restasis vs. Serum..your experience, need advice :)

[Faith1989]

Hey everyone so I at the end of month 2 with Restasis + Lotemax... and although the Lotemax makes me feel great, the Restasis is killing me. I got a referral to a corneal specialist in Ottawa who has the ability to prescribe serum. (I should also mention i'm on 100 mg of doxy daily) I want to try the cautary and the serum, as a new approach to my problem as I feel I am needed a more serious approach. For people who are on serum, has it worked for you? Better than restasis? Any help at all would be appreciated!

[Katewest]

I don't have serum drops but I did have to stop the restasis after a month. I feel like it made my eyes worse! Whats your diagnosis? I am now looking at prose lenses and hormone eye drops.

[Guest]

I started on Restasis first... seemed to improve things a teeny bit after a month, so I stayed on it. Several months after I started Restasis, I added serum drops to my regimen (still using Restasis) - I noticed an obvious improvement in comfort within a few days - needless to say, I was thrilled!

Just to be clear though, even though I noticed an obvious improvement, I was so bad off to start with that even with that obvious improvement, I was faaaaaaaaaaar from normal - but at that point, I'd have taken anything I can get haha

[Faith1989]

I don't really want to stay on Restasis, my eyes have gotten pretty red from it and my flare ups have gotten worse. Saag, since you have been on serum drops for a while now, do you feel more normal? Did they help with any redness?

[Katewest]

Saab,

Who prescribed the serum drops for you? Would you say they helped more than the restasis?

[Faith1989]

I just want the embarrassing redness to go away. It seems to have worsened in the last two months while on restasis. There has to be a better way!!!

[DCRdryeye]

Interesting! Yes, I just started back on restasis because I noticed my eyes were drier without it. The ophthalmologist who prescribed restasis refused to also prescribe the blood serum drops because he said my eyes are "not damaged". He believes the serum drops are only for corneas/sclera that contain visit damage. I don't agree with him, my eyes are very uncomfortable and don't need to display "damage" to feel discomfort. So it's off to yet another ophthalmologist, and I've made an appointment with Dr. Colin Chan in Sydney for next week (a long 12 hour trip).

[Guest]

Surprisingly, the thing that helped most with redness was giving up wheat in my diet - it's been quite a remarkable change actually! Whereas before, I'd just come to accept the fact that my eyes looked like hell all the time, now I'm so used to them looking half decent (or even normal!!!) that when they ARE red it seems odd to me now!

As for whether or not the Restasis or serum drops help more, I'm not sure at this point. One day I'll stop each one as an experiment, but things are the best they've ever been since LASIK, so I don't want to rock the boat.

If I were you, I'd give them both a try... with Restasis, some people find it continues to slowly improve things even as long as 6 mo. after starting... the burning should decrease with time also. As for serum, there's very little downside, and if it helps you, you'll be soooo glad you tried it!

And I think your doc is totally wrong about serum drops only being for people with visible damage - keep suggesting trying the serum drops at every appointment until your doctor agrees to let you!!! And if they are too stubborn, find another doc who is more open-minded.

My corneal specialist prescribed my serum drops. He's the only one I see for my eye issues (other than my trip to BFS) - he's been excellent, so I don't feel the need to see anyone else here. If you haven't found your own "excellent" dr., keep looking... they do exist, and it's sooo worth the trouble to find them! We applied to move to NZ - if we get accepted and I can't find a dr. there that is as good as my current one, I'll happily pay cash to see my current one for my rx's etc. whenever I fly home to visit family.

[Faith1989]

spmcc if u dont mind me asking, how do u know it was ur change in diet that made the difference in ur eyes and not the restasis/serum? did u get redness from restasis at first b/c i'm noticing a lot more in my eyes lately and its a concern lol.

[Katewest]

Saag- how long on the wheat free before you noticed a difference?

[Guest]

how do u know it was ur change in diet that made the difference in ur eyes and not the restasis/serum? did u get redness from restasis at first b/c i'm noticing a lot more in my eyes lately and its a concern lol.

The serum was started a loooooong time before I ever experimented with no wheat. When I first started the serum, I was careful to keep everything else that could affect my eyes exactly the same, stick to the same diet etc - that way, if I noticed a difference, it would be easier to figure out what was doing it.

As far as wheat is concerned, I've gone on and off wheat for weeks at a time over the past couple of years... I didn't really want to believe that giving up WHEAT would help me since I LOVE eating the stuff and adore baking!!! Anyhow, I've been careful to keep all other factors the same (as much as possible) when I experiment with this - I get the same results every time - so I'm finally convinced that for me, it makes a difference. Obviously giving up wheat probably won't help most people... but possible food allergies/sensitivities are worth looking into if you've tried everything else and are in the mood to experiment... you just never know!

re: Restasis redness at first - Yes, it did make my eyes redder at the beginning - things that helped this:

1) keeping the vial in use in the fridge - cold restasis stings less and caused less redness for me
2) I'd "buffer" the restasis - ie. 15 minutes before using it, I'd use Bion Tears, or Celluvisc - also 15 minutes after using Restasis, I'd use Celluvisc or Bion tears to flush out my eyes a bit. Also, rinsing the Restasis residue off my lashes helps too - shutting my eyes tight and splashing cool water over the lashes to rinse them off.

Also, back when I started Restasis, my eyes were hellish... it was ridiculous really, to think that one's eyes could feel so awful all the frigging time... anyhow, due to my eyes stinging and burning all day even BEFORE I was put on Restasis, I was also doing a lot of cool compresses, shutting my eyes and splashing ice cold tap water over them for relief etc... I kept this kind of stuff up even after I started Restasis, so no doubt that helped my eyes tolerate Restasis better too... (my eyes aren't like that anymore, thankfully!)

[Faith1989]

Thanks so much for the advice. It makes sense that eliminating wheat could help with inflammation, since it is an inflammatory food (from the book "Wheat Belly") I'm going to see what the specialist says but I'm already month two on restasis and notice still much more redness than before starting. I do want to add serum to try, I am hoping he will prescribe it for me because I have literally tried everything else (minus cautery, and IPL, surgery ect. but have had Lipiflow) I dont know what to do anymore lol.. but thank u everyone for the advice!

[Katewest]

Faith you sound just like me.... restasis made my eyes super red. I did try ipl and after 3 treatments just a waste of 1000.00. I was diagnosed with ocular roseacea but am going for sjogrens testing. Have you looked into prose lenses or hormone drops?

[Faith1989]

its funny because i THOUGHT restasis was helping at one point.. but i dont know, im really self concious lately with the redness im assuming the drug has caused. I tested negative for sjogrens and dont have dry mouth at all. Im going to a corneal specialist at the end of the month and ask to be taken off restasis and try maybe a short course of steriods and serum. (p.s. i remember telling u to give restasis a chance lol srry i honestly thought at that point it was helping) At this point i know i have bleph and either dry eye or ocular rosacea although i have no skin redness. I am travelling to see this guy and im kinda worried.. i really hope he does something more. I will ask him about hormone drops but being so young im not sure this is the problem..

[Katewest]

Oh that's right, you did say to keep trying the restasis. What test did they do for sjogrens? I read on here that ppl are sometimes not diagnosed right. I didn't think i had it because my mouth isn't really dry but i have had a lot of cavities and teeth issues which is a sign of not enough saliva.