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Hi everyone, I’m new here 
I’m Caroline, 19 years old and have been using contact lenses for the past 4 years (have had a few minor irritations in these years, but they would last up to 4 days). I started having problems with my eyes at the end of August 2012. I got back from a trip to Barcelona and a few days later had to go to visit my friend in Cyprus for a week. My eyes didn’t hurt or didn’t feel dry, but I couldn’t use my right contact lens (1-day Acuvue Moist) because it felt uncomfortable. Walked around in glasses and thought that the problem would go away. When I came back home I visited an eye doctor and she prescribed preservative free drops, saying that the symptoms would go away in around a week. Well, that didn’t happen. The problem was only with the right eye and only using contact lenses, so I gave them up for a while. However, at the end of November 2012 I started feeling a gritty sensation under my right eyelid, as if something was under my eye. Went to another eye doctor, she told me that I have a bacterial infection and dry spots on the cornea, told me to take antibiotic eye drops, stop using contact lenses and come back within 10 days. During that time, I also started taking daily doses of vitamins: Omega-3, zinc citrate and “Membrasin” (consists of vitamin A, Omega-7, Omega-9, Omega-6 and Omega-3) I came back, only to hear that I have a change in my corneas due to contact lenses and can’t wear them for the next 3 months. What’s interesting is that she said the problem was mainly with the left eye - I was devastated, because now both my eyes were affected. I stopped using the antibiotic eye drops, and focused on GenTeal and Celluvisc instead, multiply times a day. They made my eyes feel better, but not enough. Ointments didn’t help; instead they just made my eyes look red and irritated. I decided to go to a dry eye specialist on January 2, 2013. He used the Schirmer’s test: he put paper strips to measure the tear production. I got more than 15 mm on both eyes, so it seemed like my results were great. He then put a green colored dye in both eyes and said that there are no dry spots. In a scale 0-9, he told me I’m 0 when it comes to the dry eye syndrome, prescribed preservative free drops and promised that the symptoms are just temporary. He compared my eye irritation to a knee injury, that’s taking a long time to recover.
Will my eyes stop bothering me? If I don’t have the dry eye syndrome, then what’s going on? I really want to wake up with healthy eyes and start using contact lenses again.
I’m Caroline, 19 years old and have been using contact lenses for the past 4 years (have had a few minor irritations in these years, but they would last up to 4 days). I started having problems with my eyes at the end of August 2012. I got back from a trip to Barcelona and a few days later had to go to visit my friend in Cyprus for a week. My eyes didn’t hurt or didn’t feel dry, but I couldn’t use my right contact lens (1-day Acuvue Moist) because it felt uncomfortable. Walked around in glasses and thought that the problem would go away. When I came back home I visited an eye doctor and she prescribed preservative free drops, saying that the symptoms would go away in around a week. Well, that didn’t happen. The problem was only with the right eye and only using contact lenses, so I gave them up for a while. However, at the end of November 2012 I started feeling a gritty sensation under my right eyelid, as if something was under my eye. Went to another eye doctor, she told me that I have a bacterial infection and dry spots on the cornea, told me to take antibiotic eye drops, stop using contact lenses and come back within 10 days. During that time, I also started taking daily doses of vitamins: Omega-3, zinc citrate and “Membrasin” (consists of vitamin A, Omega-7, Omega-9, Omega-6 and Omega-3) I came back, only to hear that I have a change in my corneas due to contact lenses and can’t wear them for the next 3 months. What’s interesting is that she said the problem was mainly with the left eye - I was devastated, because now both my eyes were affected. I stopped using the antibiotic eye drops, and focused on GenTeal and Celluvisc instead, multiply times a day. They made my eyes feel better, but not enough. Ointments didn’t help; instead they just made my eyes look red and irritated. I decided to go to a dry eye specialist on January 2, 2013. He used the Schirmer’s test: he put paper strips to measure the tear production. I got more than 15 mm on both eyes, so it seemed like my results were great. He then put a green colored dye in both eyes and said that there are no dry spots. In a scale 0-9, he told me I’m 0 when it comes to the dry eye syndrome, prescribed preservative free drops and promised that the symptoms are just temporary. He compared my eye irritation to a knee injury, that’s taking a long time to recover.
Will my eyes stop bothering me? If I don’t have the dry eye syndrome, then what’s going on? I really want to wake up with healthy eyes and start using contact lenses again.
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