The World Shrinks

[Fitch]

Question for SAAG and farmgirl: I just got my wiley airrage sunglasses and so far really like the fit and lightness. They seem to be helping keep my eyes more comfortable and have a good fit and i appreciate your recommendations. Was wondering what you use for your dark lens for outside and/or computer-tv watching? I currently have the clear lenses and the polarized silver dark lenses right now. Thanks in advance and for Nightbird i hope you find relief and feel better soon

[Guest]

So glad for you that they fit you well!!

I use my dark lenses in public - indoors and outdoors, work, shopping etc.

I use my clear lenses at home - I'm not light sensitive, so the only reason for the dark lenses is that I prefer the look of them when out and about.

[Nightbird]

Hi All,

New year, new hope, thanks to you. I really admire all of you for your courage and resilience. I’m ashamed of myself for being such a crybaby. My resolution is to stop feeling sorry for myself and be more like you.

I’m making real progress. I found some local opticians that carry MCs and bought a pair of dark ones. I’ve been wearing them almost all the time. I didn’t expect it, but the difference is dramatic. Depending on the time of day, my pain level now ranges from merely uncomfortable to virtually non-existent. The biggest problem I have with them is fogging. Has anyone found a solution for that? During my search I stumbled upon an optician who actually makes custom MCs, using regular metal frames and a special plastic. He modeled a pair he made for himself for me. From the front, they look like regular glasses. You can see the plastic a little from the side, but my hair would cover it. So I’m having a pair of those made, in clear with some tint and an anti-glare coating.

Don’t think I’m ignoring any of your suggestions, even if I don’t mention them. Dave, I tried Restasis and couldn’t tolerate it. It may have been because my eyes were so painful to begin with. Now that I’m feeling better I may have another go. What is MCT oil?

I’m also looking into serum tears. I’m a big chicken about having blood drawn, but I guess you get over that after having it done every three months. I called my gyn about having a hormone panel done. He doesn’t think it’s necessary because I can almost set my watch by my cycles, as they are so regular. I badgered him until he finally agreed to do it.

SAAG, I’ve been thinking about you and your trip with the freezer. You’re so resourceful, you’ve probably thought of this already, but I’m mentioning it anyway, if only because it would be nice to finally help someone else. Depending on where you bought it you may need to convert the electrical current to get it to work in SE Asia. Freezers take a lot of juice so you’ll need a powerful converter. They do make them, but I would order it well in advance and test it if you can. Also I’ve seen at least ten different outlet configurations during my travels. Sometimes they vary within the same country. You can research this kind of thing online, but I wouldn’t trust the information. It isn’t always accurate, I’ve found. Buy every type of adapter you can find. I would take at least two sets of everything. I’ve had to string two or more together at times. More to lug around! But it will be worth to have that experience, I’m very jealous!

[Peppermint]

Fitch-
I have the polarized wiley x airrage. Are the lenses interchangeable? I wanted the clear ones for work and didn't want to have to get a second pair. If they are interchangeable, are they easy to change?

[Fitch]

Hi Peppermint. I have only the polarized lenses too and they are supposed to be interchangeable i believe but i have not tried it yet. I remember with another pair of wileys i had i did switch the lenses and it was a little bit difficult but not too terrible. I can understand why people buy 2 pairs for convenience of not having to constantly switch out though and if i decide to keep them will probable get a 2nd set for convenience but it is not necessary to do so. I hope they help you out. I like mine so far but have only used them with the polarized lenses and i am impressed at the comfort and quality of these glasses and they do seem to help with keeping the eyes moister so i will probably keep them. I am looking forward to trying out the clear lenses but i have not purchased them yet. I hope they help me as much as they have helped SAAG and others here especially with the computer and tv since those are my biggest obstacles right now. For SAAG i was wondering specifically if you have polarized dark lenses or one of the other dark lenses and how you use them with the computer because the polarized ones when using the computer seem to give off kind of a weird glow/distortion with lcd tv sets and computer screens in my experience so far. Thanks in advance for your answers.

[Nightbird]

As we are on the subject of glasses I have another question for you also, SAAG. I looked at your blog and saw you in the custom MCs, you look great! Why don't you wear them anymore? Are they less effective than the Wiley's? Thanks.

[dryeyedave]

Don’t think I’m ignoring any of your suggestions, even if I don’t mention them. Dave, I tried Restasis and couldn’t tolerate it. It may have been because my eyes were so painful to begin with. Now that I’m feeling better I may have another go. What is MCT oil?

Custom fit MC glasses sounds awesome!

MCT oil is medium chain trigliceride oil. It is a highly refined pharma grade coconut oil. You can get it from your compound pharmacy. I use it over night and it is the only oil that does not burn and last all night with no greasing up of my scleral the next day. I post further on it in the "Goop" section of the forum. You need to just deal with the side effects and get back on Restasis. IF you go to the Restasis section of the forum and read it I post as do others strategies for dealing with the side effects. My eyes were in horrible shape after the Stevens Johnson acute phase subsided and I was able to deal with the side effects of Restasis and they do improve as your tear film improves over time. Expect no improvement for at least four months.

[Guest]

For SAAG i was wondering specifically if you have polarized dark lenses or one of the other dark lenses and how you use them with the computer because the polarized ones when using the computer seem to give off kind of a weird glow/distortion with lcd tv sets and computer screens in my experience so far. Thanks in advance for your answers.

I use the regular dark lenses - they seem to work fine even when I'm looking at a computer screen at work.

SAAG, I’ve been thinking about you and your trip with the freezer. You’re so resourceful, you’ve probably thought of this already, but I’m mentioning it anyway, if only because it would be nice to finally help someone else. Depending on where you bought it you may need to convert the electrical current to get it to work in SE Asia. Freezers take a lot of juice so you’ll need a powerful converter. They do make them, but I would order it well in advance and test it if you can. Also I’ve seen at least ten different outlet configurations during my travels. Sometimes they vary within the same country. You can research this kind of thing online, but I wouldn’t trust the information. It isn’t always accurate, I’ve found. Buy every type of adapter you can find. I would take at least two sets of everything. I’ve had to string two or more together at times. More to lug around! But it will be worth to have that experience, I’m very jealous!

I really appreciate these tips - I've never left North America before (well, unless you count Hawaii hehe) - and there's only so much you can find out online, right? I knew I'd need a transformer and converter plugs, but honestly feel like I'm in the dark about those things since I've never needed to use them before.

When you say converter, do you mean a transformer? How do I know if the one I buy is powerful enough? I've been looking at them in stores, but it seems every store I've been to so far only carries one model. Probably good enough for a hair dryer (which I'm not bringing), but good enough for a freaking freezer?? Who knows... bet they weren't thinking about THAT option when they designed it haha

Although, I think I might be ok without one... seems to me when I'd asked if it can be used with 220v power the guy said I just need to change the fuse (which from what I can tell is easy since it's intended that the end user will be able to do this), and they will send me fuses for both 110v and 220v power... or maybe I'm confused... will ask again. (I'm leaning towards the psycho expensive freezer only because it is 100% for sure compliant with carry-on luggage requirements so there should be zero issues with it fitting in either the overhead compartment or under the seat on an airplane.... geez louise... it'll be more expensive than the HUGE freezer in my house... but what can you do... )

re: outlets - thank-you so much for the advice - I'll buy every outlet configuration I can find then!! You know, we were going to try to travel with carry-on only... but I'm coming to the realization that with all my eye supplies, it ain't gonna happen.

re: jealous
hehehe... I know what you mean... I devour travel blogs like there's no tomorrow... finally decided screw this... I'm DOING IT TOO!!! So grateful my hubby is on board with all this! With your travel experience, I bet you'll be back to traveling eventually too... it all seems impossible now since your eyes going to heck is all too new still... but you'll figure out a way to get through this and manage it, and once that happens, you can start thinking about travel again too.

As we are on the subject of glasses I have another question for you also, SAAG. I looked at your blog and saw you in the custom MCs, you look great! Why don't you wear them anymore? Are they less effective than the Wiley's? Thanks.

Yeah, they work well, but the Wiley's are definitely even more effective - with that foam, I can really scrunch them up onto my face for a perfect seal, and can't do that with the plastic on my custom ones. I've been needing to use the computer more at home (part of my attempt at freeing myself permanently from a job in order to be able to travel more... have a travel website, and experimenting with a few other on-line ventures to earn some cash) - need to baby my eyes as much as possible so that they will tolerate the increase in computer use. If I weren't using the computer so much, my custom ones would be fine as my eyes would be be able to handle the little bit extra irritation that they'd be subjected to vs. the Wiley's. I certainly can't use the computer anywhere near as much as normal person, so my progress on these on-line experiments is much slower than it would be otherwise, but at least I am getting somewhere... albeit very slowly

That being said, I'll be bringing along my custom moisture chambers on our trip so I have something that looks normal to wear in the evenings... it gets dark early where I'm going as far as I can tell (at least compared to here in the summers when it stays light out until 10 p.m.!!!), and I don't want to feel like my only option in public after 6 p.m. or whatever is my clear Wiley's.

[Nightbird]

SAAG,

Converters and transformers are the same, yes. If you can change the fuses I think you’re fine, just make sure the fuse can handle up to 240v just in case. In that case I would just take a surge protector. They are usually built into the better converters but those are expensive and it sounds like you don’t need one. You probably have a surge protector lying around from the days when they didn’t build them into computers. Re adapters, you can probably buy one kit with all the adapters included instead of collecting them piecemeal like I did.

If there are four of you, you can bring eight carry-ons, so maybe you can still manage it. As long as you paid for a seat for each child they are entitled to two carry-ons each, even if they don’t actually carry them on themselves. Unless someone from the planet Krypton switched their son with one of your kids at birth, then he can carry the freezer hehe!

I hope you know when I said I’m jealous, I meant it in the most positive way. I’m already thinking about traveling again. What’s the address of you website? I’m nowhere near ready of course, but a girl can dream. In the meantime I ordered some Pimsleur audio foreign language lessons. So while I’m babying my eyes as you call it, I’m getting ready for that next trip someday.

I did manage to enjoy a night out to dinner, in the MCs. At first I felt ludicrous. Then when I caught someone staring, I told her that she obviously hadn’t heard that wearing sunglasses indoors is the new black. That got a laugh and broke the ice, and then I explained that they were medicinal. It turned out she has a friend with dry eyes and was all excited to be able to tell her about MCs.

Thanks for the review of custom MCs versus Wiley’s. I’m going ahead and ordering a pair. They’re ridiculously expensive, but a must-have for the fashion-conscious dry eye girl’s wardrobe. The MCs keep fogging up on me anyway, so they may even be better. Does anyone have a solution for the fogging, or am I the only one with this problem?

Dave,

I didn’t realize you had SJS. I’m glad to hear you are over the worst of it. Thanks for answering my question. I found a very good compound pharmacy, they’re preparing some new bio-identical hormone supplements for me. Maybe they will compound the MCT oil. They won’t do serum tears however. It’s just as well, I want to add new treatments slowly. One at a time, so I’ll know what’s working and what isn’t

[Guest]

Thanks so much for the info on converters/transformers etc.! Very helpful!!

And yup, paid for a seat for each of us! I have a feeling we'll still check a bag though... don't want the gong show of hubby and I each wearing a 10kg backpack plus having to pull 2 carryons AND trying not to lose our kids in the airport (kids can only handle pulling 1 fully packed carry-on each since they'll only be 7 and 5 yrs old hehe) That being said, I'm hell bent on mastering the art of packing light (aside from all of my eye drops which are sure to give the security guys a headache as they carefully swab every box of eyedrops... oh well.. what can I do... they're generally pretty nice about it, so it's all good...)

I hope you know when I said I’m jealous, I meant it in the most positive way.

No worries! I totally know what you meant!!!

I’m already thinking about traveling again. What’s the address of you website? I’m nowhere near ready of course, but a girl can dream. In the meantime I ordered some Pimsleur audio foreign language lessons. So while I’m babying my eyes as you call it, I’m getting ready for that next trip someday.

So happy to hear about your travel thoughts! To me, the fact that you're even allowing yourself to think about it is a sign of optimism on your part!

I did manage to enjoy a night out to dinner, in the MCs. At first I felt ludicrous. Then when I caught someone staring, I told her that she obviously hadn’t heard that wearing sunglasses indoors is the new black. That got a laugh and broke the ice, and then I explained that they were medicinal. It turned out she has a friend with dry eyes and was all excited to be able to tell her about MCs.

So glad you went for it and wore them out - it's key to getting out and enjoying life again despite having eyes that suck right now! Love your comment that "wearing sunglasses indoors is the new black" lol What a great way to break the ice!!

Thanks for the review of custom MCs versus Wiley’s. I’m going ahead and ordering a pair. They’re ridiculously expensive, but a must-have for the fashion-conscious dry eye girl’s wardrobe.

Agreed. They serve a purpose. I'm still not able to bring myself to wear my clear lens Wileys' in public, so my custom moisture chambers give me the freedom to go outside after dark if need be, which is priceless!

The MCs keep fogging up on me anyway, so they may even be better. Does anyone have a solution for the fogging, or am I the only one with this problem?

A common issue - I've never tried this, but I wonder if that anti-fog stuff that you put on snorkel masks would work?

I want to add new treatments slowly. One at a time, so I’ll know what’s working and what isn’t

Smart move!