Tried to keep this short. I have had dry eye problems as far back as I can remember. Teenage years is when it got really bad. Eyes were always bothersome and at the time there was nothing really done about it. Had a hard time passing the drivers exam because of my eyes. Got rejected by the military because of them. During the 20 to 40 years of age time I got to the point where I wanted to take my eyes out of their sockets and get rid of them. I would have to stay home from work as I did not have enough sight to even drive or walk. Could not stand light at all. During the 40 to 50 year age I went and saw all of the top cornea specialists in the country. Did me no good, most of what I got at that time was to use ointment at night and drops during the day. That really helped a lot but still had problems getting relief. I could stand drops for a while but would have to change them almost as if I got allergic to them. Finally went to an eye doctor who said I was too complicated for him to help me and sent me to another cornea specialist at New England Medical Center. Now it finally gets going. First thing was eyelashes were growing the wrong way and were rubbing my eyes. So they removed them. That was a help and I would have to keep going back often for that to solve that problems. Then she put plugs in. That really helped a lot. Still doing ointment at night(eyes don’t close tight) and drops daily(better drops at this point). I kept losing the plugs and she kept putting in larger ones. BTW, when using the eye chart the tope 3 lines were the most I could do and sometimes I could not even do that. After the plugs I could do much better. We finally got to a point where she thought that cauterizing, even though she did not really like to do something permanent would be the way to go. When I went to have that done she examined my eyes and said they were much better from the last time she saw me and decided to forgo the cauterizing. It turns out I had started taking flaxseed for my cholesterol to see if it would help and it was the only thing new I had been doing. Over the course for the nest year they kept improving to the point I rarely ever had discomfort anymore. I could now pass the drivers exam, read a book, go out in the daylight and so forth. I did have one plug that stayed in and have just taken it out. Even though they are not bothersome they are coming up a little dry in the tests now. Maybe the flaxseed thing only goes so far. The doc wants to try restasis now to see if that helps. I am still using ointment in the eyes at night just because they do not close tight. I did order the goggles I saw on this site to try out and maybe I can give up the ointment if they work. Still doing flaxseed and had added fish oil. Did try hydrotears and gave up on that. I do 1 or 2 hot compresses a day. I know at some point here will be new and better things for dry eyes but compared to what I had 45 years ago at least today we now have stuff that helps. I don’t even where glasses now, not even for reading. I did have PKR(don’t remember right spelling?) done one eye. This was for bad scarring and could not see through the scars. That eye is always a bit dryer now. But before it was useless. But considering back 45 years ago I would be up all night suffering and hurting all day I am grateful for the progress that has been made. I was sure I would be blind at some point because they were so bad I figured it would just get worse. I am still careful about being in the wind, fans, car heater and so forth even though they don’t bother me now, so why push it? Guess I got about everything in here. Just turned 60 and hopefully will hopefully have my sight now for the rest of my life.