Regression

[alb1967]

Hello I am wondering has anyone experienced regression with their dry eyes ? I began having really bad dry eye last spring. I had lasik in 2005 and had never really
had any issues until last spring. My eyes also started to regress. After months of dealing with the dry eye and the ghost images from the irregularity in my cornea
I decided to try sclera lenses and they have worked great. I was doing the warm compresses twice a day, restasis twice and day, theratears nutrition 3 caps a day and 20mg
doxy once an day and I was going great with this. Then all of a sudden back in June the dryness started to get really bad. I had never had to use drops with my scelra lens
and even at night. Then I started to have to use the drops in the evening when I took out the lens. Now I am having to use them severral times a day even with the lens.
This is really depressing since I PAID $1200.00 for the lens. I have been back to the Dr and he stressed the importance on the warm compresses (which I di 3 times a day now but wondering if they is too much). He cleaned my lenses since he saw a little protein build up and he expressed my glands which were clogged and thick. Since I have had good and bad days. Could this be a phase my eyes are goign through ? I am
not sure what else to do. Why did they regress and what do you suggest to get them back to being better again ? (I do suspect since it is summer and the a/c is on that may
be contributing but the winter NEVER bothered me). any ideas or sugeestions? Thank you Andrea B

[LaDiva]

Hi Andrea,
Sorry to hear your eyes are acting up. You might try going on a rosacea diet for awhile and see if that helps: http://www.rosacea.org/patients/materials/triggers.php
and/or limiting foods high in histamine and histamine releasing foods: http://www.michiganallergy.com/food_and_histamine.shtml

You can also eliminate sugars, which cause inflammation. The Brady Barrows Rosacea Diet is basically Adkins, eating lots of protein and veggies and limiting carbs. A diet like this can also help with inflammation. Your doctor is right about the compresses, but it sounds like you are doing them faithfully. I hope a change in diet will prove beneficial. I can't eat any of the foods mentioned above, and also must stay away from dairy. A real pain, but it does help with my MGD. Sending good wishes.

[alb1967]

LaDiva thank you. i have never been diagnosed with Ocular Rosacea but I have always wondered if I have it since I do have a mild case of it on my face. Also my eyes seem to also
be worse when i get out of the shower so I have susspected it. I have only had one dry eye test and that was the TBUT test. I know I have MGD but they is the only thing for sure.
I am going to ask my Dr when i go back in September. i ask my dermatoligists but she said an eye Dr was more likely to diagnose that. Do you have ocular rosacea ? Do they diagnose that just by looking at your eyes? Thank you for the link above, I will look into it.

[LaDiva]

Hi Andrea,
You are welcome. Yes, I have Ocular Rosacea, MGD and tear deficiency. I went to three or four different eye doctors before being diagnosed with Ocular Rosacea. The doctor who diagnosed it had all kinds of fancy machines and dumped all kinds of colored dyes in my eyes. I've read that it can be difficult to diagnose Ocular Rosacea, so you might need to go to a really good eye specialist with extra equipment. I went to an eye doctor who also teaches at Stanford. I believe that the biggest thing you can do for Ocular Rosacea is watch your diet. It is a pain in the neck, but truly helps. I also have Rosacea on my face, but it reacts differently than my eyes. I had facial Rosacea before it moved into my eyes and was able to eat just about everything with facial, but not so with the Ocular type. Hope you get an answer soon and that you will be feeling much better.

[alb1967]

Hi Andrea,
You are welcome. Yes, I have Ocular Rosacea, MGD and tear deficiency. I went to three or four different eye doctors before being diagnosed with Ocular Rosacea. The doctor who diagnosed it had all kinds of fancy machines and dumped all kinds of colored dyes in my eyes. I've read that it can be difficult to diagnose Ocular Rosacea, so you might need to go to a really good eye specialist with extra equipment. I went to an eye doctor who also teaches at Stanford. I believe that the biggest thing you can do for Ocular Rosacea is watch your diet. It is a pain in the neck, but truly helps. I also have Rosacea on my face, but it reacts differently than my eyes. I had facial Rosacea before it moved into my eyes and was able to eat just about everything with facial, but not so with the Ocular type. Hope you get an answer soon and that you will be feeling much better.

LaDiva, When all this started last year, I went to FOUR opthamologists!! Two were cornea specialists and all they said were my eyes were dry. No specfic diagnoses at all. I went to a glaucoma Dr since my pressures were up at one point and he said I had MGD. But that is it. My currect Dr is an optomistrist. I really like him. He is the one that suggested scelra lens (at the time I was more freaked about me seeing the ghost images than the dryness). I thought I was having poat lasik ectasia but that God it was not that. I have an email out to him to see what he thinks
about the ocular rosacea. With my facial rosacea it is very mild but it does seem to be more red when I get out of the shower.

[Angela810]

Sorry to hear this. I hope the new diet helps

I have always wondered why some people regress and other don't. It is about the initial myopia? Is it about dryness? Just a thought - but does it seem as though, people who have been on serum drops permanently don't regress as much as other who use standard dry eye treatments. Would be great to hear peoples thoughts on this.

x

[alb1967]

I asked my Dr about the regression and he said it is normal just like with any chronic disease. He did say the flare ups or set backs generally only last a short while. I am hoping this
is the case. The regression started back the first of July. I do have good and bad days now, where as before it was mostly good days. I am not sure if the regression of my eyes from the lasik surgery caused the dryness or maybe a combination of several things. Right before all of this started, I had frozen shoulder (terribly painful). But I was taking Advil PM almost every night for 3 mos with a water pill because I retain water (I no longer taker either). That may have kicked it all off. I guess it is hard to pin point. I do not take serum drops. I am not sure anyone here in Louisville KY makes those drops. I guess my eyes are notdry enough for that yet.

[Hope4Johni]

You should ask your doctor to prescribe a higher dose of the doxycycline. The doxy and Restatsis help my ocular Rosacea more than anything else. Also, I find that taking Ibuprofen or Advil helps with the inflammation.

[alb1967]

You should ask your doctor to prescribe a higher dose of the doxycycline. The doxy and Restatsis help my ocular Rosacea more than anything else. Also, I find that taking Ibuprofen or Advil helps with the inflammation.

Well I talked to my Dr and he wants me to stop the Doxy and he is calling me in Azithromycin. Which I think I took before and I recall it burned pretty bad but I did not use it for the alotted 5 days. Has anyone used this and did it hep?

[Angela810]

Why is he not trying restasis? Well I can't say I had much success with cyclosporine. Apparently there is a 60% response rate. It is 80% in dogs. I wish I was a dog lol! In the UK, it's hard to get serum drops - a bit of a lottery depending on where you live.

I was diagnosed with Sjogren's that was apparently triggered by Lasik 2 years ago (Yay, what a wonderful set of events - sigh!). SO basically the Lasik triggered a huge auto-immune reaction. My SSa Ro score is only mildly elevated (not clinically signifiant) but in the context of my clinical history (stomach acid, IBS, irregular periods, fatigue), it all points to one thing. It took 7 OD's to get the right diagnosis - most just said post-lasik dryness and shoved me off. My OD said that such low schirmer scores after Lasik, is a classic sign of an auto-immune response. This probably also explains why there seem to be more women suffering from dry eyes after lasik since women are much more likely to have auto-immune conditions. All the doxy that I was put on for dry eyes post-Lasik, didn't help. There are some nice posts by Jessica Adams and Sazy123 who helped their dry eyes by addressing their diet/chronic inflammation with functional medicine. I am not saying that this is the cause of your regression, but it's another avenue worth investigating.

My next steps are to continue seeing my OD and also work with a functional medicine practitioner. I will keep you posted

x

[alb1967]

Why is he not trying restasis? Well I can't say I had much success with cyclosporine. Apparently there is a 60% response rate. It is 80% in dogs. I wish I was a dog lol! In the UK, it's hard to get serum drops - a bit of a lottery depending on where you live.

I was diagnosed with Sjogren's that was apparently triggered by Lasik 2 years ago (Yay, what a wonderful set of events - sigh!). SO basically the Lasik triggered a huge auto-immune reaction. My SSa Ro score is only mildly elevated (not clinically signifiant) but in the context of my clinical history (stomach acid, IBS, irregular periods, fatigue), it all points to one thing. It took 7 OD's to get the right diagnosis - most just said post-lasik dryness and shoved me off. My OD said that such low schirmer scores after Lasik, is a classic sign of an auto-immune response. This probably also explains why there seem to be more women suffering from dry eyes after lasik since women are much more likely to have auto-immune conditions. All the doxy that I was put on for dry eyes post-Lasik, didn't help. There are some nice posts by Jessica Adams and Sazy123 who helped their dry eyes by addressing their diet/chronic inflammation with functional medicine. I am not saying that this is the cause of your regression, but it's another avenue worth investigating.

My next steps are to continue seeing my OD and also work with a functional medicine practitioner. I will keep you posted

x

Anglea810 I am on Restasis and have been since late oct 2014. The weird thing about this whole thing before a month ago my eyes use to stay pretty wet with the 4 plugs, doxy,
warm compresses and Restasis. At one point in May I asked my Dr if I should take out the upper plugs and he said if they are not bothering me let's just keep them in. The in early
July I went to Cumberland falls and did hiking in thw owwods and I sware someting there triggered something and I have not been the same every since. I found out yesterday that I cannot
take the oral azthriymicyn my dr wanted to to take cause of my heart so I was really bummed because he said it shows good results. So for now he has increased the Doxy to 20mg twice a
day. I guess even with the seclera lens I will just have to use drops through the day. I know my Dr is trying everything because he is very sympathatic to this diseases cause his wife
has dealt with dry eyes and he knows how it can be. I also have hashimoto's thyroiditis which I know it auto immune but all my TSH levels are normal so they will not give me anything for that
and besides that is really the only symptom I have. Oh well I will just stay positive and take it one day at a time I know God will get me throught this he has never let me down yet !!