Eyes will not open in the morning.

[dianat]

Yikes. I've never heard of any permanent complications with it, but yeah, I guess needles at the site of the oil glands...sounds like trouble. I recall my friend telling me that when one has this "tattooing" done on the eyelid, there is a lot of swelling and discomfort involved for a few days. Also, I guess some people have allergic reactions to the dye or something. Naturally, my post-LASIK, conservative, "no-more-unnecessary-surgeries" self can't imagine why anyone would want to endure such a thing. But, again, my pre-LASIK self might have seen things very differently.

[Lucy]

Girls.........

Let's just stay with the bald eyelids. I thought after lasik for the very first time in my life that I may be able to wear mascara or eyeliner. Pfffffft.

Now, I have no lashes. The thought of putting eyeliner near my eyes just doesn't sound worth it, lashes or not. Mostly I'm satisfied if I can keep my eyes open for an hour at a time. Someone at work had her eyelids tatooed with eyeliner. I thought it looked nice, but damn, I just would never go there now.

[Cindy]

wouldn't be prudent

Tear film and ocular surface abnormalities after eyelid tattooing.

Kojima T, Dogru M, Matsumoto Y, Goto E, Tsubota K.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract
Abstract:
A 45-year-old woman who underwent eyelid tattooing 20 years earlier presented with decreased left vision and eye discomfort. Her ocular history revealed an uneventful LASIK procedure 4 years previously with epithelial problems of the flap followed by S. aureus keratitis. Resultant corneal opacity necessitated a deep lamellar keratoplasty performed 9 months prior to admission followed by frequent epithelial problems. At the time of admission, her left eye had a corneal epithelial defect and both lower eyelid margins revealed subepidermal pigmentation and keratinization. Her initial examination revealed tear instability with increased ocular surface staining scores and advanced tear film lipid layer abnormality in both eyes. Meibography showed bilateral total meibomian gland dropout. Treatment with autologous serum eye drops resulted in full epithelialization. Meibomian gland disease-specific therapy did not result in any change in breakup time, vital staining scores, tear film lipid layer interferometry grades, or glandular dropout state.

[dianat]

I wanna be sick.

[omy]

better than tape

I cut the leg off of an old soft Nancy Gantz? body shaper (thigh length). I use the bottom couple of inches, fits nicely around my head and over my eyes with a little pressure...It was keep your eyes completely closed and at times the pressure is a relief (during those rest periods to re-group)...My R eye is much worse and I have even stretched it to only cover that eye and keep going with my L. Haven't tried the "Pirate Patch" from the drug store.....I think we need an "artful" line of new-improved patches.....something for a little comic relief.....tiny eye-bumper stickers....silly ones to lift our mood......not those black ones that match our mood!

[Lucy]

I cut the leg off of an old soft Nancy Gantz? body shaper (thigh length).

I believe she is talking about a panty girdle. Quite innovative! lol

Omy, you can buy eye patches in the form of a band-aid type thingie. I have some which are made for kids. You'd find them in the band aid/bandage/tape section. You'd use it for one day, or part of a day and pitch. I have a pirate's patch you buy in the drug store. It's bulky and cumbersome. It might be better for a guy, who wants to look macho.

[dianat]

My husband bought me the pirate patch once thinking it would work for me and I laughed at it. It ended up in my kid's costume box and resurfaces now and again when my boyish daughter dresses up like Captain Hook. I must say, however, that I am intrigued by the thigh/girdle idea. I can see how that could work well. Maybe I could wear one girdle over my eyes and another in the opposite direction to prevent a double chin! Gosh I learn so much here.

[Lucy]

Dang!

Diana, you are a hotshot on the ideas! Not a bad idea. If you need an old girdle.......don't bother buying one. Let me know.

[Kyle]

My funny little story on this subject..

Okay, we need a comedy night for all of us on this website. I just want to sit there and have Diana and Lucy perform. You two never fail to make me laugh!

Anyway, this thread reminded me of something that happened to me when all my problems started. I know we all may have had different eye guards given to us after out lasik surgery..mine were these two, clear, plastic cylinder patches that were taped and went from my eyebrows to almost my cheekbones. I was terrified of scratching my eyeballs so I got very used to wearing these devices (yes, I lost tons of my eyebrows and had red marks all over my cheeks, but I didn't care).

Anyway, I went home to Virginia for Christmas and was staying at my sisters house which is all glass on one side and faced the water (even more light and reflections). I realized that if I kept the patches on for a while when I was awake it was actually very soothing and kept all the bright lights off my eyes. Well, my sister goes to work very early so we rarely ran into each other. One morning though I was stumbling upstairs to the kitchen (she has a 3-level house, guest room on bottom, kitchen in middle, her bedroom upstairs)...I was only half awake in search of coffee. Well, I was rounding the corner to the kitchen when she popped out of nowhere. I screamed because I hadn't seen her, she had heard me coming but screamed when she saw me in all of my patched eye glory. She then took a second look and just burst out laughing. Honestly, I was kind of pissed, but she kept laughing and before I knew it we were both laughing so hard we were on the floor with tears coming out of our eyes!

I know it sounds like such a simple story, but I remember truly being at my worst. It was all still so fresh and new and I was still trying to come to terms with the pain and the tragedy of what had happened...that morning of laughter and tears was a break through for me. All because of those clear plastic shields that I had become so fond of! I swear I wore them for almost 2 months because my eyes just felt so much better with them on at night and I felt so "protected" during the day with them. I would probably still wear them if all that tape hadn't been so bothersome!

[Lucy]

Kyle, funny story! It helps to recall funny things happening, even if they are tragic.

You know, you can get the same results with swimming goggles? They aren't very comfortable though. But I've worn my swim goggles in the house many times during bad eye times. I also tape one eye shut a lot. One bad week, I kept it taped shut most of the time. Finally, I had stripped the skin off my cheek where the tape had been. I looked as though I had a big shiner.

I use adhesive patches made for the eye now when I want to patch one eye. I am just more careful taking it off.

I have two sisters, so I know the dynamics in play during the the time you were wearing your "bug eyes."