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bassfans dry eye story

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  • bassfans dry eye story

    So i've been reading this forum for a while now and never put my story up here...so here goes.

    Im 25, and currently live in Syracuse NY, originally from Omaha, NE. I've had "bad" DES for about a year now. My eyes have never been great that I remember and have gone downhill for probably the last 5 years. The "bad" part started when I went to another optometrist to try as many different contacts as I could to find something that would give me some comfort while wearing them. After dealiing with a lot of crappy diagnoses which I think were all part of an insurance scam (having to deal with kerataconus, another story), I started taking restasis. I didn't have any problems with burning that many people mention here at the time. About three weeks into restasis (2x daily) my eyes became terribly dry over the course of a couple days. I called the eye doc who said to stop taking them and come in. He said I had an allergic reaction or something (allergic conjunctivitis or something) and I ended up taking like four different steroid drops over the next few months. Nothing ever really helped though and to this day I attribute Restasis to my "bad" dry eye.

    I've seen four different opthamologists locally who have all given up or pawned me off on someone else. Basically nobody in Syracuse knows anythingn about dry eye. They try and think they do...but they dont. It was only after finding this site did I visit Dr Latkany in NYC. Of course my HMO doesn't cover over there so I paid an arm and a leg but it was worth it. I have a lot more confidence in him and I sure learned a lot about my visit. I can't say that he miraculously fixed me or anything but I just learned so much about what causes dry eye and the smaller things you can do to cope with it.

    I've had plugs numerous times locally and never really helped, they always fell out or drove me nuts. I finally have lower plugs in now that I've gotten used to and they do help some with wetness that I can feel. I had four plugs in before and my eyes were so wet it was crazy. One only lasted a night before falling out though. It doesn't really help my DES all that much though, my eyes still feel like crap.

    Oh ya, I take propecia for hair loss. I still have a full head of hair but I think its thinned some and I have numerous cousins and family that are in their twenties/thirties and are totally bald. I've taken the drug for like 6 years now. I looked at side effects long ago but never could find any corellation between DES and propecia. Then a couple weeks ago I was digging around some more and finally found a study showing finasteride (the active ingredient in the drug) having effects on meibomian gland functionality. Now I don't believe any study in the world so Im pretty skeptical at this point but I suppose it could be the root cause of my DES at some point. I've come across a couple people in various online material that have DES and were taking propecia. Maybe finasteride and the Restasis created a bad thing. There was a post on here a couple weeks ago about the same thing as well. It was funny that i found the study only a few days prior to reading the post on here about finasteride.

    Ok thats all for now. If anyone cares to hear more about any particulars in my struggle, feel free to ask.

    Daren

  • #2
    Hi Daren,

    I'm glad that you decided to post your story. I know you've been around here for a while, but it's nice to know more about how you got your dry eye.

    Did you make it back to Omaha for your sister's graduation?

    Julie

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    • #3
      Hey Julie, ya I made it home. It was a good time. Actually voluntarily bumped myself on one leg of the trip there, stayed in Chicago for the night and got a free ticket voucher out of it for another trip. I got to see most of my quite large extended family who I haven't seen in a couple years and a few friends from my high school days that were in town for graduations. It went so fast though, as it always does.

      My little sis is going to UNO in the fall, and actually staying in the same dorms as I did when I was there so thats kind of neat. I have a feeling shes going to change her major about six times after she starts but right now its prenursing!

      Someday when Im in Omaha again, we should get together for lunch or something. I've never actually met anyone with DES in person before. I want to join in on one of these chats someday too, but am leaving for San Diego tomorrow and going to be too busy tonight because of it.

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      • #4
        Suffering...........suffering

        Hey Daren,

        Woh dude........., I thought I was the only one around so young, and having to suffering with DES in the worst way.!!!
        I'm originally Sri lankan but living in germany since 11years! my upper ducts are cauterized and the lower ones are plugged, but my left eye lower plug kept falling out! but I gave up putting them in over and over again, it just costs me money! have thought about cauterizing the lower ones too, but I'm afraid of it!
        On Restasis since an year! they did get better the cornea looked definitely much better, but the dryness appears always and it's just driving me mad! I can't travel for long, I get headaches and they redden, sore!!! drops don't do much, or I haven't got the right ones! i take Artelac right now, from Bausch and lOmb, which doesn't help at all!
        right now, I'm bandaging my eyes at night! but that's difficult to do! cos it's quiet uncomfortable!
        this sucks!!! if things get worse, I have to think about coming to the states to consult an eyedoc, the german ones no nothing!!!
        I'm off, and pray for better eyedays! take care and wish you the best

        Wathsala

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        • #5
          Hey Bassfan...

          I'd enjoy getting together for lunch or something if you are in Omaha sometime. Sorry that I didn't see your post until now. Just send me a PM the next time to plan to make a trip back to Nebraska.

          -Julie

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