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Hello to all!
It is extremely emotional for me to be even posting a thread in the dry eye triumphs section. So many nights I'd sit and read posts here and think I'm never gonna be one of them, they are so lucky. There were so many dark days and dark thoughts... In any case, I'm gonna say it now and I'm gonna say it again when i'm done : DON'T YOU ****ING GIVE UP! sorry for the foul language, there's no other way to express it!
Here's my story again even though you'll probably find it in my previous posts:
I had LASIK done in February of 2010. My eyes were fine up until November 15, 2010. (A year and a day ago and nine months after the actual operation). I woke up feeling a strange feeling in my eyes, not exactly pain, just that something is not right. It would sometimes be my right eye, sometimes my left, and rarely, both eyes.
I visited literally 13 doctors in 5 different countries(Canada US England Syria and Lebanon) including Dr.Latkany. I got a bunch of different diagnoses. Some doctors said dry eye, others said allergies, and others said corneal erosion.
Treatments I've tried:
Temporary (one month) Intracranular Punctal Plugs in my bottom puncta
Refresh Lacrilub Ointment at night for three weeks
Omega 3 Pills in the morning for about 9 months straight every day
Nevanac for about one week
Heat treatments for meibomian glands
Patanol
Allomide
Lastacaft
Zaditene
Emadine
Durezol for four days
Fluorometholone for one month
None of these worked..
Here's where things get interesting:
Having reached the end of the line I decided to try scleral lenses. As some of you know, before you go to the BFS to get your lenses, you need to get your local eye doctor to fill out a referral form. I contacted a doctor I hadn't seen before here in Damascus, Syria and took an appointment. Upon arriving at my appointment, I explained to him everything I had been through and all the different things I had tried. He was really kind and understanding and sat with me for 20 minutes even though there were loads of people outside. He's really like Dr.Latkany in many ways. In the end, he refused to fill out the form and told me that those lenses aren't good in the long term. He told me he would only fill out the referral paper for someone who was in a lot worse condition than I was in and that if there really was nothing else to try and the person was in an unbearable condition. He told me my problem was dry eye and that he could tell because my tear line level was too low. (In Arabic its called the tear river I dunno what it's called in English). Its basically how high your tear meniscus is on your lower eye lid I hope people who are reading understand what I'm talking about. He told me mine was about 0.4 mm and that it should me somewhere between 1 and 2 mm. He told me to try intracranular punctum plugs again in all four puncta this time. I told him I had already tried them in my bottom eye lids. He said that through experience, he'd seen the most improvement when people put them in all four puncta, and that one month was not enough time for them to show their effect. He told me that some people saw improvement after 2 and even 3 months. Me, being skeptical of doctors and almost developing a sort of hatred for all of them after everything I've been through and after everything I've read on this site and elsewhere, asked him right away what the mechanism of action was or why they'd take that long to work. He told me straight up he was not sure of why they took so long to work but he knew that for many people, they did work. He asked me for permission to put four temporary plugs in. He told me that these plugs last for 6 weeks but he wanted me to come back after 4 weeks to insert new ones in. In the end, I had the plugs inserted even though I was almost sure they wouldn't work, since I had nothing to lose and he scared me off from trying the lenses. After LASIK, I learned that I should not have done the operation and that I should've taken the warnings about the complications more seriously. Having a doctor warning me from trying the lenses and my past experience about how doctors these days just want to make money, I got too scared about the lenses and decided to try the plugs for 3 months. As I was leaving his office he shook my hand and smiled and told me not to worry and be optimistic, and most importantly cheer up. He's very friendly I really can't say how much. After seeing doctors these days.. this guy is just something else. In any case, I went home that night and got online and put a post warning people about scleral lenses, I think the post might still be there.
Here's where things start to get interesting. My first month on the plugs my symptoms stayed the same. I went back after four weeks and got the plugs inserted again. My second month on the plugs nothing happened. However, two weeks into the third month(now) I can tell that my symptoms have started to improve. As with everyone else, I get good eye days and bad eye days. I'm an engineer, and a very scientific person. When I say my eyes have improved I mean it from a statistical point of view, in terms of how many more good days I am getting. I haven't had a bad day in two weeks now and I've noticed my use of refresh drops go down. I usually use about 7-10 of the preservative free vials a day. each one has 8 drops in it, so that comes to about 28-40 drops per eye per day. Now I've noticed my use dropped down to 2-5 vials a day. I still wear my tinted moisture chambers to work though, as I work in an aluminium extrusion plant and with high temperatures and plenty of wind from fans and so on. Even people with "normal" eyes have problems with their eyes next to the press. Its funny sometimes I feel like a refresh representative handing out refresh vials to my fellow workers some of them use them daily now
. But when I'm away from the press itself, I can take off my goggles and it feels better than it did before.
In any case, my eyes aren't perfect yet. I still feel some irritation in them although it is a lot better than before and it is a level of pain that I am able to tolerate and be happy. That is what is the most important part, this improvement has made me a lot happier than I was before. Sometimes hours go by even whole days when I wouldn't think about my eyes. I buy and carry refresh vials around all the time but I'm used to it now, it's not a problem. As my close friend told me you carry your vials like I carry my packet of cigarettes it's not that much of a hassle. I hope my eyes stay this way and I'd also like to mention that I still express my glands around once a week or whenever I see a tiny a gland get clogged. I also take the omega-3 pills from time to time they're in my room and I just take them whenever I remember to.
I hope my story gives all of you who still suffer from dry eye pain hope and courage. I know that some of you are out there now reading this story thinking I'm never gonna be able to be happy again or that my eyes will never be the same. I have one message for you, DON'T ****ING GIVE UP. Even if you can't think of what you're gonna do next, even if you think you've tried anything, even if people tell you you need to get used to it and its not gonna get better. It WILL! If you have any questions pm me. By the way my doctors name is Bashar Luka. He's here in Damascus. I know that with the political situation going on the majority of people on this site would never come to see him. But maybe in the future when things calm down in my country you can pay him a visit. Whats better is, thanks to this forum, you can try punctum plugs in all four puncta for three months at your local eye doctor and benefit from my visit to Dr.Luka without having to ever come see him. In any case, I'm gonna ask him for permission to put his number and email on the forum when I next see him (in two weeks time). If any of you live in Syria or in nearby countries, pm me and i'll give you his number and my number and your more than welcome to give me a call when you come and visit and we'll talk about dry eye.
MASSIVE THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE ON THIS FORUM AND ESPECIALLY REBECCA WHO STARTED IT ALL. I DON'T KNOW WHERE I'D BE WITHOUT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is extremely emotional for me to be even posting a thread in the dry eye triumphs section. So many nights I'd sit and read posts here and think I'm never gonna be one of them, they are so lucky. There were so many dark days and dark thoughts... In any case, I'm gonna say it now and I'm gonna say it again when i'm done : DON'T YOU ****ING GIVE UP! sorry for the foul language, there's no other way to express it!
Here's my story again even though you'll probably find it in my previous posts:
I had LASIK done in February of 2010. My eyes were fine up until November 15, 2010. (A year and a day ago and nine months after the actual operation). I woke up feeling a strange feeling in my eyes, not exactly pain, just that something is not right. It would sometimes be my right eye, sometimes my left, and rarely, both eyes.
I visited literally 13 doctors in 5 different countries(Canada US England Syria and Lebanon) including Dr.Latkany. I got a bunch of different diagnoses. Some doctors said dry eye, others said allergies, and others said corneal erosion.
Treatments I've tried:
Temporary (one month) Intracranular Punctal Plugs in my bottom puncta
Refresh Lacrilub Ointment at night for three weeks
Omega 3 Pills in the morning for about 9 months straight every day
Nevanac for about one week
Heat treatments for meibomian glands
Patanol
Allomide
Lastacaft
Zaditene
Emadine
Durezol for four days
Fluorometholone for one month
None of these worked..
Here's where things get interesting:
Having reached the end of the line I decided to try scleral lenses. As some of you know, before you go to the BFS to get your lenses, you need to get your local eye doctor to fill out a referral form. I contacted a doctor I hadn't seen before here in Damascus, Syria and took an appointment. Upon arriving at my appointment, I explained to him everything I had been through and all the different things I had tried. He was really kind and understanding and sat with me for 20 minutes even though there were loads of people outside. He's really like Dr.Latkany in many ways. In the end, he refused to fill out the form and told me that those lenses aren't good in the long term. He told me he would only fill out the referral paper for someone who was in a lot worse condition than I was in and that if there really was nothing else to try and the person was in an unbearable condition. He told me my problem was dry eye and that he could tell because my tear line level was too low. (In Arabic its called the tear river I dunno what it's called in English). Its basically how high your tear meniscus is on your lower eye lid I hope people who are reading understand what I'm talking about. He told me mine was about 0.4 mm and that it should me somewhere between 1 and 2 mm. He told me to try intracranular punctum plugs again in all four puncta this time. I told him I had already tried them in my bottom eye lids. He said that through experience, he'd seen the most improvement when people put them in all four puncta, and that one month was not enough time for them to show their effect. He told me that some people saw improvement after 2 and even 3 months. Me, being skeptical of doctors and almost developing a sort of hatred for all of them after everything I've been through and after everything I've read on this site and elsewhere, asked him right away what the mechanism of action was or why they'd take that long to work. He told me straight up he was not sure of why they took so long to work but he knew that for many people, they did work. He asked me for permission to put four temporary plugs in. He told me that these plugs last for 6 weeks but he wanted me to come back after 4 weeks to insert new ones in. In the end, I had the plugs inserted even though I was almost sure they wouldn't work, since I had nothing to lose and he scared me off from trying the lenses. After LASIK, I learned that I should not have done the operation and that I should've taken the warnings about the complications more seriously. Having a doctor warning me from trying the lenses and my past experience about how doctors these days just want to make money, I got too scared about the lenses and decided to try the plugs for 3 months. As I was leaving his office he shook my hand and smiled and told me not to worry and be optimistic, and most importantly cheer up. He's very friendly I really can't say how much. After seeing doctors these days.. this guy is just something else. In any case, I went home that night and got online and put a post warning people about scleral lenses, I think the post might still be there.
Here's where things start to get interesting. My first month on the plugs my symptoms stayed the same. I went back after four weeks and got the plugs inserted again. My second month on the plugs nothing happened. However, two weeks into the third month(now) I can tell that my symptoms have started to improve. As with everyone else, I get good eye days and bad eye days. I'm an engineer, and a very scientific person. When I say my eyes have improved I mean it from a statistical point of view, in terms of how many more good days I am getting. I haven't had a bad day in two weeks now and I've noticed my use of refresh drops go down. I usually use about 7-10 of the preservative free vials a day. each one has 8 drops in it, so that comes to about 28-40 drops per eye per day. Now I've noticed my use dropped down to 2-5 vials a day. I still wear my tinted moisture chambers to work though, as I work in an aluminium extrusion plant and with high temperatures and plenty of wind from fans and so on. Even people with "normal" eyes have problems with their eyes next to the press. Its funny sometimes I feel like a refresh representative handing out refresh vials to my fellow workers some of them use them daily now
. But when I'm away from the press itself, I can take off my goggles and it feels better than it did before.In any case, my eyes aren't perfect yet. I still feel some irritation in them although it is a lot better than before and it is a level of pain that I am able to tolerate and be happy. That is what is the most important part, this improvement has made me a lot happier than I was before. Sometimes hours go by even whole days when I wouldn't think about my eyes. I buy and carry refresh vials around all the time but I'm used to it now, it's not a problem. As my close friend told me you carry your vials like I carry my packet of cigarettes it's not that much of a hassle. I hope my eyes stay this way and I'd also like to mention that I still express my glands around once a week or whenever I see a tiny a gland get clogged. I also take the omega-3 pills from time to time they're in my room and I just take them whenever I remember to.
I hope my story gives all of you who still suffer from dry eye pain hope and courage. I know that some of you are out there now reading this story thinking I'm never gonna be able to be happy again or that my eyes will never be the same. I have one message for you, DON'T ****ING GIVE UP. Even if you can't think of what you're gonna do next, even if you think you've tried anything, even if people tell you you need to get used to it and its not gonna get better. It WILL! If you have any questions pm me. By the way my doctors name is Bashar Luka. He's here in Damascus. I know that with the political situation going on the majority of people on this site would never come to see him. But maybe in the future when things calm down in my country you can pay him a visit. Whats better is, thanks to this forum, you can try punctum plugs in all four puncta for three months at your local eye doctor and benefit from my visit to Dr.Luka without having to ever come see him. In any case, I'm gonna ask him for permission to put his number and email on the forum when I next see him (in two weeks time). If any of you live in Syria or in nearby countries, pm me and i'll give you his number and my number and your more than welcome to give me a call when you come and visit and we'll talk about dry eye.
MASSIVE THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE ON THIS FORUM AND ESPECIALLY REBECCA WHO STARTED IT ALL. I DON'T KNOW WHERE I'D BE WITHOUT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
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