Refresh Optive Sensitive with glisseren = huge improvement!

[EileenL]

I have no tears or oil secretions at all. The Refresh Optive Sensitive is allowing me to put drops in and forget about my eyes til the next eye drops. Previously, I would put drops or ointment in then spend the next intervening time wiping up the drips as the drops and ointment oozed out of my eye. Then my eye would itch and scratch, crust would collect on my lashes. The constant rubbing, dabbing, pulling crust off  lashes, removing strings of I don't know what kind of goop from my eyes led to minor and sometimes not so minor infections.  I've been using the Refresh Optive Sensitive for ten days now and I'm pleased to finally be able to put the drop in and forget about my eyes for a few minutes at least. I still wear glasses and I still use ointment at night along with night ware. I'm baffled as to wear all that crusty crud I used to clean from my eyes is going because my outer eye appears clean when I check. Interestingly it took a few days for the drops to take their full effective. I guess all the old garbage had to work its way out. I'm also thrilled that mhy eyes are no longer chapped during these difficult winter months!

Best of luck to everyone finding your own magic bag of relief!

[mgshutterbug]

Does Refresh Optive Sensitive have any preservatives? I would be ecstatic to find something which is longer-lasting. When I use drops, I get blessed relief for about 15-20 seconds. The burning is diminished for maybe another 1/2 minute. That's it. So if there's something new on the market, and it doesn't have preservatives, I'm game!
Maria

[EileenL]

Hi Jitterbug,
Refresh Optive Sensitive is preservative free.  I'm sorry you're having so much paidiscomfort.  It took me years to realize that a lot of my discomfort actually comes from the upper lids and eye socket getting dry or having debris trapped in there. I discovered that if I fill my upper lids with drops this somehow replenishes the moisture reserves in the whole eye. It's best if I can lie down  and wait for the drops to work ther way around the lashes and adhessions in my eye. I repeat as needed and sometimes gentle masaging persuades the drops to go where they don't seem to want to go on their own.
I am finding the Refresh Optive Sensitive to be as thick and adherent as celluvisc without all the painful grit left behind when the drops dry out. I was using Refresh Plus but those drops don't stick as well especially if I use ointment during the day.
I'm still using the refresh plus occasionally as I still like the way they feel on first contact. I guess I'll always be eexperimenting for that perfect solution. I also think that my nose has not been as dry even with the heat pump running almost constantly.
Cyber Hugs,
Eileen

[abbygirl]

I discovered the same thing the other evening when my eye got dry up under my upper lid...not the usual front of the eye surface pain. So, I decided to try something different (instead of taking an Excedrine) and I put a drop of the Optive in my eye while lying down on the couch. I lifted my upper lid so that the drop would get back and up under the lid and the pain went away!!! It came back later in the middle of night and I repeated this process and it worked!! Can an eye doctor see this dryness if it is back up under the lid?? I have very large eyes/globes and I am wondering if my lids are getting stuck on my eyeballs when I get this pain. Anyone heard of this??

[EileenL]

I'm personally allergic to doctors. I've had dry eye since I was a kid so maybe I thought sticking lids was just something I had to cope with with no solution. For some stupid reason I used to stop putting in lubricants while waiting in the eye doctor's office. You can imagine my eye turned into a sand box. The doctor's informative comment was "your eyes look very dry".

The fact that eye drop bottles come with instructions to "place drops in lower lid" didn't exactly shed any light on my stuck eye lid woes. LOL

So I'm really glad that you were able to identify the source of the pain and do something about it. For me when my eyes get that dry it all seems to hurt. I suppose you could do a search on stick and stuck to see what others have said.

[Mewkiss]

I seem to have that problem where my eyeball behind my lid is dry. I also have burning in the inner corners. I had been using Refresh Optive and it helped for about 5 minutes. I just got some Thera Tears and it is burning like mad (I didn't understand the preservative in that).

Does the Refresh Sensitive come in bottles or just the individual vials? I've never used them so I'm not sure how much to use and if you use a partial vile how to store what you don't use for later.

This is miserable.

[Mewkiss]

I discovered the same thing the other evening when my eye got dry up under my upper lid...not the usual front of the eye surface pain. So, I decided to try something different (instead of taking an Excedrine) and I put a drop of the Optive in my eye while lying down on the couch. I lifted my upper lid so that the drop would get back and up under the lid and the pain went away!!! It came back later in the middle of night and I repeated this process and it worked!! Can an eye doctor see this dryness if it is back up under the lid?? I have very large eyes/globes and I am wondering if my lids are getting stuck on my eyeballs when I get this pain. Anyone heard of this??

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I took your suggestion and put my drops, currently Refresh Optive, under my upper eyelids. I have had relief for at least an hour. It is amazing! My eyeballs are starting to dry out now but I was only getting maybe 10 minutes of relief so this is huge. I don't feel like scratching my eyeballs out. Again thanks.

[jenny2008]

you are using it under your eyelids? hmmm. i used it as a drop and didnt feel any dif than reg refresh.. maybe i didnt use it correctly?

[abbygirl]

I am not advocating this but when I have drops left over in the vials I recap them with the top of the vial and store them in a plastic pill bottle (you get your prescriptions in) and store in the fridge. I always use the open one within 12 hours.

[Mewkiss]

I am laying down with my head back. I pull my upper eyelid up and put some drops under the upper eyelid and then close and let them sit in my eye. I also move my eyelids with my hands to spread the drops around. It helps tremendously.

I turned of my heat this morning and see if that is it, although it wasn't a problem for the first month and a half in here. I bought some swim goggles off Ebay yesterday and and she have them this weekend. I hope they fit under my glasses.