Best Dry Eye Specialist in Charlotte, Gastonia or Hickory NC area?

[SufferinSally]

I need a recommendation for the best dry eye specialist (an opthamologist not an optometrist) in the Charlotte, Gastonia or Hickory area of North Carolina. Anyone have a doctor that is truly helping them out?

[hannidan]

I just came across your question so I'm sorry if this is too late. I went through 12 eye doctors, in and around Charlotte, and never found one that had anything on their minds but my insurance card. I'm now going to Duke. It's about 2.5 hours each way and a million times worth it. Best of luck.

[c hope]

Anyone in particular at Duke? I saw a doctor their but it did not go well. He really just wanted me to have Lipiflow. Thinking of going back, just not sure who to see.

[shanku]

Duke <==> LipFlow

Anyone in particular at Duke? I saw a doctor their but it did not go well. He really just wanted me to have Lipiflow. Thinking of going back, just not sure who to see.

Just want share that I did the similar mistake back in 2011 when I started seeing Duke doctors and till date I live with ever-present left eye pain that started right after the Lipiflow procedure in Oct 2011; Beware that several Duke doctors are on the LipiFlow(TearScience) executive board and they obviously inclined towards Lipiflow.

Good Luck!

[hannidan]

First of all, Shanku, I'm sorry to hear lipiflow left you with persistent pain and must confess to some surprise. Did anyone say why? I went over to Duke, originally, specifically to have Lipiflow so I didn't feel anyone was pressing it on me. It turned out to be quite helpful in my case. My only regret (and it is a very, very big one) is that I didn't go to Duke as soon as I developed my eye problems, it looks like I'll be paying for that mistake the rest of my life. Once again, Shanku, I'm sorry to hear it left you with eye pain.

C-Hope, the Duke doctor that I've been pleased with is Dr. Preeya Gupta. At this moment I believe she is out on maternity leave but is supposed to be back in October. I've heard good things about Dr. Alan Carlson, but have not met with him so it is just hear-say. I would think, however, if they believe you'll benefit from lipiflow, you'll be hearing about it again.

[shanku]

Did anyone say why?

I also had a scarring of the left cornea right after the procedure which eventually healed.

The doctors that you mention here are the ones who performed it on me, I was one of first few patient who had it there. I asked them several times about it but they have not heard any side effects like that. But another user from this board pointed me to following contraindications for Lipiflow:

http://www.tearscience.com/physician...ng-and-safety/

I have lagophthalmos condition which is listed above. So, either the procedure was not suitable for me or something went wrong during the procedure.

[hannidan]

Shanku, it bothers me that they performed lipiflow when it doesn’t sound like that was the proper procedure for you. Sort of a reality check for me. After my lasik disaster I went through 12 Charlotte eye doctors and sincerely feel, in a just world, they all could be found guilty of fraud and malpractice. There is a place on this forum to tell our complete stories and I plan on doing so eventually, but in short I know in my heart the Charlotte doctors intentionally mislead me as to the nature of my eye problem and then (when the truth leaked out) under treated me. To my everlasting shame and discomfort I let this go on for 4 years, just switching doctors and hoping to find one that would help. When I finally drove over to Duke and met with Dr. Gupta I found a doctor that was both patient with her time and informative (it was such a revelation to get answers to my questions!), not to mention the lipiflow and IPL helping me.
Sorry that wasn’t your experience at Duke. Although I haven’t got a better eye doctor lined up, you’ve certainly given me a wakeup call. Thank-you.

[shanku]

you’ve certainly given me a wakeup call. Thank-you.

Thanks for your well written summary of the condition of care; this is in indeed my experience too. Am not a good story teller but have been posting various issues in different threads.

These days, like you said most of the Eye doctors in my area who has some knowledge of the dry eye mess ignore and under-treat me - this is the condition at Duke and the other significant University clinic in my area. I am kind of on my own these days. I tried taking 2nd opinions from Wilmer Eye center which turned out to be a tad bit better.

My experience is that medicine doctors usually have myopic viewpoint and recommend short-term, not well proven treatments; And every treatment carries risk and many a times it is difficult to estimate the damage it can do. But at the least doctors should do justice to what they already know. Desperate patients make a choice with their limited self-research and at times get to suffer from the complications of it (sometime it can last a lifetime!). So, take their advice with a grain of salt, cross-verify with other doctors on it, run your self-search and play more conservative.

Best and safest piece of eye advice I got are - (a) Boston Scleral Lenses and (b) Nighttime eye protection methods (c) warm/cold compress & lid hygiene, which made me get a handle on my challenging eye condition and improve it.

Worst treatments for me were - (a) Lipiflow (b) Long term daily use of Oral Antibiotics for Sinus/Eye/Skin which messed up my GI (c) IPL (d) Eyelash electrolysis (e) Eye lid surgery(Tarrsoraphy/Eyelid weight) (did not undergo it in spite of severe pressure from docs; and now they say it wouldn't have helped!)

Not saying that these lists will look same for others.

In my case, I have been diagnosed with Sjogren's thru lip biopsy which was found after my own aggressive pursuit with several specialties. Am trying to focus these days on healing the whole body naturally and left my eye management to the things above that worked for me so far.