Gary Foulks MD (Louisville KY)

[LouisvilleLady]

disappointed in treatment

Hi Louisvillemom,
I'm sorry that you've not been able to make progress with Dr. Foulks. I know that not every doctor is a perfect fit for everyone; however, if you truly have dry eye as your primary problem, it's hard to believe that he doesn't know what to do...That said, it took about a month or so before he got to the root of mine. I had to keep calling back whenever the treatment wasn't working. Finally, after the process of working step-by-step, we got there. Yet, it still takes ongoing work of implementing a regime, letting it work - or not - and then trying something else. Usually, new approaches come up along the way. ( I've been doing this for over a year now, and even though it's been "two steps forward; one step back," overall, I'm 90% better.) I've never known Dr. F not to continue to offer something! He's always ready with the latest information.

Now, one thing that I've had to adapt to is his conservative, slow, steady pace. Because he is a researcher, I believe that he is "conscientious to a fault" and therefore doesn't implement too many things at once. He gives a recommendation, says to try it for a while and then come back (or call) if it doesn't work.

Finally, Dr. F clearly believes in treatments having solid clinical research. Like you, I have asked about the DHEA drops, and he wasn't enthusiastic due to the lack of research. However, he told me that if I really wanted them, he'd be willing to try them. I also asked about the testosterone cream which is used at the Southern College of Optometry, and he wasn't impressed with that either, as it doesn't yet have enough "clinical trials."

Again, I'm sorry that you didn't find the help you needed from Dr. Foulks, but keep looking. Right now, I'm really glad he recommended this new drop - OasisTears Plus. It's seeming to do something that the other drops didn't, but he also said to give them a month! Everything takes time, and this has been the hardest lesson for me.

[louisvillemom]

depressed but will keep trying

Louisville Lady,
I am glad you have improved so much. I have gone to him three times; the fourth time tomorrow and I have gotten worse. He said he would be unwilling to give me DHEA drops and said so for the testosterone cream too until I said I had read on this board he had given some to someone else and only then did he say he would give the cream. He had just told me I could go to Tennessee and a man there would give it to me. That is a long way to go for some cream. Again only when I said someone on this board(which is where I said I got my referral to see him) had gotten some from him that he said that she had gotten it first from a man in Tennessee and he just refilled it. Then he said he could give it to me, but was unwilling to give me DHEA drops. Tomorrow is I believe going to be my last shot with him. I have been out tons of money and I am getting worse. He acts for some reason like he doesn't like me. What treatments have you tried. I have tried restasis several times and each time I think it could be making me worse. Thanks for your reply.

[jasonsmith]

Since I found someone else who's seeing the same doctor (Dr. Foulks), I thought I'd follow up from my last entry because it seems that both you and I, Jennie, were going to be trying the Lacriserts. Well, on my last visit (mid Dec.) Dr. Foulks looked at the right upper plug, in which he'd previously placed a SmartPlug and said that it was in place. Still, he was willing to reinforce it one more time with a second SmartPlug just to make sure that it was fully plugged. Then, if I was still not comfortable, he said to come back. Then he reminded me that winter is especially difficult for dry eye. Since then, I've been keeping up my massages, drops, and lid hygiene. So, we'll put off the Lacriserts even yet.

In the meantime, I remembered that my bio-identical hormones had been adjusted so that the testosterone level had been reduced, so I put in a call to bring the level back up and even put it in a separate tube so that I could put a little directly on my eyelids. Along with that, I thought that I'd go ahead and try Dr. Holly's drops. Honestly, I've had better days this past week than I've had for several months, so I hope I don't have to bother Dr. Foulks. I wonder what he'll say about these drops if we really believe they're good.
I admit that I've been a skeptic, but soooo many people on this website talked about how good they are...

I was searching and came across this thread. But I don't think it's a good idea to put in TWO smart plugs in the same place. One enough has it's own risks that could require surgery to remove it. But putting in TWO could/would be a problem as you might not be able to flush them out if needed. As sometimes they aren't able to flush out just the ONE plug. And I've read that with the Smart Plugs, the doctors can't be sure if they've flushed them out or not, or if they're even still in there.