Hey Emmsy555,
It's very normal to feel this way. I mean it's your eyes. If you feel discomfort with a part of your body that is so important and that you are like using all the time, it's bound to have an effect on you emotionally. I do feel discouraged and depressed a lot of the times myself when things don't work out with my eyes.
4 seconds is indeed very poor for TBUT. As you mentioned plugs won't probably help you because it's more likely that you have a problem with the quality of your tears rather than the quality.
I can't remember why but someone once told me it's better to use a commercial lid scrub. Why not try something like SteriLid? I think it would be more effective and less irritating to the your eyes and the skin around it. Some lid scrubs even have an anti-bacterial effect.
I don't know currently what artificial tears you are using but perhaps you should try using something more viscous. Probably something like Celluvisc. Actually from what i know there are a few types of artificial tears with different characteristics.
- The more hypotonic types like Theratears. the idea is that when moisture evaporates from the eyes, the salts in the tears is left behind on the ocular surface. The salt could worsen the inflammation of the surface of your eye and cause further irritation and instability of the tear film. Hypotonic tears help to lower elevated tear film osmolarity.
- There are others like Refresh that are perhaps 'saltier'. it tends to simulate the multiple electrolytes we have in our tears. I hate Refresh by the way it seems to make my eyes worse.
- There are also some that contain bicarbonates such as Bion. bicarbonate containing artificial tears have been said to help the eye heal from inflammation more quickly.
- Systane eye drops are pretty close to the PH of our eyes. Furthermore it does not merely wash away our own natural tears when it is applied. It forms a gelling web which meshes with our own tears. Unlike usual artificial tears, it works together with your own tear film. It also does not blur the vision so much. I love systane. it works for me pretty well.
The point is not one tear will work for everyone. Some people have found increased comfort by using one brand of tears and after five minutes later apply another brand to the eyes. Perhaps you would like to mix up a few brands and see if it helps your eyes. The key is to prevent further inflammation to the eye. The more inflamed your eyes are, the more unstable your tear film is. and the more unstable your tear film is, the more inflammation it would cause. it is a vicious cycle. If you prevent further inflammation, then over a long period of time, I believe that you should be able to increase your TBUT.
And I totally agree with what Jumpy said bout increased comfort from using the steamer. It helped soothe my eyes as well. I also found that it helped reduce the redness. I did it a bit different in that i added a bit of peppermint to the world. It sorta gives your eyes a cooling sensation to relieve the irritation. You could try that as well.
Try not to feel discouraged. I have been working on my eyes for six months now and it takes quite a bit of time to see small improvements.
It's very normal to feel this way. I mean it's your eyes. If you feel discomfort with a part of your body that is so important and that you are like using all the time, it's bound to have an effect on you emotionally. I do feel discouraged and depressed a lot of the times myself when things don't work out with my eyes.
4 seconds is indeed very poor for TBUT. As you mentioned plugs won't probably help you because it's more likely that you have a problem with the quality of your tears rather than the quality.
I can't remember why but someone once told me it's better to use a commercial lid scrub. Why not try something like SteriLid? I think it would be more effective and less irritating to the your eyes and the skin around it. Some lid scrubs even have an anti-bacterial effect.
I don't know currently what artificial tears you are using but perhaps you should try using something more viscous. Probably something like Celluvisc. Actually from what i know there are a few types of artificial tears with different characteristics.
- The more hypotonic types like Theratears. the idea is that when moisture evaporates from the eyes, the salts in the tears is left behind on the ocular surface. The salt could worsen the inflammation of the surface of your eye and cause further irritation and instability of the tear film. Hypotonic tears help to lower elevated tear film osmolarity.
- There are others like Refresh that are perhaps 'saltier'. it tends to simulate the multiple electrolytes we have in our tears. I hate Refresh by the way it seems to make my eyes worse.
- There are also some that contain bicarbonates such as Bion. bicarbonate containing artificial tears have been said to help the eye heal from inflammation more quickly.
- Systane eye drops are pretty close to the PH of our eyes. Furthermore it does not merely wash away our own natural tears when it is applied. It forms a gelling web which meshes with our own tears. Unlike usual artificial tears, it works together with your own tear film. It also does not blur the vision so much. I love systane. it works for me pretty well.
The point is not one tear will work for everyone. Some people have found increased comfort by using one brand of tears and after five minutes later apply another brand to the eyes. Perhaps you would like to mix up a few brands and see if it helps your eyes. The key is to prevent further inflammation to the eye. The more inflamed your eyes are, the more unstable your tear film is. and the more unstable your tear film is, the more inflammation it would cause. it is a vicious cycle. If you prevent further inflammation, then over a long period of time, I believe that you should be able to increase your TBUT.
And I totally agree with what Jumpy said bout increased comfort from using the steamer. It helped soothe my eyes as well. I also found that it helped reduce the redness. I did it a bit different in that i added a bit of peppermint to the world. It sorta gives your eyes a cooling sensation to relieve the irritation. You could try that as well.
Try not to feel discouraged. I have been working on my eyes for six months now and it takes quite a bit of time to see small improvements.
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