Please help

[tryintounderstand]

Hello I am new to this for forum. I suffer from blepharitis and ocular rosacea. I have been to many and many opthamologist office trying to get help. I am still miserable. I wake up in the morning and my eyes are really really swelled. I have gotten into a regular routine of warm compresses twice daily followed by lid scrubs(ocusoft) I do cold compresses once daily in the morning for 10 minutes also take doxycycline 100 mg twice daily and also take hydro tears 4 pills a day. Also continue with my refresh eyedrops 4-6times daily. Still miserable. Ive heard different stories of anti puff eye roller(neutrogena) and was wondering if this was an option for me? Please any suggestions at this point would help. Im at a lose and not only physically in pain but mentally its starting to effect me as well. Im 24 and still young but I feel as if i am gonna have an extremly difficult life with this condition. quite depressing.Please help. Any suggestions from people im willing to listen too. Thank you

[Debk]

Hi. I have ocular rosacea too. I don't do warm compresses at all because they made my eyes so red and inflamed. I only do cold, when needed, and only for a couple of minutes (maybe 2). Dr L., a dry eye specialist who posts on this board, told me to do cold compresses (fridge, not freezer) only for one minute. I think too much cold, as well as heat can make rosacea worse.

Also, when I was diagnosed I was very careful about what face and eye creams I used. I started using Cetaphil only and stopped wearing all make-up. I also stopped all hair products and modified my hairstyle so my side swept bangs were not anywhere near my eyes. I know if sounds extreme, but anything I put on my face or had even remotely near my eyes, seemed to migrate over there and irritate them.

You didn't mention any drops, so I am assuming you are not putting any artificial tears in your eyes? That was something that made my condition much worse as well.

For me, less seems to be more.

[rooneyandfergie]

tryintounderstand,

firstly u need to understand what is causing your uncomfortable dry eye symptoms. Is it because your eyes are not producing enough tears or is because of a lack of quality of the tear film. it could also be a combination of both as it is for my left eye. my right eye suffers mainly from the lack of quality of tears. Restasis could help you as it is the only eye drop that helps to treat the underlying cause of the problem. Other eye drops merely work to relieve the symptoms. However, you need to get a diagnosis of what is causing your dry eyes first.

debk has made a very good point in that the warm compresses doesn't work for her. For myself, the warm compresses seem to make my eyes red as well. however, i don't really know if they are making my eyes more comfortable. sometimes it feels like it is working, sometimes it seems that it is making it worse. i am still in the process of experimenting. You have to do a bit of trial and error in this regard. Furthermore, you mentioned that you use Refresh tears. Different people find different kind of results with different eye drops. You need to experiment and find the one that really suits you. Refresh brand eye drops tend to be quite effective in preventing the evaporation of the tears and merely replace your own natural tear film. Others such as Bion tears help the healing of the ocular surface due to the bicarbonates inherent in its ingredients. Bion's indicated for more severe dry eyes. Systane works together with your own tears to form a mesh to prevent the evaporation of tears and has less blurring. Theratears reduce the 'saltiness' of your eyes. It is hypotonic in nature. I can't remember if it is called hypotonic but the basic idea is that when your tears evaporate faster than it is replaced, 'salts' get left behind on the surface disturbing the natural electrolyte balance. Theratears help to fix that.

Furthermore some people find increased relief when the refrigerate the eye drops. It soothes the eyes more. You mentioned some pills you are taking 4 times a day. I don't know if those are omega 3 tablets. But u should start taking omega 3. They help to reduce inflammation in the eye. The blepharitis you have causes inflammation of your MG. The omega 3 helps to improve MG function and reduce the inflammation caused by blepharitis. Pls commit yourself to doing lid hygiene everyday as well. Blepharitis is a lifelong commitment and you have to maintain proper hygiene to reduce and prevent its occurrence.

you also mentioned your eyes being swollen in the morning. You probably have a condition whereby your eyelids dont close fully when you sleep. Or it could be because of another factor. Naturally, our eyes receive oxygen from the air through our tear film. In people with an unstable tear film and closed eyelids when they sleep, it makes it much harder for the eye to obtain the oxygen it needs. Hence the swelling and eye redness in the morning. You should use a ointment such as genteal gel or thicker artificial tear such as celluvisc before you sleep. This should help to reduce the swelling.

tryintounderstand, i am 25 years of age myself and i got this terrible disease about 10 months ago. i understand what you mean totally. it has changed my life forever since then. my eyes are also red and uncomfortable all the time. i am now forced to wear tinted glasses to conceal the redness. driving and computers are things that are much more difficult to do nowadays for me. they make my eyes even more uncomfortable. i don't know if this makes you feel a bit better but i also have glaucoma. i am forced to use glaucoma eye drops which further exacerbate the redness and dryness. however, as time went by, i learnt to better manage the dry eye condition as i gathered more knowledge about the subject. it is never the same but at least you can manage it to a certain extent. try not to feel too discouraged although it is truly hard to do so. this is a disease that requires patience and it may be quite some time before you finally see an improvement. Meanwhile, try to learn as much as you can about the disease so that you can better understand and conquer it. keep the faith that researchers are trying their best to find a cure for this disease.