Dry Eye Lasik Survivor since 1999 - what I've learned

[suebuie@hotmail.com]

I am a 42 year old female that had LASIK in September of 1999. I am one of those unfortunate few who had severe dry eye symptoms after surgery. It started immediately. I had more or less the same symptoms as everyone else. Severe dry eye, foreign object sensation (feels like glass is in both eyes) and I still wear glasses (small issue compared to the pain) and cannot drive at night. It is a devastating, all-consuming and depressing scenario. With that being said, I am lucky to have a wonderful family - an understanding husband and two kids, and a job I have been able to modifiy (I teach online, so I can take eye breaks during the day). I understand the daily mental struggles that we all go through whether these symptoms are LASIK induced or not.

I moved from Alaska to Tennessee for the humidty in 2006.

Here is my current routine:

1. Restasis, twice per day (although I am going to up it to four times a day after reading another's post).
2. FML gel and MURO 128 mixed together at night.
3. Thera-tears as needed, although I would like to find something better.
4. Punctum cauterized.

One opthamologist put me on Pilocarpine, which is a pill that makes you drool. The idea is that it would make my eyes more liquid. It did work somewhat, but I will give you fair warning that it also gave me Irritable Bowel Syndrome and now I have to take a cholinergic medication which completely lydries me out (nightmare).

Those of you that tried Restasis and found the burning overwhelming - I would say don't give up and stick with it, it took about 10 weeks until I could tolerate it and in the long run it does help somewhat.


I have also tried: lid scrubs, minocycline, and doxycycline with no effect.
Steroids can help some of the time re: Alrex.

I am going to investigate scleral lenses (Thank you Rebecca) and will let you all know how it goes.

[Guest]

Welcome to the forums! Your situation sounds very similar to mine, although I'm only 5 years into this mess myself... AND, coincidentally, my LASIK procedure was in September as well... that month must be cursed... haha

I moved from Alaska to Tennessee for the humidty in 2006.

Since I've been seriously looking into a drastic move like that myself for the same reasons, I was just wondering if it's worked out well for you in the end!

I've been thinking that here where I live now, when it gets up to 86F in the summer, even with the a/c on, the indoor humidity is still in the 45-55% range.... and, well, outdoors when the humidity is 60, 70 or even 80%, my eyes feel SO much better!

In contrast, wintertime indoor humidity here drops to around 23% (except in my home where it's more like 35-40%, because I have a humidifier running along with the furnace!).

Soooo... my thoughts are moving to a place that is hot with high humidity is better than staying here and dealing with the dry winters.

I'd love to hear how it worked out for you!

[suebuie@hotmail.com]

Moving

Alaska is very much like Canada (as you already know) and I had the same symtpoms as you. Better in the summer and worst in the winter. It definitely helps to be in the humidity. My eyes always get worse around September or October and get better towards the end of March. In Alaska, they were bad 9 - 10 months out of the year. Unfortunately, now that I am taking medication for IBS it feels like one long winter. As much as I miss Alaska (and I still go up there to work in the summers), I am happy with the move. I have humidifiers as well in the winter, but they do not seem to be very effective. Do you use Restasis, plugs, eye gel.....? Anything that works for you that I am not doing? I am going on the 30th to get a referral for the scleral lenses, so I will keep you informed and let you know how that goes. Cross your fingers. Hopefully, we can find a solution to this mess (or at least make it manageable soon).

[Guest]

Hi!

Thanks for the reply!

As for my current treatments, here they are:

Restasis 4 times per day
100% serum drops 4 times per day.

Oasis tears plus as needed (approx. once per hour in the evening.. and maybe 2-3 times during the day)

Moisture chambers pretty much 24/7

uppers cauterized, lowers plugged

doxycycline 100mg per day

4 grams of fish oil per day (just over 2 grams of omega 3's)

Scleral lenses are next on my list... will ask my ophthamologist about getting them covered by Health Canada at my Sept. visit.... still waiting to hear back from the Boston Foundation for Sight new patient coordinator...

All I can say is this dry eye stuff is a real pain in the @$$...

Oh well... hopefully we'll either find improvement with currently available treatments that we haven't tried yet, or some new treatment will come out that can help us!

[carrieanne]

scleral lens

has anyone had any sucess with scleral lens? Are they very noticable in the eye? they appear to bulge outwards...

[Guest]

...scleral lens? Are they very noticable in the eye? they appear to bulge outwards...

I've been wondering this very same thing myself!

[suebuie@hotmail.com]

scleral lenses and other stuff

I am wondering if any post LASIK patients whose primary complaints are severe pain to dry eye have successfully been fit for sclerals. I saw on some of the other postings that several had not.

SKAAG, what moisture chambers do you wear during the day? I just ordered the tranquil eyes for nighttime. I use thera tears, but they are pretty useless to me. How do you like the Oasis drops?

[Guest]

I believe the success rate with sclerals is lower for post-lasik patients... but I'm not 100% sure on this... it's been a while since I read that, and it's possible I've remembered it incorrectly.

I wear moisture chambers pretty much 24/7.

At home indoors, I wear Wiley's X's (Airage model) with the clear lenses... they look horrendous, but my family and I are so used to seeing me in them that they almost look normal to us now lol

At work, or outdoors in public after dark, I wear my custom moisture chambers.
(click on the link to my blog for pics of these... link is in upper right corner of my posts). The great thing about these is people don't even notice them.... even coworkers working literally side-by-side with me don't notice them! (I've asked them to find out... it's amazing to me that they don't notice them until I point them out!) It's fabulous!

Outdoors during the daytime, I wear my sunglasses Wiley's... these, too, are fabulous. Even on insanely gusty, windy days, I can be outside in comfort.

For drops, I've been using Oasis Tears Plus. When I first tried them back in the fall, I didnt' find them useful (but my eyes were WAY worse then). Now, however, they are better than anything else for me. They leave no visible residue on my lashes, never sting, and don't blur my vision. Also, they don't feel gummy when I put them in... I love them! (I've tried TheraTears too, but I find that the Oasis Tears Plus works better for me.)

And then I also use Restasis 4 times daily, and 100% serum drops 4 times daily. When at home during the day, I rarely need to add additional artificial tears to that regimen these days... but in the evening, I often need the Oasis Tears Plus. Also, at work, I tend to use more of the Oasis Tears as well.. my eyes dry out there more due my having to concentrate too much I suppose!

[suebuie@hotmail.com]

sclerals

I am going to my opthamologist to day to get a letter of referral to BFS. I will keep you informed. There study says that 61-86 percent of lasik patients were either moderately or significantly satisfied with sclerals.

[RobLIC]

If the issue is successful fit with sclerals, my observation is that we're - post-LASIKs - actually not the hardest of the lot to put a lens on. For starters, our flaps were cut in our corneas, not outside the corneas, so for most of us the sclera is relatively regular shaped and unharmed. The lens is vaulting the entire area where we had our work done.

I have two LASIK flaps in each eye and fitting me, while a challenge, was nothing compared to what a lot of people up there go through - people with Stevens-Johnson, late-stage kerataconus, keratoglobus, post-transplant types etc etc. If my three or four weeks at BFS taught me anything this year, it's that there's always someone worse off than you (me).

[suebuie@hotmail.com]

sclerals

How are the sclerals working for you? I went to my opthamologist today for a referral.. hoping to get in there soon. Sounds like you were there a LONG time. Hope you are finding some relief.

[suebuie@hotmail.com]

Where did you get those custom moisture chambers??

SAAG,

I checked out your blog, I don't think you mentioned where you got those custom moisture chambers at? I would definitely like to do the same. They look surprisingly good, I did not believe you until I saw the pics.

[RobLIC]

They're working fine, it just took more time and patience than I anticipated.

How are the sclerals working for you? I went to my opthamologist today for a referral.. hoping to get in there soon. Sounds like you were there a LONG time. Hope you are finding some relief.

[Guest]

SAAG,

I checked out your blog, I don't think you mentioned where you got those custom moisture chambers at? I would definitely like to do the same. They look surprisingly good, I did not believe you until I saw the pics.

Here is all the info (where I got them, how to make them etc.)

http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showthread.php?t=11495

[suebuie@hotmail.com]

sclerals - Rob

Thank you so much for the info. You are actually giving me some hope for relief and I haven't had that in 10+ years.