I'm Not Alone!

[alphaholic]

Hi Everyone...I can't believe I found you. I'll quickly share my story. I've had dry eyes ever since I can remember, and I'm 65 now. I can remember my mother washing my eyes with boric acid when I was a child, because they were dry and crusty. As I got into my late teens and early twenties, I suffered horribly from blepharitis, but never went to an eye doctor or got a diagnosis or treatment until I was in my thirties. I developed such an amazing sensitivity to scents, that everyone in my life knew they could never wear perfume or scented lotions. If they did, I had to leave the house. The pain was really bad. Does anyone else have this? At this point, I've tried it all, including Restasis, which burned so badly that, although I was highly motivated, I simply couldn't use it. I've done the eyelid soaking for hours on end, used steroid drops that offer temporary relief, have tried every OTC product there is,etc., etc. But, the GOOD NEWS is that I just recently discovered something that has helped quite a bit. I am now using an eyelid cleanser called Sterilid, and some new eye drops that just came out called Systane Balance. Between these two products, I've gotten more relief than I can remember. But this website is all new to me, and I can hardly believe that there are others out there like me. Just knowing that helps so much. Thank you all!

[Guest]

Nice to meet you!

I can remember my mother washing my eyes with boric acid when I was a child, because they were dry and crusty.

Is that ever something! I'd forgotten about that until you mentioned it! My mom used to do that for me as a kid from time to time (I was elementary-school-age)... apparently I'd get these eye infections that just wouldn't clear up... nothing worked. Apparently my great grandmother or something like that suggested Boric acid eye washes...some kind of old-fashioned remedy for eye infections I guess? The doctor said not to do it because it could cause a person to go blind, but she was desperate to clear up the infection (the doctors had run out of ideas) and so just used a very mild solution of it. It worked. She used to boil water, add the boric acid... let the solution cool until it was lukewarm, dip a cotton ball in it and wipe my lids gently until they were dripping with it.

I wonder if I had some kind of crazy bleph back then that was misdiagnosed? How weird...

Anyhow, please don't anyone take this as an endorsement of boric acid eye washes!! I don't know anything about them, and the doctor's worry about them blinding people is scary to say the least! I guess it must be all too easy to overdo it and cause damage... who knows...