Introduction :)

[asriela]

Hi everyone! My name's Kirsten. I'm 22 and a recent college graduate with a B.A. in communication studies, English, and teaching prep. I live in Northern California. My life goal is to become an English teacher at the high school level.

I first got my blepharitis after a really nasty summer. I first got sick in June 2011 and had about two weeks' worth of fever, chills, etc.--and a very nasty pink eye. It was cured at first but then came back. Nothing could get rid of it entirely, not even Vigamox and sulfate drops. My opthamologist told me I could go back to wearing contacts, but they just made my eyes all red and irritated, even if I didn't actually feel any pain while having them in. (Which I personally think was really weird, but I wasn't about to put them back in after that! )

I've been wearing glasses ever since. It's hard to adjust after wearing contacts since I was 15, but they've actually come in handy at my new job. I work as a full-time substitute teacher and since I'm so young--only 5 years older than the seniors!--it's helpful to have the glasses add a touch of authority to what I tell the students to do. I definitely miss my contacts, though, and eye makeup too!

My goal is to eventually find makeup that won't irritate me, and wear daily contacts. The contacts will have to wait though since my dad was recently laid off and I don't want to have my parents spend unnecessary money on contacts when he doesn't have insurance!

Before today, my "routine" involved warm compresses for 5 minutes, cleaning my eyelids with OcuSoft or a Target-brand daily face wash which features hydrogenated castor oil (which is much cheaper), and a mineral oil/white petroleum ointment (CVS, Target, etc.) in my eyes before I went to sleep. I also used Clear Eyes eye drops: Cooling at first but more recently the Complete 7 symptom drops as needed (never more than 4x/day). But today I went to the doctor for headache/fever and was told I also had the bacterial conjunctivitis coming back, so for the next week I can't do anything but compress, clean them, and use Vigamox. We'll see what happens!

It's nice to meet all of you! I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's stories and triumphs!

[Rojzen]

welcome and 2 questions

Welcome, Asriela. I'm interested in learning what the status of your blepharitis is, these days. Has this persisted, separate and apart from the recurring conjunctivitis? Also, about the use of petrolatum-based ointment. . .Have you surveyed posts, here, on that topic? Rebecca provides invaluable commentary (in section about topical treatments) on the effects of mineral oil/petrolatum in the eyes. . .and I'm a veteran of many years of use of such products (some medicated, others blank), who ultimately learned that a great leap of progress may occur simply through cessation of their use. . .Also, do you know about high-oncotic pressure drops? If you survey the sections devoted to Dr. Holly's work/drops, here, and posts by several of us on the subject, you may notice that these drops often stabilize tear film regardless of the cause of tear film instability. . .