Resection SLK help

[Tanner]

I really appreciate help on this one. I had a resection for SLK in my left eye 3 and a half weeks ago. My eye is still swollen above the cornea and my doctor gave me lotemax to bring the swelling down. Do you know how long it takes to recuperate for a resection? I'm worried. Even with the steroid there is still that familiar pain.

Anyone done this before?

Thanks!

[PAllen]

Hi Tanner.

I have SLK too, but fortunately it seems to be somewhat under control with low doses of Lotemax and lots of doses of Restasis. I do know it took a long time to see a difference with the Lotemax, and then it gets worse for a while , then better.

Why did you have surgery on just your left eye?

[Tanner]

Hey,

I just did the right eye. I had to wait three weeks between surgeries. I just think my right eye should be better by now from the resection?

Do you use steroids everyday? Have you found anything else that helps? I am at the end of my rope...

[PAllen]

I use steroids once a day and Restasis all through out the day. I used something called cell gum which my eye doctor got through a pharmacy in South Dakota. It's a really thick preservative free drop that I had to keep refrigerated (I carried around a little cooler with ice.). I also used Refresh during the day and Lacralube (sp?) at night. Lacrilube was bought out by Refresh. I used a humidifier at home and a little desk top model at work. I learned over time not to let hot water run over my face in the shower, to wear goggles in the car (even with the windows up and the air conditioner/heater off, and to avoid the mall.

I have definitely improved. I think the SLK went from moderate to mild, but it took a while. The dry eye on top of it, plus I suffered detached vitreouses in both eyes and started to suffer from filaments made me feel like I would never get better, but I did.

I was also on minocycline at the time. I had been incorrectly diagnoses with ocular rosacia. Not sure if that medication helped or not.

The one thing that gave me relief instantly was upper tear duct plugs. They were uncomfortable because my eye would bump them at times, and they were always falling out, but they made my eyes feel better right away and gave them time to heal.

[Tanner]

Thank you. This is encouraging. I tried lower plugs that didn't do anything but am glad to hear I might do better with upper plugs. I think I am going to dry doxy. For some reason any gel even preservative free makes my eye lids swell.

I had a doctor ask me if I had ocular roseacia too. It took more than one doctor before I was diagnosed.

My eye upper eye lids sting. Have you experienced this?

[Tanner]

Chimea,

Thank you for your response. You are both helpful. I am sorry to hear you couldn't do upper plugs due to tearing. That is something I don't have... I do have very low schirmer scores between 0 and 4 depending on who does it. I went to the boston foundation for sight and tried sclerals. They made my eyes so red and I couldn't wear them. One doctor there did mention using a mass cell stablizer daily and said it wouldn't be harmful. I wish I could remember the name. I am going to find out. She said it is normally used for allergies but helps with SLK as well.

I have seen so many doctors and BFS took a picture of the SLK so I know it is there.

How long did it take for the fish oil to help?

[Tanner]

I forgot to ask. How do you know if you have tight upper lids?

[PAllen]

I also had a extremely low score on the schemer test -0, but with upper plugs, I had tears that I had to wipe away. I did not care. It felt so good to have relief from the pain. I just had temporaries that kept coming out, and after a while, I felt well enough that I didn't get them replaced. The doctor was kind enough not to charge for replacements each time. Lower plugs did nothing for me.

I don't know if I have tight upper lids, but I do know that I had Graves disease and that my eyes bulged at the time. I didn't notice the bulging, but my family doctor did. I don't recall having any eyelid pain.

if you do find out the name of the mast cell stabilizer, would you post it? I hadn't heard about that at all.

Chemia, thanks for posting your story. I'm excited to hear that you are SLK free in one eye. I hope you get there with the other eye. I too had to see a unreasonable number of doctors before someone did a simple test.

[Tanner]

I will check on the name of the mast cell stabelizer. I will know either next week or the following.

I will check to see if there is a way to get it without preservatives.

Chemia, I understand what you mean by your description of tight lids. This isn't something I have. I am glad you found relieve with bandage contact lenses.