Dry eyes all of a sudden 25 years post LASIK??

[sunshinelover]

Hi!
I am new here after googling a lot and have found very helpful information. My life changed completely in February this year as it seems when I all of a sudden got eye irritation that did not go away. I think it was due to an unfortunate change of office room a couple of months earlier, the new room was increadibly hot (and hence dry) and it turned out I was sitting in front of the ventilation blowing right into my eyes, so in the beginning I only had trouble at work, but then the temperature dropped even more outside and bang ... I was diagnosed with blocked glands, and got a cortisone ointment with antibiotics. After that my vision cleared up brilliantly, but instead I could no longer use any type of eye drop, even my own tears stinged, especially in the morning. Only saline felt ok, (but could also sting). Could that been a reaction to TO MUCH oil?
Then, after a long business trip (to San diego, nine hours time difference back and forth and no sleep),a heavy workload and my fathers funeral it all went much much worse....now with swollen lids and very very dry eyes.

Anyway, I was already seeing eye doctors in a surgical clinic due to other eye problems, and was scheduled for a cross linking surgery to save my thin cornea in case it would become thinner. I happen to be one of those you had refractive surgery even before the laser technology. In -87 I did both eyes with MKM in San Diego (although I live in Sweden), and then I did a LASIK in -96 in one eye because I had become very nearsighted again. So my corneas are no doubt thin today...
Then I had cataract surgery last May-11 on the other eye and wow, I could see perfect again and the eys felt better than ever!!
Well, until February, when I got this meibomitis which seem not to go away, and it drives me crazy, I have not been able to work and I can not do the things that give me joy normally... Have to lie with my eyes closed early early in the evening.

Now, the doctors said that "my age has now catched up with my refractive surgery". How is that possible? I didn't have any problems for 25 years?
Actually, I had more problems before, in my 20s, with contact allergies (GCP) and dryness. Well, except for sensitivity to very dry environments, fans, smoke and such, but not more than occiasionally. Other than that, nothing. Now, my eyes are stuck every night, they were so dry they put in plugs, and I got Azitromycin to cure the meibomitis, and I must say, I gradually improved so much that I though two weeks agó that I was cured! But no - a car drive in a weekend with A/C put it all back again.... I use warming compressing and massage (which I learnt in this forum, not by doctors) and saline solution many times a day and ointment at night (doctors orders, but may that is a bad idea).
I have the feeling that doctors here in Sweden are not very intrested in this problem, and a lot of things I read about in this sight seems not to be available in Sweden.

So, Does anyone know of a doctor in Sweden who is actually a specialist in this area?
How can LASIK (what mechanisms) be the cause of this 25 years later?? I am not in menopause yet either.
And last thing, I do not feel any better not being able to wear makeup, especially since my eyelashes are few and have become extremely short. I have never gone without makeup before, and I hate it, it goes to my selfesteem.
How do you other women with this do, can you wear makeup and what sort?

Well, thanks for this great sight, which is my main comfort today, I at least know that I am not alone. Have never met anyone or heard of anyone with this problem before.

[Guest]

And last thing, I do not feel any better not being able to wear makeup, especially since my eyelashes are few and have become extremely short. I have never gone without makeup before, and I hate it, it goes to my selfesteem.
How do you other women with this do, can you wear makeup and what sort

Hi,

On the makeup thing, I can totally relate... I was the kind of girl who would never, ever, go out in public without makeup on: bronzer, undereye concealer, eyeliner, mascara, lipstick, blush etc. Since my eyes went to heck, I had to give up makeup... no point wearing any if I can't wear the eye makeup...

Anyhow, in the beginning, the only way I could still feel like me was to not look in mirrors when out...not ever! I'd try to forget that I didn't look like the old me, this made it easier to still act like the old me (rather than behave like the self-conscious person I felt like every time I looked in the mirror). Anyhow, it's been a few years now of no makeup, and I'm finally starting to feel what previously seemed impossible - most of the time, I don't mind the way I look with no makeup. Shocking! But kind of cool. I'm actually able to enjoy the fact that because I no longer wear makeup, I can get ready to go out much faster, AND my skin looks better (I used to break out more when I wore makeup compared to now that I don't wear makeup).

I still get pangs once in a while... missing the old makeup-me... but less and less as time goes on.

If you want to experiment with different brands rather than give it up altogether, you can do a search on the forums for makeup... I've seen some threads about it over the years...

[sunshinelover]

Thanks for the encouraging words. In fact, I have already accepted that I go without makeup at daytime (at least now in the summer when I am tanned) but in the evenings... for a long time I have had to cancel most activities, party trips with my friends, because of the eye problems. But if I am enough shape to go I feel terrible, and not to mention the dating scene, since I am single, and just started dating when this happened.... I look completely beige. I keep thinking, this must have happened also to actresses or other people that has to wear makeup?

[Joseph]

As you age your eyes will become more dry. You had mentioned that you had some dry eye issues in your twenties so that can be getting slightly worse. I think since the Azitromycin help's you probably have some blepharitis with meibomian gland dysfunction. As far as makeup goes I would avoid it atleast until you get things under controll. Easy for me to say since I am a guy but like I tell my wife. Women do not need makeup. They are born beautifull... GOOD LUCK and I hope you get this under controll soon....

[sunshinelover]

Thanks for those words, Joseph!
Well, I guess the problem is that when you feel bad you at least want to LOOK good...

Anyważ - can anyone explain what should be the reason that LASIk causes drey eyes? From what I read it is that nerves are cut off and that we therefore blink to little... But is there more?? I can“t see the connection to Meibomitis 25 years later... My eyes were actually very dry prior to my refractive surgery -87 due to contact lense intolerance, and I was extremely myopic, minus 12. Agter the surgery the dryness just disappeared and my life became a dream come true! The only explanaion I can think of is that my poor vision was putting suxh a strain to my eyes so that when I got good vision the eyes could relax again - I don“t know.
But now I am here... and having trouble really understanding how fast life could change.

[Joseph]

I would look into other causes of what is causing your eyes becoming dry.. It is not likely that a surgery that was done 25 years ago that worked out well for you would cause problems this far down the road. Think about things that have happend over, say the past few years.. There is were hopefully you will find the answer.

[Rebecca Petris]

MKM. Wow. I've never heard of anyone in all these years who had that done.

Corneal refractive surgeries all mess with the cornea in some way. The nerves will never be quite the same afterwards. Obviously a ton of people get refractive surgeries with no apparent side effects including dry eye... but later in life when something else in their tear system changes for whatever reason, they may be more susceptible to dry eye symptoms than they would otherwise have been. I suspect that is what your doctors mean by "my age has now catched up with my refractive surgery"... that is, the changes to your meibomian and lacrimal glands that inevitably happen with every decade of aging might be affecting you in noticeable ways more than they would have otherwise.

[sunshinelover]

Hi Rebecca,
Yes, I think you are right, I beleive that I have definitely been more vulnerable. I think that I have all the time has mild dry eyes, since I have never been able to tolerate fans, car heat, smoke etc, but that was actuallay the fact also before LASIK (got GPC I think due to wearing contacts) so it hasn't bothered me at all. Just had to stay away from the fans or and rederict air ventilators etc, nothing debilitating.
But - I can't really cope with the fact that my previous condition can have become permanent only because I have been sitting in a bad environment in my office this winter (unfortunately had to change room!) and that this could have permanently detroyed my lacrimal and meibomian gland... It's horrifying if that is the case!
Now I fear that I will not be able to continue working, and that will put me... where?? No money, no apartment (Veeery expensive in Stockholm), nothing. Humidifier didn't work. Thanks to my relatively wellpaid job I can now afford coping things like yoga classes, massages, minfulness training etc etc. I and I have no leisure time anymore. Have to close my eyes at least at 5 pm. The rest of the evening is really a struggling only before I can go to bed. Not encouraging at all. Still on vacation but that won't last....

So - I must try everything. Do you think there are more things to do? hot compresses, scurbs and drops don“t work. Acupuncture have still not worked. I realize from the bleeding and bruises I get from the needles (that I normally don“t get) that I might be overdoing the omega oils!!! I am terrified my glands have already shut down! I therefore wonder if it would be worth spending the money to go and see Dr Latkany in NYC?
I honestly don“t think the doctors here have got a clue, no one have bothered to do shrimers, TBUT, looking at the glands. My poor deteriorated vision they treated with cross-linking in one eye (yet another stressful painful event) while I today think it is mainly due to the poor tear film, since it becomes so much better with steroids! This has, by the way, led me to the conclusion that the fact that my eye vision often has gotten worse after flights might have been due to dryness! I thought it might have been something with air pressure, nobody could explain it, but now it seems logical.

Well, last but not least, if women always encounter dry eye problem as we age, women should not be allowed to do LASIK in my opinion. Will all LASIK-operated women eventuelly end up with severe dry eyes?? And at such any early age? Then the future is not looking bright at all...