New member long time dry eye

[Katewest]

Hello everyone,

My name is Kate, I am 29 years old and live in Utah. For the last 5 years I have had worsening dry eye. Since I moved to a desert though, it's only gotten worse. Since I was misdiagnosed with allegories it took me about 3 years to understand what was really wrong. So skip to today...I have been diagnosed with ocular roseascea and MGD. Until last week I was doing hot compresses nightly for the MGD. My new doctor suggest stopping that because it makes the ocular rocasea worse. After trying everything....azasiye, fish oils, tons on drops, doxy,ect I made an appointment with dr wellish in las Vegas for IPL. Dr Matthews or Mathis I forgot his name did the actual procedure. So that was fri and today is Monday. No good news yet but it's early. I will keep everyone posted. Also, the red veins in my eyes seem to be becoming permanent. The dr said IPL will help with that though. We shall see!

[spmcc]

Hi Kate,

Welcome... sorry you're here.

When you mentioned Las Vegas, it twigged a memory... there's supposedly a "big wig" rosacea dermatologist in Las Vegas. His name is James Q. Del Rosso (see http://www.lvscc.com/pages/about/phy.../delrosso.html).

He publishes a lot on rosacea - mainly P&P rosacea (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?t...osso%20rosacea)

And (unfortunately IMO) he publishes a lot on the same-ol' same-ol' treatments, namely oral antibiotics and topical metronizadole (SNOOZE-FEST!). I have found that Galderma (makers of Oracea) fund some of his research.

Having said that, he is supposedly "an expert" and may be someone to keep in the back of your mind if you feel like you need another consultation.

Good luck..

[Katewest]

Thanks for the info. I am on an anti-inflammatory diet and taking doxy. Sadly I have lost confidence in doctors and don't know what more a dermatologist would tell me

[spmcc]

Thanks for the info. I am on an anti-inflammatory diet and taking doxy. Sadly I have lost confidence in doctors and don't know what more a dermatologist would tell me

LOL. We're all in the same boat. But I thought I'd throw out that info since you mentioned Las Vegas.

I've got facial rosacea (dx mid-1980s) and ocular rosacea (dx mid-1990s). Back in the 80s, I was prescribed tetracycline and topicals (noritate and metrogel). Nothing helped - and neither has the newer stuff. My main problem is flushing/blushing. Doctors recommended laser treatments.

So I started having laser treatment for facial rosacea in the early 1990s. At that time, my local derm had PDL (pulse-dye laser by Cutera). Treatment created bruising. It also broke the skin a bit so you had to use polysporin and hide out for ~2 weeks while you healed. Over the years, the "kinder" IPL machines came into vogue and now you can have a treatment during lunch hour and return to work. However, I found that treatments that bruise are much better at removing facial redness/vessels. But now you have to specifically request the PDL machine and ask the derm to bruise you!

Since the early 1990s, I've probably had ~40 full-face IPL or RFL treatments including 2 levulan. PDL is used mainly for spot treatments. I've had Candela V-beam on my eyelids 4-6 times. And when I heard about IPL specifically for dry eyes (Toyos' protocol), during the summer of 2010, I went to Stanford Univ to try it. Unfortunately, my TBUTs never improved, so I stopped after four treatments.

Did you have "regular" IPL for facial rosacea or specifically "IPL for dry eye"? I found that dermatologists won't go as high on the lower lids as Toyos does (see http://www.eyeworld.org/article.php?sid=2698).

Also I have never been told that IPL (for face or dry eye) would help with red/bloodshot eyes. Sorry.

Good luck with everything.

[Katewest]

I got the IPL treatment for dry eyes but the doctor did my nose and the upper parts of my cheeks as well.