Odd Question - please help - bit long sorry

[happybertie]

Hi everyone

I have been looking at this forum for a while but I have never posted. You all seem supportive and I was wondering if you could help me
with my weird question...

I am short sighted and have needed to wear glasses since I was 19. At first I wore contact lenses most days and they were really comfortable. Sometime after, my eyes
started to feel a bit dry and uncomfortable while I was wearing my lenses. At the time I didn't realise my eyes were dry. I just thought they weren't comfy and I had never been told about re wetting type drops. I am not sure what caused this dryness but it might have started around the time I started taking birth control pills.

Weirdly one day at work my right eye went bright red all over. It didn't feel dry or anything and I didn't notice until a colleague pointed it out. I took my lenses out right away.
For years afterwards I had a battle with my lenses. My right eye would go red without warning and it was hard to establish any pattern. I could wear my lenses one day, maybe not wear them the next day and then on the third day I would wake up with a bright red eye. Sometimes nothing would happen. It seemed to me that my right eye was going red every so often and I was sure it was my lenses.

I spoke to my optician who changed my daily disposable brands until I had tried them all but she had no answers. I went to eye hospital and they said it wasn't my contacts but had no answers. I went to an eye specialist who had no answers either.

Now I am 29. I wear contacts on the weekend and I use monthly disposables with a preservative free solution. My new optician has said that my eyes are quite small and I have some blocked tear ducts/glands?? that I am supposed to massage with a warm q-tip to help them release tearss. Haven't had any problems with the red eye but I can't wear my lenses for more than 5 hours really without either taking out and re wetting or using drops. I'd really like to wear them more. Just wondering if you had any tips, suggestions or answers for me?? Has anyone had a similar experience?? What was the cause of your problem?

Thanks x x Happy

[littlemermaid]

Hi HappyBertie, If you search 'contact lenses' here in the search box top right, there are some horror stories and delving about there are some stories of how people have got some contact lens tolerance back eg with very careful attention to blepharitis (eg warm shower eye cleaning, or wipes from the pharmacist or optician, or as we do, warm water cotton wool or hot flannel compress).

Maybe if the Eye Hospital think there are no signs of infection or allergy, it is meibomian gland dysfunction. Also obviously, however modern the contact lens, the eye surface is changed by them and there has to be tolerance to the materials and chemicals, and the health of the eye surface affects the prompt to make tears as needed.

You are doing so well only wearing contacts at the weekend and people here tend to resign themselves to special occasions only once the problems start. But certainly careful attention to keeping the meibomian glands working healthily might help you - people here take fish oil supplements to keep the meibom good, and reduce 'bad fats' and eat healthy (fatty acid metabolism is also related to hormones as you say), and drink plenty of water, and do gentle daily warm compress.

We keep chemicals to an absolute minimum round the eyes to allow healing now we've got these dry eye problems and just mainly use normal saline 0.9% Minims vials as a frequent eyedrop to avoid yet more eye surface changes and sensitivities developing. But some people, esp if they are sebaceous, use a mild detergent eyelid cleaner or have their own recipe (see NHS website 'blepharitis' or 'dry eye' and Good Hope website) x

http://www.eyeworld.org/article-omega-3-and-dry-eye The idea is to change the ratio of fats in the diet to improve the meibom, supplement subject to lipid metabolism being normal.