Help

[paulasue2]

Hi my name is Paula and I had RK surgery in 1994. My eyes regressed throughout the years, but I was always able to wear glasses and contacts. In the last six months, I developed severe dry eye on top of the rk scarring and my cornea is so irregular it is a mess. I never realized how much damage was done until I went to a cornea specialist in sept. this year. Ever since I have been so depressed I can barely function. He put in plugs and they came out within days. After having been to my dr. of optometry, and being fitted with all shapes and forms of contacts, he basically gave up on me, and said I will just have to accept the constant pain and bad vision. When I went to the other cornea specialist at Washington University, he finally referred me to a specialist who makes contact for people who have had vision surgery. I go to her this Thursday, to see about getting some scleral contacts. I am scared to death, this is my last option besides and cornea transplant and I am told they do not yeild good results. My family can't relate to my depression and crying and I feel like I am going crazy. I am trying to keep working and today I got approval of FLMA leave and just cried when I saw it all in writing.
Can anyone give me hope? I can't believe with all the new technologies there is nothing for severe dry eye and corrective surgery complications.

[Rebecca Petris]

Paula,

My heart goes out to you. Rough place to be. I want you to know though that over the years I've known MANY people with severe RK complications and there IS going to be a solution for you. You can't fix everything but you can improve your vision and your comfort. With contacts in these situations there is always more that can be done - though it may mean traveling to a specialist as there really aren't that many who have enough experience in this specific area, and not all lens types even amongst sclerals can do the job. I hope that your appointment on Thursday yields some better hope but if not, please, call me (877-693-7939) and maybe we can chat about some other options for you. Thursday's appointment is NOT the last resort, trust me. I've been there. I had a long contact lens history before getting something that worked acceptably for me and even then there were bumps along the road but I have been functional with lenses for many years now.

Hang in there. I'm so glad you're reaching out for support.

Apart from contacts, can you tell us what other things you've done for dry eye, maybe we can make some suggestions about how you can get more comfortable.

[paulasue2]

Thanks

Paula,

My heart goes out to you. Rough place to be. I want you to know though that over the years I've known MANY people with severe RK complications and there IS going to be a solution for you. You can't fix everything but you can improve your vision and your comfort. With contacts in these situations there is always more that can be done - though it may mean traveling to a specialist as there really aren't that many who have enough experience in this specific area, and not all lens types even amongst sclerals can do the job. I hope that your appointment on Thursday yields some better hope but if not, please, call me (877-693-7939) and maybe we can chat about some other options for you. Thursday's appointment is NOT the last resort, trust me. I've been there. I had a long contact lens history before getting something that worked acceptably for me and even then there were bumps along the road but I have been functional with lenses for many years now.

Hang in there. I'm so glad you're reaching out for support.

Apart from contacts, can you tell us what other things you've done for dry eye, maybe we can make some suggestions about how you can get more comfortable.

Thank you Rebecca. Have you heard of Dr. Gaines? She has a good reputation and taught at Washington University St. Louis for 20 years. She seemed sincere and like she knew what she was doing in the initial visit. But, then I thought that about the many drs. I've seen before.
I tried all kinds of drops for dry eye, none worked except there is a new one I have tried called Refresh Celluvisc without preservatives that seems to help some. I had plugs, I had lipoflow, very expensive, but did not help a bit. Tried Rostasis, and it seemd to make it worse.