Australian optometrist here

[patientpatrick]

Roland thank you very much for lending your expertise. There are a lot of good people here who need help.

patrick

[Roland]

Thank you for the open letter, it was recently picked up by an industry magazine called 'Insight' and I am sure you will have many interested eye care professionals in Australia reply.

Hi Roland,

Please read our Open Letter at:

http://australiandryeye.webs.com

Thankyou for using this forum, hopefully it will be resourceful for you, and your online contact will help us too!

[Roland]

Thank you for your reply. I disagree optometrists aren't sufficiently empowered to help dry eye sufferers; however the scope of care may be highly variable between individual practitioners and mode of practice.

Newer optometrists as well as retrained optometrists holding a 'therapeutic endorsement' are able to prescribe steroids; and from my training in New Zealand we were taught how to insert punctal plugs. Our practice also offers scleral lenses for dry eye.

One idea may be to start a list of Australian optometrists who are comfortable with managing severe dry eye patients. I think hankm9 is developing such a list as we speak.

Roland.

Hi Roland, I appreciate your post being a very frustrated dry eye sufferer in Australia. One major problem I feel we have in Oz is that optometrists aren't sufficiently empowered to help dry eye sufferers beyond very simple advice for mild cases. They are not to my knowledge able to prescribe steroids, do punctal plugs or really do anything besides offer advice for lid hygiene and drops, unlike in the US where optometrists have much greater power. Severe cases are referred to opthalmologists here but the doctors are disinterested and usually simply dismiss us with no advice or follow up, and waiting periods are very long. I feel that optometrists have the will but not the power to help us. I would like to see optometrists such as yourself campaigning to empower yourself with more tools to help us. Of course it is much cheaper to help dry eye sufferers via an optometrist for both the health care system and for the patient so I feel being able to for example get punctal plugs from an optometrist would be a major improvement for dry eye sufferers in Oz. I have paid hundreds of dollars to eye doctors who just dismissed me vs bulk billing for optometrists - I would happily not be bulk billed by the optometrist if they had the power to prescribe and help me, so from your point of view you could get extra revenue by taking over some things that the eye doctors aren't interested in doing anyway. Thank you for listening.

[Nikki]

Roland,

What are your thoughts about Optimel? With regards to a)corneal healing, b) meibomian gland dysfunction, c) antimicrobial, and d) whatever else it may do

http://www.melcare.com/optimel.html

Sincerely,
Nikki

[Dog2012]

Hi everyone,

The had chance to try it ...possibly it is me but i didn't fell differences.

[Roland]

Hi Nikki,

I have no experience with Optimel, I will wait and see before recommending it to my patients.

Roland.

Roland,

What are your thoughts about Optimel? With regards to a)corneal healing, b) meibomian gland dysfunction, c) antimicrobial, and d) whatever else it may do

http://www.melcare.com/optimel.html

Sincerely,
Nikki

[soaps]

Roland,

What are your thoughts about Optimel? With regards to a)corneal healing, b) meibomian gland dysfunction, c) antimicrobial, and d) whatever else it may do

http://www.melcare.com/optimel.html


Sincerely,
Nikki

Hey nikki

my Dr mentioned this recently as something interesting some pts r trying. but he didn't recommend it yet as little evidence and needs to look into it.

[Dog2012]

I am not sure what is that link is about ?

[soaps]

Lol that is my signature - a hymn i love and helps me wen even those $$ eye drops/meds do nothing for the pain etc.

[vinnieblanco]

Any improvement in using the new manuka honey optimel eye drops? has anyone have tried this product here? any input would be appreciated

[beckyfromoz]

Hi,

I have dry eye, Blepharitis and pinguecula in both eyes. My last year function test showed my left eye scored 1 out of ten and my right eye 2 out of 10. Because of the Blepharitis and dry eye my Pinguculas are constantly getting inflamed.

I have tried many lubricating eye drops, all of which just made my eyes more dry and irritated. I was also put on Restasis but decided to discontinue use and I was not 100% comfortable with the potential side affects.

I recenently had some success with the optimal Manuka honey eye drops. I started using them 2 weeks ago and so far the results have been positive. They seem to be keeping my Blepharitis under control and my eyes definitely feel more moisturised. I can scut actually see moisture on my eyes. My eyes are also less red and my Pinguculas are no where near as inflamed and red. The veins going to my pings have also lessened in redness. It actually looks like my pings have shrunk but this could just be because my eyes are not as dry and have some moisture covering them.

I am also using a warm eye bag for 10 minutes at night and taking krill oil an zinc. I was advised to stop using lid scrubs or ang chemical products now after I use the eye bag I just use a warm wash cloth to gently exfoliate my lid line then use the Manuka eye drops straight after.

At the moment I am using them 2 to 4 times a day. They do sting a lot but this is usually only for 30 seconds. I just put one drop in each eye and keep my eyes closed for a minute and then open them. The first few days I used these drops I thought they were making my eyes more red and irritated but after the first few days I started to really notice an improvement, even more so at the 2 week mark. The website does say it takes a month to see the full effect of these drops so my eyes may even improve more.

Like I said I have tried so many different drops including steroids and these are the only drops that have helped me so far.

Hope this helps!

Bec