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Hey all,
I'm a 28 year old female who has also been healthy and in shape until now. Here's my story:
Eight years ago I was in college and was a at party and slept in my contacts over night. Next thing you know I wake up and it looks like I have pink eye. Keep in mind, I lived in Florida at the time and tended to enjoy my social life. I didn't think much but went to the eye doctor and they gave me an antibiotic. It went away but I couldn't wear my contacts for any longer than 3-4 hours at a time. They would get red and itchy. I told myself I am allergic to contacts and decided to wear my glasses only when I needed to. I hated glasses because I was called four eyes growing up. Sometimes when I drove at night I would get light sensitivity and didn't really think too much about it.
It wasn't until I moved back to Minnesota that things got worse. I worked in front of computers by day and waitressed by night. I was also in a band. By the day of the day or night my eyes would be dry, itchy and red. People would notice so I started using some Visine. I seemed to be managing fine. I still could wear makeup, go tanning and dress up nice.
Years later it got worse. My band mates would be like dude you look so high right now. Keep in mind I don't smoke, just drank a bit. I finally decided to go to my regular Eye Doctor and he put a green drop in my eye and said that I had dry eye syndrome. He told me I was really young but decided to prescribe me Restasis and some re-wetting drops. It didn't seem to be working right.
This past year I decided to find a specialist, so I looked on-line and found a specialty office. They did a bunch of tests on me for auto-immune disorders and other things. I came up negative. The only thing they say I have is MGD. I'm still on Restasis, I've upped my Omega 3 dosage to 5000 mg (my doctor doesn't know), I've been on and off Lotamax, I just had my first treatment of Lipoflow and have been using warm compresses (not as often as I should) and gel drops.
Things have gotten better but I don't feel like it's cured (or if there is something else going on). It's just really frustrating especially when you deal with people for a job. I'm also one of the youngest people at the doctors office. I've spent $100's of dollars on products and still have my student loans to pay off plus trying to change careers. I don't wear as much makeup anymore because it seems to bother me. I have astigmatism and I stare at a computer a lot during the day.
Luckily I'm married now and my husband understands my chronic issue but I tend to get really self conscious and hate not being able to wear makeup and be "normal". I don't know anyone who has the same thing as me. I've been using Visine for interviews just so that I don't have to worry doing that hour. CFL lightning and Fluorescent lights tend to give me problems. They aggravate the symptoms. It doesn't help that I live in Minnesota where it gets really cold and dry but family is here and the economy is good.
There has to be a scientific reason as to why so many people are getting eye issues (environment, food, technology)??
Does anyone have any tips that I could try? I'm open to anything! I have another 50 years on this Earth and would like to manage it if all possible.
I'm a 28 year old female who has also been healthy and in shape until now. Here's my story:
Eight years ago I was in college and was a at party and slept in my contacts over night. Next thing you know I wake up and it looks like I have pink eye. Keep in mind, I lived in Florida at the time and tended to enjoy my social life. I didn't think much but went to the eye doctor and they gave me an antibiotic. It went away but I couldn't wear my contacts for any longer than 3-4 hours at a time. They would get red and itchy. I told myself I am allergic to contacts and decided to wear my glasses only when I needed to. I hated glasses because I was called four eyes growing up. Sometimes when I drove at night I would get light sensitivity and didn't really think too much about it.
It wasn't until I moved back to Minnesota that things got worse. I worked in front of computers by day and waitressed by night. I was also in a band. By the day of the day or night my eyes would be dry, itchy and red. People would notice so I started using some Visine. I seemed to be managing fine. I still could wear makeup, go tanning and dress up nice.
Years later it got worse. My band mates would be like dude you look so high right now. Keep in mind I don't smoke, just drank a bit. I finally decided to go to my regular Eye Doctor and he put a green drop in my eye and said that I had dry eye syndrome. He told me I was really young but decided to prescribe me Restasis and some re-wetting drops. It didn't seem to be working right.
This past year I decided to find a specialist, so I looked on-line and found a specialty office. They did a bunch of tests on me for auto-immune disorders and other things. I came up negative. The only thing they say I have is MGD. I'm still on Restasis, I've upped my Omega 3 dosage to 5000 mg (my doctor doesn't know), I've been on and off Lotamax, I just had my first treatment of Lipoflow and have been using warm compresses (not as often as I should) and gel drops.
Things have gotten better but I don't feel like it's cured (or if there is something else going on). It's just really frustrating especially when you deal with people for a job. I'm also one of the youngest people at the doctors office. I've spent $100's of dollars on products and still have my student loans to pay off plus trying to change careers. I don't wear as much makeup anymore because it seems to bother me. I have astigmatism and I stare at a computer a lot during the day.
Luckily I'm married now and my husband understands my chronic issue but I tend to get really self conscious and hate not being able to wear makeup and be "normal". I don't know anyone who has the same thing as me. I've been using Visine for interviews just so that I don't have to worry doing that hour. CFL lightning and Fluorescent lights tend to give me problems. They aggravate the symptoms. It doesn't help that I live in Minnesota where it gets really cold and dry but family is here and the economy is good.
There has to be a scientific reason as to why so many people are getting eye issues (environment, food, technology)??
Does anyone have any tips that I could try? I'm open to anything! I have another 50 years on this Earth and would like to manage it if all possible.