Dry eyes even when every doctor says its OK?

[realgabon]

Hello everyone,

my name is Daniel, I'm 25 and live in Slovakia. About 1,5 years ago I started experiencing symptoms of dry eye. Specifically when I do anything that involves concentration (and less blinking) and/or computer/mobile screen, my eyes start to feel like there is something in them, it's hard to keep them open, I have to blink a lot and they get red quite quickly. When I am in a place with air conditioning, or place with smokers, or dusty place (you get the point) my eyes get worse and I'm unable to do anything productive as well. The thing is, I was checked for anything that I could think of, and tried so many things and nothing helped. Here's my list:

1) At the beginning tried to buy more comfortable computer screen, tried playing with brigthness, colors, blue light, software that makes you blink.
2) Tried eye glass prescription, have minor shortsightedness (like 0,25 - 0,5 diopters), but the glasses didn't make a difference.
3) Tried a lot of artificial tears, only Systane Ultra without preservatives helped. I am using it 10 times a day, but I still struggle at office work to get through the day.
4) Tried hot and cold compresses, eye lid hygiene, doing this every day, helps a tiny bit.
5) Been checked for allergies, found none. I have IgE levels a bit higher than normal though. So I tried oral antihistamines and nasal spray antihistamines to see if it's not an allergy. DIdn't help.
6) Doctor said I have slight histamine intolerance. Tried taking dao pills and had a diet for about 6 months, which was quit strict (no milk, no flour, nothing artificial.. basically almost only potatoes and rice and some other vegetables). Didn't make a difference to the symptoms.
7) Had my thyroid gland checked, it's all right.
8) Tried ziena nereus glasses that will enclose your eyes to prevent outside irritation and create humidity. Tried also plastic mask with the same function for night time. Both didn't help.
9) Of course, I had Schirmer test done, tear breakup time checked, meibomian glands checked, although only external visual check by doctors. But they tried little meibomian gland expression using fingers. All these had good results.

The strange thing is, I already wake up with my eyes worse, the night time doesn't regenerate them at all. Note that I also have quite dry skin on my face and scalp, I think it's called seborrheic dermatitis. I also have rhinitis (I think it's called hay fever) during all year. However I have both the skin condition and rhinitis for years so it's hard for me to see any connection. But these are the only symptoms left that could lead me to solution. Right now I'm trying out some medications against hay fever and rhinoconjunctivitis but it's not helping. I'm considering also the temporary punctal plugs to try them out. Even though it doesn't make sense, because the Schirmer test and tear breakup time have good results, I will probably try it out anyway.

P.S. The strangest thing is, that anytime I'm looking down - like reading, cleaning etc. my eyes get worse even faster. So I found out even my posture influences this, but only when looking down. I was thinking that this could maybe have something to do with blood flow or something neurological?

Anyone has similar experience and could give me some advice? Would be glad to hear any suggestion.

Thanks,
Daniel

[farmgirl]

Hi Daniel:

Although, perhaps not the primary cause, almost surely some of your symptoms are related to computer usage so I would limit my time on the computer to what is necessary at work and severely curtail anything else (except of course this forum....lol) including watching TV.

Were all of your tests in the normal range, the Schrimer, TBUT etc?

If you are not supplementing oils I would for sure do that with a good quality oil.

I would continue to wear the moisture chamber glasses for a time (since you already have them) because they really do help to block air movement that drys your eyes out.

Have you considered Demodex mites, that is a good possibility since you already have seborrheic dermatitis. There is some discussion on the forum about lid hygiene which goes into great detail, here is a link to the thread that will give you lots to think about.

http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/forum...elped-symptoms

Good luck trying to sort this out....F/G

[MGD1701]

Hi, just something to share:
1) Inflammation (bacteria/demodex?) is super important.
most MGD suffers have such issue but some are minor and hard to detect just with slit lamp.
Healthy diet (omega 3 + GLA have helped me) and safe/effective lid hygiene should help on this.

2) get gland images done - even only 10% of each glands alive, oil can flow out

3) check demodex - which is hard to avoid and most doctors do not check this.
only 5% tea tree oil can kill demodex but risky. Maybe you could find more info from the forum.

4) warm compress is important but hard to master
(I recently read an article from one famous American eye dr mentioning most people do it incorrectly).
If you dont feel relief after compress, try to find out WHY?

I would find another doctor, if (s)he can not solve my problems.
In the meantime, keep learning/exploring as dry eye is too new and only knowledge is reliable, experience tells me.

[mbperso]

Hi,
- I recommend to get image of glands, it helps to get the right diagnosis.
- Start warm compresses, it can tell you if you have MGD
-Important to keep in mind: As long as you cannot get a diagnosis go to see another doctor.