Started as dryness in the morning

[ut_longhorn]

Hi all...just joined the forum and thought I'd introduce myself.

I've had relatively dry eyes for a long time, but I'd been managing ok for a while. My eyes were dry enough when i was young that contacts were uncomfortable. I had lasik about 7 years ago and by eyes seemed dry but manageable. slowly they started getting drier and drier. at this point, my eyes were white.

within the past 3 months, all of a sudden, i started to have to put in drops in my eyes when i woke up. the dryness has now gotten quite extreme all within a span of 3 months. now i wake up with dry red eyes and i have to put in drops and cold compress to bring down the redness. eyes still stay very dry through the day.

my last trip to the ophthalmologist, he got me on restasis and omegas. He didn't really go into why my eyes were dry. I asked if it was my mebomian glands and he said no. So I guess it's an aqueus deficiency? he wasn't very clear.

It's been 4 weeks on this and I don't feel like much has improved. In fact, the redness has increased. I'm trying to really clean up my diet and exercise, but not sure that this is doing anything either.

I'm so frustrated. It's affecting my work and my social life. I'm also getting worried.

I'm so glad to have found this forum. But man I am really frustrated!!!!

[spmcc]

Welcome! But I'm sorry that you're here...

I started out similar to you. I would wake with dryness and pain which would improve quite quickly so my days were pretty good. At that time, I was diagnosed with ocular rosacea (that was 1997). By 2002, my dryness had "expanded" to include the whole day. Now I'm in moisture chamber glasses all day, avoid all "treated" or moving air, have a whole treatment regimen for night, and more!

I recommend that you read four articles that Rebecca has on the Dry Eye Zone homepage: http://www.dryeyezone.com/

If you scroll down, the first article is in a section called "How to get a better diagnosis"

And just above that are three articles that Rebecca calls her Coping 101 series. They are excellent resources - esp for DEZ "beginners", but as an "old timer" I also refer back to them over and over.

Also, below is a list of questions that may help you get a better diagnosis because "dry eye" isn't one! You can ask these questions every time you see a doctor to figure out if your treatments are working:

1) How is my tear quantity?
2) Do you see any dry spots?
3) Can you check for staining?
4) Can you press on my meibomian (oil) glands? Are they releasing oil? Is the oil clear and flowing freely? If not, what does it look like?
5) Do you see any signs of allergies?
6) Do I have any lid closure problems (e.g., lagophthalmos)

It's very important to get more info from your doctor.

It's also important to remember that eye drops to "get the red out" are a BIG no-no for people with dry eyes (not that you said you were using these.... just a reminder).

To begin, I would start right now doing some non-medical things to improve nighttime... that means some kind of eye cover while sleeping. I use Glad Press N Seal because it has a sticky/tacky side that stays relatively well-affixed to my closed lids (tape, even 3M Micropore tape, sometime takes off my skin the next day! --- my skin is a freak). There are also nighttime googles like Tranquileyes or Onyix (I own both and use them occasionally when my rosacea-hot face allows).

Do you have a good, thick drop or gel/ointment that you like for under your nighttime cover? If you improve your nights, your eyes will feel better in the morning and hopefully the redness will reduce.

Good luck.