Attached pictures.

[hannahmaywils]

Hi guys,

i would love to know how inflamed my eyes look to other dry eye sufferers? Especially in comparison with your own eyes. I have just started restatis hopefully this will help reduce the inflammation which seems to be exacerbating my dry eyes.

Unfortunately doxycycline didn’t work for me. Also my eyelashes seem to grow in any direction they want! It’s great.

[Guest]

I can compare yours to mine if it helps...I have pink eyelid margins, yours look white. I have red veins in my eyes, just a few in specific places, but they're apparent. My lower lashes all fell out when this happened and now they're growing back..but they're thin and weak. They grow in a row thankfully, but they are almost invisible unless you look close. I can't tell if your caruncles are red, but mine are dry and bright red, not moist and pink.

You dont look bad at all, which is frustrating as hell. My doctors say I look good and I look considerably worse than you. Unkesauve the pictures aren't good enough for me to catch the little details.

I hope the restasis works for you, may I ask what's your diagnosis?

[hannahmaywils]

Dowork123 Yes my eyes aren’t red and do look pretty normal. I always have swollen eyelids in the morning and they seem to die down throughout the day.

I believe I have aqueous deficiency. However, I also have a 1/3 gland loss in each eye. So does this mean I have MGD also? I’m not too sure.
dano6533@gmail.com When you say cyclosporine has helped? Could put that into % ?! In terms of the % it has helped improve your condition. For me, now that I am not working in an office my eyes feel a lot better and less irritated which I believe has helped reduce dryness. Environment for me is obviously a big contributing factor.

[Guest]

When you say inflammation what do you mean?
I'm not sure it has helped at all in terms of corneal inflammation. My eyes actually keep getting worse and worse. The tear production has increased through the use of cyclosporine or xiidra though.

Restasis made my eyes worse...I thought it was helping. But the steroid I was on before the restasis was doing all the work. I took restasis 5 months, my eyes kept getting worse too. It felt like it was damaging my cornea. Since I stppped I feel way better. I'm not saying you should stop, just keep this story in mind.

[Guest]

If you have that much gland loss I'd say it's safe to say you have MGD. Now for me, the inflammation from the MGD is so bad, it inflamed my lacrimal gland. As soon as I get on steroids, like day 3-4 I'm producing a lot of tears again. So I'm aqueous deficient too, but for me, it's because my MGD is so bad. Matter of fact, I just started reflex tearing in the morning again....good sign!

[Guest]

Dowork123
yeah its a good point. you may be right. i have been getting worse and worse for months now. i might just stop taking it

i think i had the same issue as you, bad MGD issues then leading to lacrimal gland inflamation then leading to the inflamation cascade
ive never had any of these problems up until 13 months ago
i went through enormous amount of stress all within like one month period, i wonder if this had anything to do with what i am going through now?

-dog died
-wife divorced me
-best friend diagnosed congestive heart failure at 33 years of age
-aunt having cardiovascular issues
-unable to obtain job with bachelors degree

i was also using allergy eye drops at this time. everything has gone way downhill since last summer


your starting point was potting soil in the eye wasn't?

damn I'm so sorry man, you've been through some shit lately. I definitely think stress plays a role. I can literally name like 10 reasons why this happened but yes, getting that dust in my eyes from the soil is what started this mess. It's happened literally 3-4 times the last couple months. Then this time, for whatever reason, it got me. I mean, when the eye issues started, I had no idea what caused it. I had to sit and think all day for weeks before I was like...son of a B...it was the soil from the garbage can. When I went into the doctor initially and they asked what happened I was like, I have no idea.

But right before that I had leaky gut from taking too many supplements. I was anxious and stressed. My hormones were bottomed out...I mean I could go on. But it created this perfect storm. Then the stress of the actual event...it was bad.

Again, I'm sorry your eyes are getting worse but I'd say, if they're getting worse, you need to change things up. I mean, in my gut, I felt restasis was doing more harm. Whenever I use drops like that, emulsions, like refresh endura or retaine MGD, my eyes itch and just feel off. Now I didn't get that from restasis, but I only think it was masked by the burning. I know my eyelids done itch anymore. I know two highly rated doctors told me restasis is worthless...I mean one said he felt restasis may create inflammation over time. I was shocked but again, fell in line with what my gut was saying

[Guest]

i hope that discontinuing the restasis helps you
i hope that you can find some sort of relief from this misery

Steroids man, steroids can get me 90-97% normal which makes me feel like this never happened. Sucks I can't just take them forever. I've been on compounded methylprednisone 1% for 4 days...I feel normal. No blinking pain, no scratchiness, no burning....enjoying it while it lasts. I hope you can find some relief too my brother.