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[ejmc]

I’m about two years in to my dry eye sensation. I never experienced it until getting contacts (monthly ones). The best way to describe it is that my eyes feel as if I had fallen asleep in my contacts. Never red, sometimes slightly itchy, but more so just, my lids feel stuck to my eyeball.

So I wore contacts for 1 year, was just about never sleeping in them, cleaning them, etc- but toward the end of the day my eyes would feel heavy and dry. I mentioned it at my next eye exam, my optometrist saw that I had slight Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis. He recommended I switch to a daily contact and prescribed me Olopatadine because he thought the dry eye was an allergy.

So I did the olopatadine for a little, then I wore dailies for another year, and still felt the dryness on and off. I didn’t notice much difference with the dailies.

Now, since this past summer, my eyes have felt drier than ever. I won’t even wear contacts unless at work or driving. I thought it was triggered due to an eyelash serum I tried (and discontinued). My eyes are still dry, and I recently have had a stringy mucus. I had another appointment just recently where I complained again (my second time mentioning it) and my optometrist said I still had a slight GPC and he believes it’s truely from allergies since it seems to bother me the most at this time of year. He recommended I try olopatadine for a longer period, a preservative free eyedrop called Oasis, and take 2 tblspoons of flax oil (which I think has helped). Since this appointment I’ve done a lot of research and looked through the forum thoroughly.

My REAL question, I absolutely love my optometrist and have always felt that he is very thorough, but since reading others stories, it seems as though my doctor hasn’t really tested/recommended anything past some drops to lubricate? I can tell my experience isn’t as severe as others, but I’m concerned that it can get worse and feel like it’s up to me to find an actual solution. I don’t want to rely on those oasis drops to cover up my actual issue.

Planning on doing the olopatadine for over a month and maybe two, so I can be 100% sure if it is/isn’t working.

Does anyone else have the dry eye sensation without an itch/gritty feeling?

[Guest]

My humble opinion, I would get a couple appointments with a couple specialists to get some other opinions. Try to find a cornea and external disease specialist and a dry eye specialist. A local university will most likely have the equipment and staff to handle your care.

I think you’re smart to lay off contacts completely, try to limit eye makeup if you’re a female, get another opinion(s) as you run the pataday...so immediately. Running a preservative based drug that long could be bad and make things worse. You may need it, you may not, so determining weather you actually need it is important. Good for you to find a resolution sooner than later, very smart. The oasis drops are good, use them as needed to bandage things until you can’t get to the root of the problem. Your outlook seems good! Good luck!

[edmunder]

The contact lense being extremely dry and the GPC are typical markers of dry eye and meibomian gland dysfunction.

I had that for a while and doctors told me the same thing. Stop wearing contacts and use drops. Its not getting at the root of the issue.

Find a dry eye doctor that can help you figure out whats going on. Asap.

Get some tests done like a meibography duch as Lipiview to see your glands. Have the doctor press on your eyelids to see whats coming out.

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi there and welcome!

As you're finding... dry eye is like a jigsaw puzzle sometimes. An eye doctor can be fantastic at other things without being the fount of all dry eye knowledge. Most of us end up having to be our own advocates. As long as your doctor has a good attitude and is willing to continue investigating, continue re-visiting diagnosis, and continue trying things, they're still a useful resource, but where possible it's also good to have someone who brings more ocular surface disease sophistication to the table.

Does anyone else have the dry eye sensation without an itch/gritty feeling?

Dry eye sensations are a very, very wide spectrum. Really hard to draw any conclusions from a specific symptom type and they also often overlap with so many other things. Dry eye and ocular allergy for example... a dry eye is more susceptible to allergy symptoms, but allergy drops are drying (and, incidentally, preserved with quite a toxic preservative) so it's a challenge. - Plus I think most people with really bothersome symptoms going on, have several pieces to their puzzle. All about figuring out what to tackle first and how, sometimes.

[MGD1701]

My understanding:
'toward the end of the day my eyes would feel heavy and dry'' + contact lens intolerance sound more likely dry eye.
stringy mucus - more likely allergy.