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Hello! I have worn contacts for about 22 years 
I can no longer tolerate wearing my contacts much due to dry eyes and only wear them when I am scuba diving, driving at night, etc. I really do not like my vision so much with glasses due to glare, no peripheral vision, etc. I have known that my eyes are too dry for a while now but wanted to find out just how bad they are. I have gone for PRK/LASIK consultations at several places in the bay area and of course they always told me that my corneas are nice and thick and to go ahead! But I was always wary after what Ive read on the internet. I went to Berkeley Refractive Surgery at UC Berkeley and the doctor there was very comprehensive and conservative with recommendations. She acknowledged that even though my corneas are thick and I am a good candidate otherwise, that I have MGD and fairly moderate dry eye and that PRK is not a good idea for me right now.
Here is what I have tried so far in the last year:
2000 mg/day of fish/flaxseed oil (not sure I notice a difference)
hot compresses (no noticeable improvement but made my eyelids look wrinkly and older which is not something I want to continue with at age 39)
using castor oil on my eyelids at night
celluvisc drops at night
Oasys contacts, other dry eye contacts--I cannot tolerate these at all! My eyes get super red, blurry and irritated. I seem to only tolerate Acuvue 2 contacts which I have been wearing for 22 years.
My last Schirmer was: right eye 16, left eye 10 after 3 mins and the doc said I have tears but that the quality of the tears was bad due to not enough oil. She also did a TBUT and said that my tears evaporate too quickly due to poor quality
She says that most likely my glands have been plugged for years. I really did not like the hot compresses and felt that nothing is opening up. What else can I try? I am concerned about how much worse this will get over time and am really worried. This does impact my life a lot because my vision without correction is pretty bad (-4, -4.5) and I am very very active (swimming, traveling, hiking, scuba diving). Not being able to wear my contacts during these activities is really bumming me out. Any advice appreciated.
I can no longer tolerate wearing my contacts much due to dry eyes and only wear them when I am scuba diving, driving at night, etc. I really do not like my vision so much with glasses due to glare, no peripheral vision, etc. I have known that my eyes are too dry for a while now but wanted to find out just how bad they are. I have gone for PRK/LASIK consultations at several places in the bay area and of course they always told me that my corneas are nice and thick and to go ahead! But I was always wary after what Ive read on the internet. I went to Berkeley Refractive Surgery at UC Berkeley and the doctor there was very comprehensive and conservative with recommendations. She acknowledged that even though my corneas are thick and I am a good candidate otherwise, that I have MGD and fairly moderate dry eye and that PRK is not a good idea for me right now. Here is what I have tried so far in the last year:
2000 mg/day of fish/flaxseed oil (not sure I notice a difference)
hot compresses (no noticeable improvement but made my eyelids look wrinkly and older which is not something I want to continue with at age 39)
using castor oil on my eyelids at night
celluvisc drops at night
Oasys contacts, other dry eye contacts--I cannot tolerate these at all! My eyes get super red, blurry and irritated. I seem to only tolerate Acuvue 2 contacts which I have been wearing for 22 years.
My last Schirmer was: right eye 16, left eye 10 after 3 mins and the doc said I have tears but that the quality of the tears was bad due to not enough oil. She also did a TBUT and said that my tears evaporate too quickly due to poor quality
She says that most likely my glands have been plugged for years. I really did not like the hot compresses and felt that nothing is opening up. What else can I try? I am concerned about how much worse this will get over time and am really worried. This does impact my life a lot because my vision without correction is pretty bad (-4, -4.5) and I am very very active (swimming, traveling, hiking, scuba diving). Not being able to wear my contacts during these activities is really bumming me out. Any advice appreciated.
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