Early morning dry eye!

[Lankstarr]

Hi All,

I have had dry eyes for about 18 months - possibly triggered by an air conditioning cylinder of goopy stuff exploding in my face, prolonged contact lens wear from an early age, air conditioned work environment or any other factor from a very long list...... who knows!!!

I have seen specialists and tried lots of remedies but by no means have explored all of the treatments mentioned on this site - I haven't even got a humidifyer (not for long!!).

One thing I do that I haven't really seen mentioned is squeeze my lids - kind of like squeezing a spot quite frequently I will get some hard or ***** type gunk coming out. This was recommended to me by a specialist and although it has not made a significant improvement in my condition, makes me feel like I am unblocking my ducts or helping the situation in some way. Sometimes I even squezze out some relieving real teary type oil!

I also get a lot of lumps on my lids which are extremely irritating, I usually scrape them away with some sharp tweezers although I'm sure this is not a recommended practice anywhere - it's certainly very dangerous and you wouldnt want anyone to nudge you or make you jump whilst doing it - dry eye is better than no eye!

I really sympathise with all of you out there, especially those of you that have the condition much worse than me.

[jcorbett]

lumps on lids??

Where are these lumps?
I have seen small white-ish or clear little bumps that appear along my eyelashes. These I scrape away with my fingernail and I think they are blocked oil glands. If these glands are not flowing freely, you will have dry eye problems. It sounds to me like that may be a problem for you. Have you tried hot compresses and lid scrubs a couple times a day? If not, try this for awhile. It might take a week or two to see results.
You mentioned that you tried lots of remedies that didn't work, but you didn't say what they were.

[Rebecca Petris]

Welcome to Dry Eye Talk!!!

I have seen specialists and tried lots of remedies....

Among the remedies you've tried have you ever been prescribed one of the tetracyclines (systemic antibiotics)? Doxycycline is often prescribed for people who have what you describe, which sounds like meibomian gland dysfunction. I have reservations about these drugs because of potential side effects but there's no question that many people have been helped by them and if you haven't already tried it you may want to speak with your doctor about it.

Sounds like you're using a very aggressive form of lid massage to express your glands manually. Please be very careful and consider asking your eye doctor to do this for you.

Regards