New Member

[juninho]

Hi,im juninho from the north east of england.Im 52 and am a senior nurse in mental health,taking early retirement soon as 35 tears sevice.I have had dry eyes for over a year now and i think it was due to side-effects of roaccutane which cleared my skin problem but has left me with dry-eyes.Everything Ive tried bought and prescribed have had no effect.Im now on my 10th product ,minims artificial tears as from today.I hope they give some relief.
Sometimes its really distressing and im pleased ive found this site.I lid scrub twice a day and take omega 3-6-9 capsules.As for me I love music rory gallagher,graham parker,bill nelson anddavid sanborn.Im also a football fanatic(soccer stateside) and my golden retiever ,barney,keeps me going.
anyway thats me ,nice to know you all,see ya

PS IM THINKING OF TRYING SMART PLUGS ,Ive heard there good.

[Annie]

Hi,im juninho from the north east of england.Im 52 and am a senior nurse in mental health,taking early retirement soon as 35 tears sevice.I have had dry eyes for over a year now and i think it was due to side-effects of roaccutane which cleared my skin problem but has left me with dry-eyes.Everything Ive tried bought and prescribed have had no effect.Im now on my 10th product ,minims artificial tears as from today.I hope they give some relief.
Sometimes its really distressing and im pleased ive found this site.I lid scrub twice a day and take omega 3-6-9 capsules.As for me I love music rory gallagher,graham parker,bill nelson anddavid sanborn.Im also a football fanatic(soccer stateside) and my golden retiever ,barney,keeps me going.
anyway thats me ,nice to know you all,see ya

PS IM THINKING OF TRYING SMART PLUGS ,Ive heard there good.

Hi my name is Annie. I have had dry eyes for 4 years and have tried so much stuff I could write a book. I started with an erosion on my cornea and ever since have had nothing but bad luck. I have permanent plugs in lower lids. Tried temp ones for the upper but teared all day long. I have used collagen plugs with my eye doctor 300.00 for one and I've gotten 3 at one time already. I was using bion tears, erythromycin ointment, taking 100 mg doxycycline and lid scrubs twice a day with johnson's baby shampoo in warm water and also hot compresses twice a day 5 minutes each. Now I am in the beginning of a dry eye clincal trial. I am in the screening phase, not sure if I will qualify but am very excited. I do take elavil for headaches and that has a side effect of dry eyes. Not sure if that caused it or not but sometimes the burning is unbearable and I cannot even do anything but suffer. I have even taken excedrin for migraine to relieve the pain. Hope this info helps. keep in touch Annie.

[Cindy]

Hi,im juninho from the north east of england.Im 52 and am a senior nurse in mental health,taking early retirement soon as 35 tears sevice.I have had dry eyes for over a year now and i think it was due to side-effects of roaccutane which cleared my skin problem but has left me with dry-eyes.Everything Ive tried bought and prescribed have had no effect.Im now on my 10th product ,minims artificial tears as from today.I hope they give some relief.
Sometimes its really distressing and im pleased ive found this site.I lid scrub twice a day and take omega 3-6-9 capsules.As for me I love music rory gallagher,graham parker,bill nelson anddavid sanborn.Im also a football fanatic(soccer stateside) and my golden retiever ,barney,keeps me going.
anyway thats me ,nice to know you all,see ya

PS IM THINKING OF TRYING SMART PLUGS ,Ive heard there good.

Hi juninho and welcome. Glad you found us. I'm really interested in hearing what you think of SMART plugs if you go that route.

[Cindy]

Annie wrote:

I have used collagen plugs with my eye doctor 300.00 for one and I've gotten 3 at one time already.

Are you saying you were charged $300 for collagen plugs? The ones that dissolve in 3-5 days?

[Gaye]

Plugs

Unbelievable if they charged that for temporary plugs. But I recently did the permanent plug in the upper right eye and they charged me $450.00 for that, then charged me $450.00 to remove it when I couldn't deal with it. Thank God for insurance! It is amazing what the health care industry charges!

[juninho]

Hello again,ive found only 2 practices in the uk so far who insert supa plugs
(from internet searchs)and they charge between 250 and 300 pounds,not sure how much that is in dollars.There is the test plugs first and if the condition improves you can go ahead with the procedure.I may only have one eye done as my right is the worst.At present im using lactilube (preservative
free) at night and have just started minims artificial tears,made by CHAUVIN
PHARMACEUTICALS,in the uk. 9 pounds for 20 single phials.
My best thing lately is finding this site.

currency converted ,plugs would be about 510 us dollars
arificial tears about 16 us dollars.
cheers.

[Gaye]

To Juninho regarding plugs

Those prices are even worse than the U.S., and hopefully whatever insurance you have over there will help cover those costs. This is a great forum for dry eye patients and I think you will really enjoy all of the input that everyone here has to give. We are all suffering with different variations of dry eye problems, but we all understand how difficult it can make life. Just being able to talk to people here really helps. It makes you realize that you are not alone and sometimes you will find information that your doctor doesn't give you (or know about). Welcome and good luck!

Gaye

[jcorbett]

Prices for plugs

I have found the prices can really vary....sometimes by hundreds of dollars. Calling around and asking what they charge may be worth your while. Also ask what type of plug they are using.
$450 to remove a plug? Outrageous! Last plug I had removed took all of 5 seconds. But I guess you can charge anything when you have a desperate clientele. Those doctors ought to be ashamed of themselves! No wonder our insurance costs are so high.

[juninho]

Thanks very much Gaye,this site ,Im sure will make a difference to how I handle this debilitating condition.
BEST WISHES JUNINHO(Graham)

[Rebecca Petris]

Hello again,ive found only 2 practices in the uk so far who insert supa plugs
(from internet searchs)and they charge between 250 and 300 pounds,not sure how much that is in dollars..

Juninho,

Ouch!

I have heard from patients who got plugs inserted through the NHS (although they get all their other eyecare privately) specifically for this reason - that the pricing is excruciating. I can't even remember now whether it was optometrists or ophthalmologists but I think the former. Of course the brands available will be more limited, but I'd have a hard time reconciling myself to that kind of price for a couple of tiny bits of silicone (or whatever) that may or may not help or even stay in.