Dry eyes from lasik

[introverted]

I had lasik surgery in July 2004 and from that day on, I had chronic and severe dry eye pain. Finally after suffering for six months, I had all four of my tear ducts plugged. At first it helped, but later they are still dry. I cannot work and read documents more than two hours because of constant irritation and dryness.
Recently, another eye doctor gave me Restasis which at first helped then, but by the afternoon, my eyes are so dry that I have to shut them and put hot towel compresses. Sometimes in the evening, my eyes are burning.

After two years, my eyes started to hurt severely, again, and I found out one of my plugs fell out.

I am a Canadian, so I am interested to hear other treatment in the U. S.
My questions are:
1. Do I need to change my plugs once a year?Do they get wear and tear?
2. Has anyone tried Boston scleral lens and are they comfortable?
3. What other treatments are they?

[Lucy]

I am a Canadian, so I am interested to hear other treatment in the U. S.
My questions are:
1. Do I need to change my plugs once a year?Do they get wear and tear?
2. Has anyone tried Boston scleral lens and are they comfortable?
3. What other treatments are they?

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Hi Caroline.
I'm only writing a little bit as it's late. No, you don't need to change your plugs once a year. Sometimes they fall out almost immediately. Sometimes they stay in for years. It's very difficult to tell unless the plugs have the visible stem. Rather than "wear and tear" the plugs are likely to be "either there, or not."

I have tried the Boston Scleral Lens as have a couple of others on the board. Different results for different people. I've had the lens since Oct 05 and have made 3 trips to the clinic. The last trip being Jan 07 for a week to be refit for the left lens. That lens has never been comfortable enough to wear on an ongoing basis. Still isn't-but because of other, more serious health concerns, I'm not concentrating on the lens. I was charged another $5,000 to be refit for one lens after the initial lens charge of $7,600 for both. I also have several thousand in hotel and airfare to the clinic. This is a serious undertaking and obviously expensive. My insurance paid for the lens, but since I can't wear them, that's of little help. Something to be tried if all others have failed. I had no choice but to try, as I'm at the end of options.

As to other treatments, you will be able to read on the board about others' trial and errors. Good luck to you.
Lucy

[madarka]

serum

hi caroline
did you try autologous serum eyedrops?i started using it more than a month ago and i want to give it a try at least 6-8months.it is supposed to be very gentle and natural.so we will see.

[introverted]

Thank you for your support (Dry eyes from Lasik)

Dear Rebecca, Lucy and Madarka,

Thank you so much for your help and comments. I had only discovered this
web site last week. I suffered for three years and no one I know experienced what I am talking about. My degree of dry eyes is very severe.

I complain daily of my chronic painful dry eyes and I can't work a 9 to 5 job anymore. When I drive, my eyes are burning. I have become more introverted, putting drops in constantly and I am wearing protective eyewear all the time. I am glad there are people out there that understand what I'm talking about.

Good luck to you all.

Caroline

[madarka]

trying different options

dear caroline,obviously i am not a doctor but i can tell u this:if u don't feel relief by constant using drops u should try another option.it is hard to give u any specific advice because different methods work for different people.some people like plugs,some like restasis some like serum.u just have to explore and do research.i hope u will feel a relief soon.

[bassfan]

Caroline, my first recommendation to you is to scour this site for things you haven't tried and buy Dr Latkanys latest book on dry eye. It will give you a great understanding of the reasons behind dry eye and some smaller things you can do in your life to cope better.

Obviously DES isn't a very publicized problem yet, but I think in a few years we will get there. With more and more people like you suffering from lasik induced DES, it will get more publicity. With lasik being such a money maker for eye docs, it seems to me they don't really have a reason to publicize DES much...because if more people knew about these kind of side effects, they might not let people hack at their eyes.

[medical 2933]

Dry Eyes can occur both before and after LASIK Eye Surgery. Dry Eyes may be exacerbated in patients who had the condition prior to their surgery. Dry Eyes can actually be caused temporarily by having LASIK. It is important when considering LASIK, that you understand the basics of Dry Eye Syndrome so that you can alert the LASIK surgeon to the possibility that you may be predisposed to Dry Eyes.

[dianat]

A few things...

I didn't understand dry eye syndrome prior to LASIK and didn't know that I needed to understand dry eye syndrome prior to LASIK. It's far too late for your advice for the people who have posted on this thread.

I did, however, alert my surgeon that I was contact lens intolerant 100% of the time. Still, two surgeons agreed I was a great candidate for surgery.

I am five years out of my surgery and my eyes are still very severly dry and a huge struggle for me. Nothing temporary about it.