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Hello Rebecca and anyone else who reads this. I Am just the intermediary for my wife Janice who has had dry eyes (conjunctivitis sicca) for years. I do not have dry eye (thank heavens). Janice has had her lower puncta permanently closed by an electric procedure, and has plugs in her upper puncta, but still can't produce tears enough to run down her cheek. We thought it was Sjogren's but negative Ro & La ruled that out. Anyway to cut to the bottom line, her very-enlightened eye guy prescribed Cyclosporin A in commercial eye drops and it seems to be working!!! Here are the details: We live in Johannesburg South Africa, where Restasis is unobtainable, so the pharmacy got a 50mg ampule of Sandimmum (which is another name for Cyclosporin: did you know that?- Google it & see!) and poured this into ordinary eye lubricant drops (they used Tears Naturelle, but I am sure any vehicle would do). The cost: well in South Africa we have what is called a Single Exit Price for listed medications, so the Sandimmum ampule costs about 40 ZAR (thats South African Rands) plus the eye drops plus dispensing fee: Total 150,31 ZAR. There is a drawback: the result is not pH balanced, so it stings a bit, but she is used to that after a month's use.
One other point, and it's a question: Janice has osteo-arthritis as well, and I m sure I havwe seen somewhere Cyclosporin is used for OA. Is there a link between OA & KS?
Apparently Cyclosporin A is being researched in Italy right now.
One other point, and it's a question: Janice has osteo-arthritis as well, and I m sure I havwe seen somewhere Cyclosporin is used for OA. Is there a link between OA & KS?
Apparently Cyclosporin A is being researched in Italy right now.
I have both. Seronegative for Sjogren's and Rheumatoid Arthritis. The Sjogren's was diagnosed by mouth biopsy and the Rheumatoid by xray and CT scan.
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