New member with some questions

[nopoint]

Hi everyone, I hope you are all in good health.

A brief history about myself:

I started getting symptoms of dry eye about one year ago. At that time I was wearing PureVision contacts. I usually wore contacts for 10+ hours a day and I didn't really have any problems with it. However, come summer time I found out I had a scratched cornea and because of that my vision became really blurry and my eyes very irritated. So I went to the eye doctor and he prescribed Zylet. I took the medication and both of my corneas fully recovered within 10 days or so. I tried contacts again and a couple of months later the same thing happened. So, I was prescribed a steroid solution for my eyes again and again they fully recovered.

My doctor wanted to try out different brands of contacts, so I tried a few trial pairs.. I tried Acuvue Oasys and it worked well comfort wise but I couldn't see things far away due to my astigmatism. I also tried Acuvue Advance for Astigmatism but they caused the same problems as the PureVision did. So I had spots on my cornea again and about a week ago I finished my 10-day cycle of Zylet again (doc said to get plugs if the Zylet didn't work). My eyes recovered and are much better than they were a few weeks ago (before I would have a hard time opening my eyes in the morning, constant red eyes, sometimes eyes would be watery, burning sensation). My doctor said that my right cornea has fully recovered and that my left cornea is almost 100% also.

I've been taking TheraTears and fish oil and it's helped somewhat but I still can see a few red "vein-type" things in my left eye and some, but not as much, in my right eye. How can I alleviate this? My doc said my eyes are producing tears but when I blink my tears seem to go away.. said that tears are made of 3 components and that mine are probably missing one (mucus maybe?).

Anyway, I'm going to try out the new Oasys for Astigmatism soon and I wanted to make sure that the white part of my eyes are fully clear. Is there anything else I can do beside taking TheraTears? I feel like I sleep with my eyes slightly open but I'm not 100% sure, if I do how can I fix that? Also, before I was on Zylet I noticed fans would really bother me but they don't as much now. I also spend a lot of time on the computer and I understand that I have to blink more often while I'm on it. I think the climate/weather has to do a little with it also.

Oh yea, I'm a 19 year old male so I don't think my dry eyes have anything to do with aging.

Any help and advice would be appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[rhad]

welcome to the forum, sorry to hear about your problems, I am a 20 year old male any suffer with dry eyes as well, you should read up on this site, it has a lot information about the tear film and the 3 layers-mucus,aqueous(tears), and oil.

having dry eyes at this young of an age isn't normal that's for sure!

did your eye doctor say if you have low tear production, MGD, or blepharitis?

rhad

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi and welcome!

I'm a 19 year old male so I don't think my dry eyes have anything to do with aging.

I think some of the most common explanations for dry eye symptoms in your age range are medication side effects (acne meds, antihistamines, and antidepressants are all possible culprits); rosacea; and diet.

I would suggest reading up on diagnosis and treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction (typically the main culprit with young males) and maybe ocular allergies. Also maybe GPC. As for lids not closing, sleep masks or sleep goggles and a good lubricant can usually help with this a lot. There are some products for this in The Dry Eye Shop (see link at top of screen) if you can't find something locally.

I would really encourage you to pursue a more detailed diagnosis and make sure any problems you're having are completely clear and stable for a considerable period before trying contacts again.

[nopoint]

having dry eyes at this young of an age isn't normal that's for sure!

Yea, it's pretty hard.

did your eye doctor say if you have low tear production, MGD, or blepharitis?

He didn't mention any of those. After doing some more reading, I found this (TBUT test) and it is what I believe my doctor performed on me. He said that my eyes are producing tears but that they are evaporating very quickly.

I looked at theMGD entry on the encyclopedia on this site and according to the picture there are supposed to be white "bulb-type" things on the eye lid? Am I understanding that correctly? I can't see any on my eyelids.

As for blepharitis, I read more about on this site and here, I think that this describes my situation:

-Seborrheic blepharitis: Often associated with dandruff of the scalp or skin conditions like acne, it can appear as greasy flakes or scales around the base of the eyelashes and a mild redness of the eyelid

When I wake up in the morning I usually have crusts or flakes in my eyelid that I wipe off with my fingers. I always thought it was normal. Don't most people have it? My eyelids are also sometimes red and sometimes look swollen especially the outer part (where the upper and lower eyelid meet, side close to ear). What other symptoms should I look for?

"Problem #2: Lipid deficiency: They’re evaporating too fast" from DES article seems like it might describe my situation.

I think some of the most common explanations for dry eye symptoms in your age range are medication side effects (acne meds, antihistamines, and antidepressants are all possible culprits); rosacea; and diet.

Hi Rebecca,

I'm currently not on any medications right now nor do I have rosacea.
What should my diet mostly consist of?

As far as I can tell, it doesn't seem like I have GPC or ocular allergies.

Thank you both for the info! It's very helpful. Evidently, I still have a lot to learn.

[acarol]

You symptoms sound very similar to mine - and i was diagonised with Blepharitis (the blocked oil glands type) - after seeing SEVERAL doctors.
The flakes on your eyelashes would definately indicate Blepharitis i think, but you need to get a Doctor to confirm it.
Maybe you should start doing the warm compresses and lid hygiene.
My eyelids are also a little swollen esp the right one and my eyes do get red and irriated too.

[brd888]

[QUOTE=nopoint;32855]

When I wake up in the morning I usually have crusts or flakes in my eyelid that I wipe off with my fingers. I always thought it was normal. Don't most people have it? [Q]

I'm sure others will point out if I am wrong but this is completely normal. It is the remains of lipid/mucous from the tear film which has dried leaving the hard parts. Of course excessive amounts of yellow/green crusts points to some dysfunction.

Also white bulbs marking blocked meibomian glands are at the severe end of the MGD scale. Many if not most people with MGD don't have this obvious symptom. In my opinion "MGD" is just a general term meaning an unspecified problem with your meibomian glands. And note that MGD and blepharitis are the same disease.

Can't you revert to using glasses until this problem is better?

Regards,
Bruce

[nopoint]

Maybe you should start doing the warm compresses and lid hygiene.
My eyelids are also a little swollen esp the right one and my eyes do get red and irriated too.

Hi acarol,
Yeah, I might have to look into that. My eyelids are definitely red/swollen. Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm sure others will point out if I am wrong but this is completely normal. It is the remains of lipid/mucous from the tear film which has dried leaving the hard parts.

I think you're right. When I woke up today, I paid special attention to any flakes but I didn't find any. It happens some days but not others.

Also white bulbs marking blocked meibomian glands are at the severe end of the MGD scale. Many if not most people with MGD don't have this obvious symptom. In my opinion "MGD" is just a general term meaning an unspecified problem with your meibomian glands. And note that MGD and blepharitis are the same disease.

I was not aware of blepharitis being the same thing as MGD. Thanks for clearing that up. Are there any other symptoms I should look out for with MGD?

Can't you revert to using glasses until this problem is better?

I've been strictly on glasses for at least the past two months. Eventually, I'd like to get back on contacts because I think they're more convenient for my lifestyle.

However, you're right in that contacts are not a good idea at this time and I'll continue to use glasses in the meantime.

[nopoint]

I just ordered some hot compress from the dry eye shop and I got a sleep mask. I'll report back with how it works out.

[acarol]

Ya it does take time to get some relief from the warm compresses but you should start to see some improvement after about 2 weeks.
I do see a little improvement in my eyes now after about a month of doing them BUT the skin around my eyes is really suffering from all heat. They are starting to look puffy and red.

[nopoint]

Here's a mini update on what's going on..

-The sleep mask usually helps. I still have these veins in the same spot that don't seem to go away.

-I'm trying the NAC 600 and Glutathione supplements as talked about in this thread. I'll report back after going through all the supplements

-Hot compresses provide very temporary relief, however they seem to do more harm than good so I'm going to stay off of them.

-Taking fish oil daily

The veins that are in the same spot are really bothering me. It seems like no matter what I do they are still there. Sometimes new veins come but they usually go away.

[Justpeachythx]

Sorry to hear about your problems. I, too, am a newcomer to the board and can vouch for the fact that there is a ton of very helpful information here.

I have the same problem at the moment with a few very persistent red veins that won't seem to go away and are extremely irritable. The sensation is that something is stuck on my eyelid and irritating every time I blink. Had it looked at twice and there is definitely nothing foreign there. I found that since I've had this particular problem the warm compresses do in fact irritate things more, so I've had to temporarily stop them. It's the cold compresses that seem to be helping clear it up over the last few days -- hard to do at work (just using Dwelle there), but in the evenings I've been putting cold compresses on for at least 10 minutes every hour (by then, it's so irritated, it's the only thing getting me through the evening before bed). Except for a major faux pas yesterday (going out in very very windy conditions and actually GETTING something in my eye ), the cold compresses are helping immensely. Once this irritation goes away, I will get right back on the warm compress regiment.

Feel better soon

[nopoint]

Thanks justpeachythx, hope you get better too!

I'm going to try cold compresses like you. Everything else that I'm doing doesn't seem to be helping. I don't know what else to do.