Dry Eyes New Mexico

[calli66]

I'm new here--hello to everyone. I measure only 2 on the mm strip test (?). I live in central New Mexico, USA, and have worn soft contacts off and on for 20 years (now I can only tolerate Extreme H2O). I am female and 56 yrs old--nearsighted since the age of 7. Now presbyopic by +2.00 D, and also need -7.75 or more to see 20/20 at night. Even with contacts or glasses, my vision is crap! In the past 10 years I have spent a fortune on drops, contacts, and glasses. My main complaint is the miserable eye irritation/pain and not feeling confident to drive at night. I can't seem to judge distance, and I'm slow switching focus from one object to another.

Tried Restasis for 2 months (July-Aug 2005) but "failed"-mainly because it made my vision worse (see my post to Restasis thread).

I have controlled my dry eye discomfort mostly with unpreserved saline--plain or aerosol, or with Blink eyedrops (made for contact lens rewetting, but I use them also for dry eyes). I have been really dependent on aerosol saline for probably 15 years, and keep a can in my car and next to my bed.

Recent: finally got to try Genteal Gel "Severe" (wasn't available before due to manufacturer problem). Strange stuff, but it actually seems to help me at night. For years, my dry eyes have woken me up 5 times a night, but with this gel, I can sometimes make it all the way through till morning--what a gift, to sleep all night.

Calli

[Delilah]

Welcome Calli

Hello my name is Delilah and I am very sorry to hear about your eye troubles, this website sells really good eye drops for severe dry eye. Darkina and Dwelle, one is for night and one is for day. I also really like the NutraTear eye drops and they are not that expensive. Everyone on this site has been so helpful and always willing to do whatever they can to help others out there with eye problems. I suffer from MGD along with Lattice Degeneration and I just barely turned 30!! For 3 years now my eyes have just gone down hill and I am really afraid, but I am dealing with it and trying everything I can to help myself. If you ask they will send you some free samples to see which ones you like and which ones will work better for you. Again welcome to the site it has helped me through a lot and the people are great and so caring. Search the site for the eye drops and ask for some samples. Delilah

[calli66]

What is MGD?

Thanks for the welcome, Delilah

I don't know what MGD is--and acronym for "?"

Calli

[Guest]

Translation

Meibomian Gland Dysfunction.

Especially if you're new here, you'll see a lot of acronyms and specialized terminology thrown around. If you see something you don't understand:

1) Check with the Dry Eye Zone Encyclopedia.
2) If you don't see it there, or need further explanation, don't hesitate to ask.
3) Once you've learned the definition, try searching these forums for that term. To do so, click "Search" in this page's uppermost dark-blue bar, and type in the term. The result will be a list of all posts that contain that term.

[Delilah]

Mgd

Meibomian Gland Dysfunction is a dysfunction where the glands inside your eyes do not produce the right amount of oil and tears to produce the natural tear film everyone has in their eyes. Most get this by old age or by Lasik surgery, the surgery that corrects vision. Most just suffer from "severe" dry eye. But with me I suffer also from these mucus strands, like strings of mucus in my eyes that I have to constantly pull out during the day and night. I have tried every kind of drop and still no help, the Alomide drops I use are allergy drops and they sort of cut down the mucus, at night when I go to bed and I wake up in the morning my eyes are so dry I am running to the bathroom to put in natural saline drops in just so I can open them. After that I get a hot wash cloth and do what is called a "warm compress" on my eyes.
Doing warm compresses might help you as well, where you live in a very "dry" state. There are many ways to do "warm compresses" one is by wetting a wash cloth with hot or warm water, I prefer hot, this helps the oils in your eyes liquify more and helps the glands get going. Others use rice baggies in the microwave and put them over their eyes. How I got this I don't know? My eyes use to be perfect, no trouble at all and one year I got a horrible eye infection, I got rid of it with medication and then 3 days later I started noticing these horrible mucus strings that I had to pull out and it got worse and worse and I seen numerous doctors until I went to a specialist in Salt Lake City Utah, he said it was caused by "smoking cigarettes" I didn't believe him because others suffer from the same thing and they don't smoke. As the years went by I started suffering from the "dry eye" and the strands of mucus, its been a nightmare but like I say things could be worse
Also what is this "eye spray" you use? I never heard of it? Does it work good? Can you just like mist your eyes even with make-up on? Please let me know what that is. I also live in a very "dry state" I live in Idaho and we have extremely dry weather. Anyway's before you go to bed and when you wake up in the morning get a wash cloth as hot as you can take it and put it over your eyes and sort of compress it against your face. At first your vision might be a bit more blurry but that is just the oils liquifying. I also like to do a wash with saline after and repeat it, that usually helps my dry eye for a bit. Also about Restasis, you must use it for about 6 to 8 months to start seeing any results, also try some supplements, take fish oil and flax seed oil, Lutien and try to eat as much Salmon or fish you can a week. Salmon is the best for eyes. If you don't like fish then take the supplements, it does help and with your poor vision you might want to take those supplements. Keep in touch and once again welcome, like I said this site is amazing and its very informative and the people are so caring. Have a good weekend. Delilah

[calli66]

Saline Eye Spray

I just use the Walmart brand Equate "sterile saline solution" in the 12 oz aerosol can. I also use Unisol 4 saline in the smaller plastic bottles. I use Blink eyedrops because they're simple, fairly thin, and I can carry the container around in my pocket (as opposed to a big can). There is also a saline "mist" spray in the stores, but it's expensive and I don't think it has enough salt in it. But that's a micro-spray in an aerosal can--you hold it away from your eyes 4-5" and "sweep it" slowly in front of your eyes. I think you could use that kind with makeup, no problem. I don't know what the brand is, but it's in the eye care section of drug stores.

I have always just sprayed the saline aerosol gently into my eye (and felt like I was breaking the law, 'cause it always says on the can NOT to spray directly into the eye). It really rinses out all the mucous strings and debris. My eye doctor even said it was OK to rinse out eye debris. Once during allergy season, my eyes were absolutely wrecked, and I went to her (my eye doctor), and she said it looked "like a snowstorm" in my eyes, due to all the reaction to allergens. I don't get hay fever or allergies usually, but I guess my eyes are really sensitive.

I know what you mean by not being able to open your eyes in the morning because they're so dry. I spray that saline into my eyes 4 or 5 times during the night--the dryness wakes me up. I feel like I can't even move my eyeballs without doing damage. I think I'm kind of addicted to that spray-it provides instant relief. I got into using that because there isn't any kind of eyedrop or ointment that helps (except the Genteal Gel I've just been trying this last couple of weeks). But my eyes react to that gel and make more mucous strings the following morning and on into the day.

By the way, I keep trying to wear my contact lenses--and I have good days and bad days (I wear Extreme H2O). But having mucous globs under lenses and all under my lids doesn't work well.

Couple of things: I find that as soon as I fall asleep, even for a few minutes, my eyes seem to stop tearing. Weird. And the other thing is that my eyes feel practically normal when I'm outdoors (I work in a National Monument and spend most of the time out in the field). I wore my contacts all summer in the hottest, driest weather, and my eyes felt fine. I don't know why this is.

And the Schirmer test strip: the eye doctors always put in the fluorescing dye, then the numbing drops, then I don't know what all into my eye before the strips, and all that stuff makes my eyes feel awful! I even wonder whether that stops them from tearing during the test. I know it takes almost 2 days to recover from all that eyedrop irritation.

Calli

[Delilah]

Thank you Calli

I just wanted to thank you for all your information, so it sounds like you suffer from the mucus string thing to huh? Do they abstruct your vision when your driving? Sometimes I have to pull over so I can see in the mirror to pull them out, its gross and Im so sick of it. I wish there was something I could do to get rid of these sick gross strings. I think Im gonna try this spray mist, next week I am getting on Restasis. I know its scary when you wake up in the morning and have to pry your eyes open, I am afraid that Im going to end up tearing my conjuctiva. Well thanks again and keep in touch. D

[calli66]

Forest of Strings

Yes, D- while driving I keep a can of saline spray in the cup holder. Other drivers probably think I'm nuts, spraying stuff into my eyes. Mostly I wait till I get to a traffic light to do it, but sometimes I have to spray while driving along. It's actually less dangerous (from the point of view of other drivers) than when I have a big glob right in the center of my field of vision.

C.