Dry eye doctor in the London or the rest UK?

[SparkyMarc]

Does anyone know a good dry eye doctor in London?

[stella]

Try phoning Moorefields eye hospital (the biggest and most well known eye hospital in the UK)and ask if there is an ophthalmologist with a special interest in occular surface disorders - Thats the best suggestion i can come up with
I would do that myself but i live in N Ireland
Also you could enquire if they run a dryeye clinic too
If you get any possitive results ,there are a whole lot of people out there from the UK who use this site and would be VERY interested
Good luck
Stella

[stephgurl1986]

yes, please let us know - I'm going to London this Sunday and I will stay till Jan. and I still need to find a good doctor there.

[Rory]

I first developed dry eye in 1993. I can state that I did absolutely everything through the NHS and then privately. I gave up on UK opthalmologists in about 1998. They simply didnt understand about dry eyes and they certainly didnt realise how much discomfort it causes people.

However I did in the last year check back into their antiquated little world and Mr John Dart remains the name that everyone comes up with. I believe he works out of Moorfields. He was relatively straightforward and honest about the state of dry eye knowledge. Another one would be Anthony Bron, in Oxford. I have to say however that I was never left with a clear diagnosis or treatment plan.

However you should be prepared for having your symptoms questioned and the seriousness of your condition undermined. It seems to be a UK opthalmology tradition when it comes to dry eyes.

Since joining this board, some members have mentioned Dr Michael Guillon in London. I have yet to see him, but intend to make an appointment.

Good luck.. i think you may need it!

[Francesco]

I ve been in London this week just to see Dr. Guillon. I can confirm that he is very very competent about dry eye and also his visit is very specific and detailed. I ve just started the treatment he suggested me, i ll update you soon

p.s. for the first time i saw with my eyes from the pictures he took that i have blepharitis and MGD....

[brd888]

p.s. for the first time i saw with my eyes from the pictures he took that i have blepharitis and MGD....

Can you please tell me exactly what this looked like?

Ta,
Bruce

[Francesco]

Can you please tell me exactly what this looked like?

Ta,
Bruce

like any pictures you find on google about Meibomian Gland Disfunction.....not so bad but some glands looked like white bumps....hope this helps

[sazy123]

I first developed dry eye in 1993. I can state that I did absolutely everything through the NHS and then privately. I gave up on UK opthalmologists in about 1998. They simply didnt understand about dry eyes and they certainly didnt realise how much discomfort it causes people.

However I did in the last year check back into their antiquated little world and Mr John Dart remains the name that everyone comes up with. I believe he works out of Moorfields. He was relatively straightforward and honest about the state of dry eye knowledge. Another one would be Anthony Bron, in Oxford. I have to say however that I was never left with a clear diagnosis or treatment plan.

However you should be prepared for having your symptoms questioned and the seriousness of your condition undermined. It seems to be a UK opthalmology tradition when it comes to dry eyes.

Since joining this board, some members have mentioned Dr Michael Guillon in London. I have yet to see him, but intend to make an appointment.

Good luck.. i think you may need it!

I completely agree with you rory, i experienced the exact same thing with UK ophthalmologists at the start of my severe dry eye. I exhausted the NHS hospital eye doctors who only gave me artificial tears, and saw 3 private doctors. Who werent very helpful.

One being.... at moorfields, and although he may be more knowledgeable about dry eye than most he certainly isnt any more sympathetic towards dry eye and also down plays the severity of your symptoms based on objective tests. And hes not that willing to get to help you find a solution, i.e i was given steroids and told not to come back. So if he is the best doctor for dry eye in the UK, god help us -is all i can say.

I wonder whether eye doctors would have the same attitude towards dry eye if they had moderate/severe dry eye them selves? i think not.

I am thinking of trying to find another eye doctor in the UK as my eyes are still bad, they improved with progesterone cream but not as much as i would like, hense they are really still bad. But i probably wont find one who will try and find the cause of the problem, so whats the point.

[sazy123]

I ve been in London this week just to see Dr. Guillon. I can confirm that he is very very competent about dry eye and also his visit is very specific and detailed. I ve just started the treatment he suggested me, i ll update you soon

p.s. for the first time i saw with my eyes from the pictures he took that i have blepharitis and MGD....

Hi can you give me some more info of your trip to see him, what treatment did he suggest for you?

Is he an actual doctor or a optometrist? i know optometrists cant prescribe anything.

[Francesco]

Hi can you give me some more info of your trip to see him, what treatment did he suggest for you?

Is he an actual doctor or a optometrist? i know optometrists cant prescribe anything.

Hi,
i'm from Italy. I wasn t satisfied with my last doctor so i decided to go to Dr. Guillon (heard about him from several people including Steve here on this Forum).

From what i know him and Dr. Christophe Baudouin from Paris are very good regarding Dry Eye.

Anyway Dr. Guillon was very friendly and my visit was about 2 hours long. (they checked my vision first, pressure ecc) and then with Dr. Guillon specifically for Dry Eye.

Before starting several tests we talked for about 15 minutes about how my eyes feel ecc he wrote everything.

During his tests:

* Red stain and blue stain photography to check for conjunctival damage and eyelid problems
* Slit-film interferometer to measure the eye
* observe the fat content in the tears and on eyelids.
* Various optometry tests
* Blink test and evaporation rate test
* Peripheral vision test

he took pictures of my eyes that i saw.

He basically showed me that i have MGD (some glands clogged and inflammed), Blepharitis, and some conjunctival Goblet Cells dead ...(that's what is causing me sandy-gritty eyes). So i have Evaporative Dry Eye.

The treatment he suggested was (for now. he said that it is important to heal the Ocular surface first):

TheraTears morning and TheraTears Gel at night to hydrated them again.
Systane 4 times every
Lid scrubs + massage the eyelids with finger or qtip
Protective eye glasses (-0.25) with brown tint for computer (basically moisture chamber glasses).

And other little things.......anyway i ll go back there in January. I onestly feel my eyes less gritty..so maybe the goblet cells are healing. Hope that i can clean MGD and Anterior Blepharitis too.

Don't know what he ll do next....but i'm positive. Maybe he will give me a steriod since the inflammation in my eyes is there since too much time. (don't know if he can prescribe drugs).

Hope this helps ...anyway he knew about Tranquileyes, Restasis...Everything. I know Steve has already seen a benefit.

Hope this helps (here is what he is PhD, FCOptom, FAAO, FBCLA, CPI) yes not an MD

Ciao

[Rory]

I completely agree with you rory, i experienced the exact same thing with UK ophthalmologists at the start of my severe dry eye. I exhausted the NHS hospital eye doctors who only gave me artificial tears, and saw 3 private doctors. Who werent very helpful.

One being Dr John dart at moorfields, and although he may be more knowledgeable about dry eye than most he certainly isnt any more sympathetic towards dry eye and also down plays the severity of your symptoms based on objective tests. And hes not that willing to get to help you find a solution, i.e i was given steroids and told not to come back. So if he is the best doctor for dry eye in the UK, god help us -is all i can say.

I wonder whether eye doctors would have the same attitude towards dry eye if they had moderate/severe dry eye them selves? i think not.

I am thinking of trying to find another eye doctor in the UK as my eyes are still bad, they improved with progesterone cream but not as much as i would like, hense they are really still bad. But i probably wont find one who will try and find the cause of the problem, so whats the point.

Sazy,

I couldnt agree with you more. We are extremely deprived in the UK of opthalmologists who are educated about dry eye....and what doubles the impact upon young vulnerable patients is the lack of Drs with the emotional intelligence to deal with such patients. Limited knowledge of dry eye should not lead to a cold and dismissive attitude. A Dr who admits that he doesnt know how to help, but offers sympathy and understanding is FAR superior to one who seeks to blur his impotence by suggesting that the patient is exaggerating his/her symptoms.

I got this condition in 1993 and if I had seen a decent Dr then, I am sure I would have dealt with everything much more effectively than I did. It seems to be an older generation thing amongst the UK medical profession (maybe they were taught to be like this at medical school?). For some bizarre reason, these consultants act as if they are someone important. To me they are simply Drs, whose job it is to help people. If a patient leaves their office feeling worse than when they arrived, then they have failed miserably in their job.



I had a similar appointment to Francesco .. with Dr Guillon last week. Its early days, but it was very refreshing to deal with a human being instead of a british opthalmologist. He is sympathetic, understanding of the condition and very thorough. I will also see him for further tests in January.

[sazy123]

Sazy,

I couldnt agree with you more. We are extremely deprived in the UK of opthalmologists who are educated about dry eye....and what doubles the impact upon young vulnerable patients is the lack of Drs with the emotional intelligence to deal with such patients. Limited knowledge of dry eye should not lead to a cold and dismissive attitude. A Dr who admits that he doesnt know how to help, but offers sympathy and understanding is FAR superior to one who seeks to blur his impotence by suggesting that the patient is exaggerating his/her symptoms.

I got this condition in 1993 and if I had seen a decent Dr then, I am sure I would have dealt with everything much more effectively than I did. It seems to be an older generation thing amongst the UK medical profession (maybe they were taught to be like this at medical school?). For some bizarre reason, these consultants act as if they are someone important. To me they are simply Drs, whose job it is to help people. If a patient leaves their office feeling worse than when they arrived, then they have failed miserably in their job.



I had a similar appointment to Francesco .. with Dr Guillon last week. Its early days, but it was very refreshing to deal with a human being instead of a british opthalmologist. He is sympathetic, understanding of the condition and very thorough. I will also see him for further tests in January.

Completely agree rory. That is exactly how they act like they are someone really important and you are just the naive patient who doesn't know anything about your own condition, cant find out anything for your self and need to rely on them telling you the facts, since most medical knowledge is not 'common knowledge' they assume we wouldn't know anything. They need to wake up and realize its the 21th century and the internet exists and one can research anything they like.

I went to see a dermatologist on the NHS recently, that was another waste of time, i was there to seek underlying cause of my eyes as my skin isnt that bad. She tried to tell me that rocasea doesnt make the eyelids red only the eyes, i told her that was wrong and it effected both, she was really rude anyway, but at least i didn't let her try to fob me off with crap and act like she thought i was 'a dumb patient'. Eventually she gave me some cream.

[eyesdry]

However you should be prepared for having your symptoms questioned and the seriousness of your condition undermined. It seems to be a UK opthalmology tradition when it comes to dry eyes.

I totally agree with this, I have been seeing an eye specialist in the UK for 6 years, and it was only 2 years ago that they 'decided' I had dry eyes. You may not believe this, but once when I visited a eye specialist doctor in Oxford he led me to the mirror in the toilets and asked ' look at your eyes, I cant see the problem myself' I couldnt believe it, as the problem with dry eyes is that they may not always look bad to others, therefore the condition is undermined.

I have been drepressed about my condition since it started in 2001, I dont know how I can carry on living with this diesease, which no-one seems to understand, i,e, family, partner, friends. It affects my who life from the moment I wake up to the moment I sleep, and when I can finally get off to sleep thats the best time for me as thats when I can forget I have dry eyes and the pain that associates with it. Relationships have been ruined, my social circle is non-existant, and I have become a different person, isolated and depressed, How anyone has the nerve to undermine this disease is beyond me.

[sazy123]

I totally agree with this, I have been seeing an eye specialist in the UK for 6 years, and it was only 2 years ago that they 'decided' I had dry eyes. You may not believe this, but once when I visited a eye specialist doctor in Oxford he led me to the mirror in the toilets and asked ' look at your eyes, I cant see the problem myself' I couldnt believe it, as the problem with dry eyes is that they may not always look bad to others, therefore the condition is undermined.

I have been drepressed about my condition since it started in 2001, I dont know how I can carry on living with this diesease, which no-one seems to understand, i,e, family, partner, friends. It affects my who life from the moment I wake up to the moment I sleep, and when I can finally get off to sleep thats the best time for me as thats when I can forget I have dry eyes and the pain that associates with it. Relationships have been ruined, my social circle is non-existant, and I have become a different person, isolated and depressed, How anyone has the nerve to undermine this disease is beyond me.

I completely know where your coming from, im the same, im a different person since i got this dry eye, im isolated, rarely go out, cant work much, don't enjoy doing anything any more. Even though my eyes have improved somewhat, they are still not good enough to function normally. Ironically the whole of last year i had mild face pain and anxiety (which i now think is fibro symptoms), which always makes my eyes feel normal, even though i was still unable to do things because of that i felt so much better, was able to work loads, go out, i enjoyed a trip to new york, i got part of myself back. However the face pain went away and now im back to this again

But hang in there and keep trying different solutions, hopefully you will get there eventually, what have you tried so far?

[eyesdry]

Hi Sazy123, Im sorry to hear you too think and feel like that. I hope that you find something that will help to relieve your discomfort.

I have just ordered some tranquil eye goggles and am really looking forward to trying them out because the reviews that I have heard about them seem really good

I will post when I get the results!
Laura