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Saw another useless eye doc the other day. Their brilliant advice to me was that "lid hygiene needs to be done 4x per day" - and strongly implied my problem would be under control if not for my own laziness!
I've noticed a few eye docs/websites stating lid hygiene should be many times per day. I do lid hygiene twice a day and think lid hygiene is useful for most of us, but I think the idea that constantly scrubbing/washing the eyes is any more useful than basic sensible hygiene is absolute rubbish. I think constantly washing the eyes may in fact make some people worse.
It makes me wonder how much of the information and treatments for dry eye are actually based on solid evidence and how many are unproven at best and absolute rubbish at worst. It's not just some of the "treatments" such as excessive lid hygiene like above, but the misinformation/myths actively spread about dry eye by eye docs and on the internet. For example two seconds after one doc told me I had scarring of my cornea from a previous ulcer, the doc spouted the standard garbage about how this couldn't harm my vision, I just needed to use lid hygiene and drops and my "flare up" would dissapear, and bleph/dry eye doesn't require any follow up or ongoing care from a doctor. These kind of "facts" are all over the internet.
Regarding dry eye treatments, for example is there any actual proper studies done showing that the use of warm compresses X times a day improves the clinical signs of dry eye? I've no doubt that warm compresses can provide temporary symptom relief for many, but do they actually reduce inflammation, punctate keratitis and other signs observable to the eye doc?
Has doxy ever been properly tested vs placebo for treatment of dry eye conditions?
Does frequent use of artificial tears (some docs say every hour) vs less frequent use actually reduce the clinical signs or just provide symptom relief?
Has anyone ever come across any studies that prove any of the stuff we do actually reduces the clinical severity of dry eye?
I've noticed a few eye docs/websites stating lid hygiene should be many times per day. I do lid hygiene twice a day and think lid hygiene is useful for most of us, but I think the idea that constantly scrubbing/washing the eyes is any more useful than basic sensible hygiene is absolute rubbish. I think constantly washing the eyes may in fact make some people worse.
It makes me wonder how much of the information and treatments for dry eye are actually based on solid evidence and how many are unproven at best and absolute rubbish at worst. It's not just some of the "treatments" such as excessive lid hygiene like above, but the misinformation/myths actively spread about dry eye by eye docs and on the internet. For example two seconds after one doc told me I had scarring of my cornea from a previous ulcer, the doc spouted the standard garbage about how this couldn't harm my vision, I just needed to use lid hygiene and drops and my "flare up" would dissapear, and bleph/dry eye doesn't require any follow up or ongoing care from a doctor. These kind of "facts" are all over the internet.
Regarding dry eye treatments, for example is there any actual proper studies done showing that the use of warm compresses X times a day improves the clinical signs of dry eye? I've no doubt that warm compresses can provide temporary symptom relief for many, but do they actually reduce inflammation, punctate keratitis and other signs observable to the eye doc?
Has doxy ever been properly tested vs placebo for treatment of dry eye conditions?
Does frequent use of artificial tears (some docs say every hour) vs less frequent use actually reduce the clinical signs or just provide symptom relief?
Has anyone ever come across any studies that prove any of the stuff we do actually reduces the clinical severity of dry eye?
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