Hyperosmolarity...do I understand correctly?

[No tears in ATL]

Ok, so I think indrep and others have posted a couple of things on hyperosmolarity, which, as I understand, is super salty tears usually due to aqueous deficiency. So could this be described as feeling as though you took a dip in the ocean with your eyes open? That's how I feel about 1/2 through the work day.

Hyperosmolarity is treated as follows:

Punctal plugs. This increases the volume of tears held, therefore reducing hyperosmolarity.
Hypotonic tear solutions ONLY, such as Theratears.
Autologous serum with a concentration of 50% serum or greater?
Maintaining a microenvironment with moisture chambers.
Adequate hydration, limit caffeine, alcohol, etc.

Anything else?? Would a low sodium diet do anything?

BTW, I've been told I have decent tear quality (TBUT 14-15 seconds), but not enough OF the actual tears, so I assume I would pursue the above treatments. NOTE: Tried Resastis a month and the stuff was intolerable and did not work.

Thanks!

[surya]

You are on right path. Another thing to add to your arsenal is an eye drop with HA molecule. Oasis tears is one I know of in USA which I am using right now. Thera tears is a good hypotonic tear solution, but doesn't stay long enough in your eyes. I am using both Oasis and Thera Tears right now.

[vivian3090]

how can you find out if your tears are salty?? My cornea specialist hasn't mentioned this, only that my tear film is out of whack, but I feel this hyperosmolarity may be what's going on too.

[surya]

i think there are some tests to test the osmolarity of the tears. But in my opinion, veins become dilated and red due to hyperosmolarity. One easy test to see if that is what going on for you.........buy theratears preservative free and go through saturated dosing of one full vial (couple of drops every 30-40 seconds in each eye and try to finish the whole vial in 5 mins). If your eyes are normally veiny due to DE, after saturated dosing your eyes would look less red and the veins contracted and less prominent. Over time the veins would dilate again due to hyperosmolarity.

I suggest you read DEWS report published in 2007. It has lot of information regarding DES and hyperosmolarity. I think everyone in this forum should read it. (Thanks to Indrep for posting this on this forum)

[vivian3090]

TheraTears are the ONLY drops I use b/c they are the only ones that work. and I have tried that saturating, and they do look less red/veiny. but you are right once the theratears wear off, they go back to being red and veiny again.

DO you have the link to the report?? I am curios to see what it has to say.

I'm guessing if i do have thos hyperosmolarity, then there is really NO cure and I will be dealing with this for the rest of my life pretty much :/

[surya]

http://www.tearfilm.org/dewsreport/p...DEWS-noAds.pdf

hyperosmolarity is a result of dysfunction tear system which aggravates the original problem. you need to reverse the osmolarity by drops/plugs or any other methods and give eyes enough time to heal and hope it heals.

[vivian3090]

http://www.tearfilm.org/dewsreport/p...DEWS-noAds.pdf

hyperosmolarity is a result of dysfunction tear system which aggravates the original problem. you need to reverse the osmolarity by drops/plugs or any other methods and give eyes enough time to heal and hope it heals.

thanks for posting link!
And I have lower plugs, and right now I just started 20% serum drops. (Sunday was first day).
All that and Theratears

[bakunin]

for what i know, everybody with dry eyes have hyperosmolarity. but i can be wrong..

[spmcc]

If you're talking about TearLab's Osmolarity test to assess dry eye, the "accredited" doctors are prescribing Blink Tears to decrease osmolarity.

See this pubmed abstract from Apr 2010: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20153684

[No tears in ATL]

Thanks everyone for the studies and other info! Maybe yet I will get thing this figured out. I knew something was weird when others could use drops that I found completely intolerable. They were no doubt of the hyPERtonic sort, versus hyPOtonic.

These red veins/capillaries are getting old. I know they are (at this point) pretty permanent, but if they could fade enough not to stand out so much, I'd be satisfied. I haven't had white eyes since 2008.

[Blinks]

Surya,

Thank you for your post on Thera tears used with Oasis. I'm very interested in trying this combination and wasn't able to find Oasis on Amazon. Do you know of a source to purchase in the US? Also I'm interested in the percentage of HA in Oasis and wonder if it higher than the 0.1% in Aquify or the 0.15% in Blink Tears? Is it preservative free? I've learned so much from this forum and am so very grateful for your advice.

Thank you,

Blinks

[surya]

Sorry Blinks. I hope you already found it. If not you can buy it from oasistears.com.

oasis tears has .1%
oasis tears plus has .3%

both are available on their website.

[Blinks]

Thanks Surya! Yes, I've been using Oasis Tears Plus since August and it has been more effective in relieving my painful dry eyes than any other product. Like you, I use Theratears drops as well.

Oasis Medical service and delivery is great. They are pricey but I'm using the drops less frequently now that my eyes are improved.

Thanks for your post!

[abbygirl]

How does FreshKote compare to the Oasis Tears Plus drops?