Tweet
I worry so much about all the new folks here who are just starting out with dry eyes. I have been at this for about 16 years now and I remember all too well going to very highly regarded opthamologist and him not doing one thing to help my problem. This particular doc just told me to keep using the ointment.
When I finally found a doctor that cared and was willing to put the TIME in to help figure out what exactly was wrong I finally got some comfort.
It worries me that the docs you are seeing just can't be bothered with DES. It's such a tedious thing to try different options and it is such a COMPLICATED condition that I'm not sure doctors are really up to speed on HOW to diagnosis it. These doctors have to evaluate the function of all three layers of tears. Turns out that my problem is with both the watery layer and the oily layer. The mucin layer actually overworks itself trying to compensate for the other two layers not working properly.
Thanks to this first highly regarded doctor who told me to keep using the ointment, my meibomian glands were almost scarred shut when I first saw the doctor who finally helped me. It was the worst thing I could have been doing! Because those glands were all plugged up from the ointment and from my general dry eye condition, I had a zero oily layer of tears and all the tears I was making were immediately evaporating. It wasn't until I got rid of the ointment and started doing lid scrubs that those glands began to secrete oil enough to protect my tears from evaporating. That process took a lot of time! It took a few years before the secretion from the glands worked properly and were thin enough. My doctor used to expel the oil out of the glands at my visits and she said they looked like little FORMED mushroom caps of oil. After about a year or two, my secretions were much thinner and working really well. What would have happened if I had stayed with that "highly regarded" doctor who didn't give a damn about DES?
AND that was just one of the problems I had. I went thru many trial and error plugs and never got any relief until I got all 4 ducts plugged. Since that time almost 12 years ago my eyes are comfortable. Sometimes I do have overflow but that is rare. I do feel a good amount of tears in my eyes most of the time and I'm comfortable. I don't even need any artificial tears. I've been doing lid scrubs several times for the last 16 years to get the mucin layer build up off the lashes...this allows the all important oily meibomian glands to work properly, coating the few precious tears that I DO make and preventing them from evaporating.
This is very complicated stuff that requires a doctor who will TAKE THE TIME to sort it all out with you. I worry so much about people who are struggling so much with a quack doctor like the first one I went to that didn't even examined the meibomian glands!
I really hope you all seek the very best doctors who will take the time with you to get to the bottom of the dry eye problems. I was lucky and was able to get away from the one doctor before he ruined my eyes for good. My current doctor said it could have been a disaster because those glands were in such poor condition, they were just about SCARRED SHUT when I had my first visit with her.
Just food for thought. Have your doctors make sure your meibomian glands are working! If you are not getting better, TRY a different doctor!!!!
When I finally found a doctor that cared and was willing to put the TIME in to help figure out what exactly was wrong I finally got some comfort.
It worries me that the docs you are seeing just can't be bothered with DES. It's such a tedious thing to try different options and it is such a COMPLICATED condition that I'm not sure doctors are really up to speed on HOW to diagnosis it. These doctors have to evaluate the function of all three layers of tears. Turns out that my problem is with both the watery layer and the oily layer. The mucin layer actually overworks itself trying to compensate for the other two layers not working properly.
Thanks to this first highly regarded doctor who told me to keep using the ointment, my meibomian glands were almost scarred shut when I first saw the doctor who finally helped me. It was the worst thing I could have been doing! Because those glands were all plugged up from the ointment and from my general dry eye condition, I had a zero oily layer of tears and all the tears I was making were immediately evaporating. It wasn't until I got rid of the ointment and started doing lid scrubs that those glands began to secrete oil enough to protect my tears from evaporating. That process took a lot of time! It took a few years before the secretion from the glands worked properly and were thin enough. My doctor used to expel the oil out of the glands at my visits and she said they looked like little FORMED mushroom caps of oil. After about a year or two, my secretions were much thinner and working really well. What would have happened if I had stayed with that "highly regarded" doctor who didn't give a damn about DES?
AND that was just one of the problems I had. I went thru many trial and error plugs and never got any relief until I got all 4 ducts plugged. Since that time almost 12 years ago my eyes are comfortable. Sometimes I do have overflow but that is rare. I do feel a good amount of tears in my eyes most of the time and I'm comfortable. I don't even need any artificial tears. I've been doing lid scrubs several times for the last 16 years to get the mucin layer build up off the lashes...this allows the all important oily meibomian glands to work properly, coating the few precious tears that I DO make and preventing them from evaporating.
This is very complicated stuff that requires a doctor who will TAKE THE TIME to sort it all out with you. I worry so much about people who are struggling so much with a quack doctor like the first one I went to that didn't even examined the meibomian glands!
I really hope you all seek the very best doctors who will take the time with you to get to the bottom of the dry eye problems. I was lucky and was able to get away from the one doctor before he ruined my eyes for good. My current doctor said it could have been a disaster because those glands were in such poor condition, they were just about SCARRED SHUT when I had my first visit with her.
Just food for thought. Have your doctors make sure your meibomian glands are working! If you are not getting better, TRY a different doctor!!!!
!!so i will use traditional method...hope it will counter ointment effect...
Comment