1st post, rebound redness, permenent? help!!

[joe.s]

Hi all, this is my first post on here although i have been reading posts on here for a few months now. This site has provided me with comfort and has made me feel a lot better about my situation.

Abit about myself, i am a 21 year old male from the uk. Heres my situation, it all started, like many on here, with the overuse of eye whitening drops. Murine was the brand i used but there are many different ones. I used them for about 4 years, but more regularly in the last 2. Some days i used them quite a lot, like when i was on a night out. What was i thinking! Its obvious to me know that this isnt good for you but i guess i was obsessed with looking good. It all started wwhen i got into smoking weed in school, which i am equally not proud of. But guess when i stopped it was too late, id already become addicted to the effects of these drops.

Anyway, all Thats in the past. I have been cold turkey for 3.months now. But my eyes still havnt recovered. They are better though but seem to have stagnated atm. When i wake up my eyes are quite red but this usually calms down after about an hour. Its the fact that towards the end of the day, after about 4pm, they start to deteriorate quite rapidly and by 5-6 they are really red. They do not feel that uncomfotable and they do not hurt, they just look terrible, and obviously this affects my social life, in fact my whole life. Especially since im at university! I spend so much time obsessing over this. Im pretty sure I have dry eye, my doctor seems to thimk so.

I take flaxseed oil, omega 3 and evening pimrose oil. Any others that ii should try.

Also i have tried a range of artificial tears, with minimal results so dont really put anything in my eyes anymore. I was wondering about thera tears and fortifeye.

Can anyone give me any guidence or help, it would be much appreciated.

[Faith1989]

Hi Joe
I know exactly what you are going through. I overused an eye whitening product for about the same amount of time you did. Due to the fact we used them regularly for years, its gunna probly take a long time to recover. Our eyes no longer know how to work properly without them. I dont remember why I started using them but I am a perfectionist so my eye probly got a little red one day and I freaked out used my dads visine and that was that...four years later I was still using them. I stopped a year and a half ago and am very SLOWLY recovering. My eyes get red at nighttime too but I watch t.v. more than I should due to dry eye. Keep taking the vitamins, those can also take some time to work. I am getting plugs and serum tears in two weeks, and am currently using a mild steriod a few times a week. The thing I found with steriods is..a doctor will probably eventually give you one and after a month the redness will be gone and you will be really happy. Then he will tell u to stop using it and all the problems usually come back and with "rebound redness" I am trying to give them up completely but dont have my plugs or serum yet, so once I get both i'll stop using steriods for bad periods only. Do you use warm compresses at all? Or any prescription drops?

[joe.s]

my university work involves a lot of computer work which isnt helpful. i was thinking about plugs, please let me know how they go once you get them. i have read some prett mxed sories regarding steroid drops and, because of my current situation, i am reluctant to put anything in my eyes other than preservative free artificial tears. Have i read this right, you got rebound redness fom using steroid drops ? Have you completely stopped the whitening drops ? what are serum tears ? i did do warm compresses but felt they gave me minimal relief. I currently just use HYLO- Tears, they contain 0.1% Sodium Hyaluronate. Do you use artificial tears? and also, do you still go out at night, knowing that your eyes are going to be really red? Thanks for the reply by the way

[Faith1989]

Ihave been at this for over a year now so I have tried MANY things. The only thing that really helped me so far are: warm compresses (lid massages), LidCare Cleanser, steriod drops (Alrex or Lotemax, I have both), taking prescription Omega-3s, flaxseed oil, seabuckthorn oil (just started taking), viatmin C, annd doxycycline. I will be getting silicone plugs in all four ducts (I am hoping). Serum tears are made from your own blood, my understanding is that they provide healing to a "disrupted" ocular surface. As for your questions, yes steriods do take redness away but when you stop them there is a possibility of a slight rebound (its not nearly as bad as with eye whitening drops) I still use Alrex a few times per week. As for going out..I am not working right now until I get my plugs/serum. I am fortunate that I have an amazing bf and parents who are supporting me until I get better. I do not go out as much as I'd like to no..I get self concious about my eyes being red (when I ask my friends they say they are not that red and I am crazy) but to me they usually look bad once I've had a few drinks! hahaOh and yes I have not use an eye whitening drop in a year and a half...but I used them for like 3-4 years so I am hoping they are still getting better. What did your doctor tell you to do?

[joe.s]

im still weary about the steroid drops, i think i will press on without them and see how it goes. Hopefully the worst is behind me and iv got this far without them. I also intend to start taking seabuckthorn oil. I read a post on here from a a man about my age who struggled with dry eyes for a year, then started with the seabuckthorn oil and a cetain type of omega 7 i think it was,and has made a pretty good recovery, so i ordered some straight away! I also ave a great loving and understanding family, which hels a lot. Sane, while i was using the drops i was out all weekend, very social and liked to party, which probably didnt help lol. But now i stay in most of the time as i fear what people would say and think. Which is annoying but i manage. He just prescribed me the artificial tears. I told him about the whitening drops and he seemed to dismiss it as the cause saying that the effect should of worn off by now and the damage isnt permanent, which is what a lot off online doctors seem to think. But i feel that they may well have caused permanent damage, which scares the hell out of me. I have horrible looking veins the te inside corners of my eyes and ust look plain ugly.

[littlemermaid]

Joe, I think with that good gentle approach your eyes are healing themselves esp if you're even more careful. Try to keep the air humid in your room while you're on the computer, eg put your wet towel on the radiator or use a humidifier. Maybe wear wraparound sunglasses more than normal. Keep the meibom in the oily glands good by not eating lardy stuff and by taking the helpful oils, as you say. All this so you keep the eye surface moist through the day and avoid the evening dry flareup.

It's amazing that someone isn't marketing wraparounds with antiglare specifically for computer use yet. I guess you could make your first million.

Check your room for allergens because you're waking with red eye that improves once you've been up and about for a bit, eg anti-allergy bedding, hoover round throughly, dust the shelves and top of and behind the wardrobe, clear all the junk and old stuff where any dust collects. Avoid the smokey atmospheres and late-nighters, which you are doing (eg my daughter's eyes really dry out in late evening - the very worst and painful flareups have been after parties and junk food).

Some people do well changing their shampoo and soaps for hypoallergenic and sodium lauryl sulphate free, but it depends if your eyes are sensitive like that.

She improved a lot with lower punctal plugs, kept a good tear film on the surface and enabled the healing (infected from acne but that's not your problem). She's doing well with Hylotears, same as you, but using Hyloforte in the IT lab for a/c and staring at screen because it sticks on longer. For a rinse if she feels she needs it, she uses normal saline 0.9% Minims vials easily available from the pharmacist but behind the counter (it's what they use as an eyewash in A&E). You're looking at maintaining a good tear film to enable the eye surface to heal itself and normalise. And avoid that end of day stressed dry flareup.

No one's noticing your eye veins - they're just worrying about their own hair or muffin-tops or whatever... keep being careful with your eyes though