advice needed..serum drops or testosterone for Blepharitis

[zoe]

Have any of you guys found that warm compresses make your blepharitis worse? My eye doc insists that I must do warm compresses 2 times a day and try to express the oil out. I am on 40 mgs of Oracea also. I find that when I do the arm compresses, the skin on my eyes starts to feel so dry and it burns. I have tried lipiflow(waste of money) gone gluten free and vegan- no luck and just tried the cyclosporine in an ointment which made my eye swollen and one got a stye. I am not able to use petroleum jelly on my lids or they will swell and I get a stye. Any one else have issue with ointments? I have one lower plug and have tried most drops out there. I am running out of ideas and this is very frustrating. I used to also love to wear eye makeup and sometimes can were Blink mascara. My eyes became much worse last year at 46 when I started having hot flashes. Hormone testing showed no testosterone and low progesterone. I am on biodentical hormones now, and I see not difference. My eyes have flared up again and I have been having hot flashes. I wonder if the hormone issue is making this worse. my next step is to ask for testosterone cream for the eye lids or serum drops. Has anyone tried these? Thanks so much!

Zoe

[LaDiva]

Hi zoe,
I've not tried the testosterone cream, but would like to. There are hormone receptors in our eyes, but I am hardly knowledgable about this. I did a saliva test about six months ago, and the results said high estrogen, no progesterone, and low, but adequate testosterone. The doctor upped the progesterone and cut the estrogen dose, but that didn't help much, so I am moving toward T cream as well. I am quite a bit older than you and have been on hormone replacement for a long time.

Try using a rice baggy and Q-Tips for expression. My eyelids were really a mess when I was trying to express with massage. Also, hot wet washcloths were drying out the skin on my eyelids and making matters worse. To remove eye makeup, I use some liquid vitamins (EFA; oils). I also put this around my eyes after scrubs. It keeps the skin from becoming irritated and drying out. Good luck. Hope you find the magic cure!