Unbearable dry eyes

[WVM]

Hi WVM, thanks for sharing. Scleral lenses: any ideas about the brand/model etc? Thanks!

Hi, so sorry, forgot to ask this to the doc. I see him again on May 12 and will ask it then. The insurance / hospital / manufacturer arranged everything directly so I have no information at all about brand/model. I only know the size is 18.5 mm.

They still help while wearing. I do notice that my condition does NOT improve when not wearing the lenses. So my eyes / glands /.. are not recovering.

[MGD1701]

Hi WVM
Thanks. Any idea how many glands of yours are functional, your oil is thick/clear? and the root causes (imcompletely blinking?) of your MGD?
Just curious why doctor did not recommend you LipiFlow nor BlephEx?
so his/her regimen recommendations are only warm compress, massage, lid scrubs + drops/ointments etc ?

[WVM]

Hi WVM
Thanks. Any idea how many glands of yours are functional, your oil is thick/clear? and the root causes (imcompletely blinking?) of your MGD?
Just curious why doctor did not recommend you LipiFlow nor BlephEx?
so his/her regimen recommendations are only warm compress, massage, lid scrubs + drops/ointments etc ?

Hi! No idea on all your questions. I know the glands still work, but not always. No idea how many are working / how many aren't. I think my oil is thick and clear, at least that's how I experience it after hot compresses. Root causes: could be many things. Rosacea, my allergies, wearing contact lenses for so many years, atopic eczema,....... They checked for incomplete blinking and that was ruled out, though.

I don't think the LipiFlow or BlephEx procedures exist here in The Netherlands? I'll do a Google search.

Just thought I'd check in but the sclerals are still really helping a lot! My eyes are not healing so they only help when i'm wearing them. I'm now filling them with the eye drops 'Celluvis' (40%) + neutral solution (60%) instead of only neutral solution and that's definitely helping!

Another thing that I've noticed is that sleeping with the window open makes my eyes hurt less in the morning.

[MGD1701]

Thanks for sharing. Good to know you gain some relief. Lucky you to have Sclerals lens for free.
No doctors ever mentioned it to me. One replied such lens are for serious suffers - I am now mild.

LipiFlow
helped/opened ALL my remainding pores/glands.
My oil is still half dick - seems I need to massage a bit harder but I am worried any damages to glands??

[WVM]

Hi!

I thought another check-in was well overdue. Things have been fine for me. Scleral lenses have really made the disease manageable for me. I'm still in a lot of pain in mornings when I wake up, but that's the only difficult part of my day which is a huge improvement compared to 3 months ago. I also only use eye drops in the morning & gel in the evening. During the day I'm totally drop free. (although, I do take out the lenses every 4 - 6 hours and re-fill them with solution).

So far, so good. Hope everyone is doing well.

[Hokucat]

Hi WVM. Great to hear sclerals have continued to make dry eyes manageable for you!

Do your doctors have any plans to address the MGD, or is that on hold for now? I just remember when I first got my sclerals I was so comfortable wearing them for about half a year, then my MGD and dryness got really bad and I couldn't wear them for several years until I resolved the MGD. Just don't want that to happen with you.

Am so glad at least you have found relief with sclerals. Thanks for the update.

[chibo]

Hey WVM , You say you were treated in Deventer but is that at a regular hospital? I was treated for IPL and expression in Maarsen, which is not a regular hospital. I have been to two different eye doctors (Enschede & Almelo) but there was nothing they could do or try to do. In case this is different in Deventer I might try to get a checkup there.

[MGD1701]

Hi Hokucat
Now since your eyes are in great condition, does it mean your oil now is oliver-like?
My oil still half thick. 6 months ago was thick. How can I make it thinner? Just warm compress does not help with this, right?
Maybe Restasis/Cycloporine will help my oil become thinner? but no doctors ever mention it - but often they are no solution-driven.

The purpose of warm compress is to make oil flowing but I need to make my oil like oliver like.
Thanks for your input.

[Hokucat]

Hey MGD1701. Yes, my oil is like olive oil now, it's clear and not thick. However I do have some glands permanently loss/atrophied, I guess since I had MGD for so long, but at least I seem to have enough glands that still work so I can decently function. My sclerals help make up for some of those lost glands.

I'm glad with warm compresses and the rest of your regimen your oil is half as thick as it used to be. I think warm compresses do melt the oils, but feel the glands will keep producing thick oils, so something needs to change from the inside for it to produce clear, flowing oils. Do you know the likely underlying reason for your MGD? That might determine what treatments may work best. I used Restasis for at least a few years, and during that time my eyes got worse, but maybe that's just me. My doctor friends told me to get off it since it is a very potent drug and it was not helping me, so I did.

I honestly feel many health issues can benefit from addressing the problem from the inside out with food. Since the likely main cause of my MGD and blepharitis was autoimmune disease, I think after unblocking my glands with probing, my key turnaround was drinking lemon juice in green tea because the antioxidant, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties somehow killed off the bad bacteria in my system, and helped my immune system and body function like it was supposed to, including the oils in my glands. Parsley as part of my daily green/rainbow of vegetable juicing seems to help me too, likely because of many of the same properties. Also, for some reason a small cut of filet mignon or prime rib always makes my eyes feel more moist too, maybe because of the protein and/or fat helps the oils, but I limit red meat. Note all these foods that help me took a lot of trial and error experimenting with different foods, and what helps me may not help someone else.

But you could still try the lemon/tea, parsley/vegetable juicing, etc. to see if those might help your oils, but you may need to do IPL or probing first to unblock your glands.

[MGD1701]

Hi Hokucat, thanks a lot.

My root causes - so far low Vit. D and partial blinking have been identified.

I eat/live pretty healthy, no sweets (only 1 coffee with honey), processed food, no much red meat.
If I try new food, HOW LONG does it take to find out if they are good or not? 1 week?

Thanks again as usual.

[Hokucat]

MGD1701, each food I tried for at least two weeks, and would wait a couple days after stopping one food before starting another. And usually would test only one food at a time.

Good that your overall diet is already healthy!

BTW, since you have some glands that are gone/atrophied, have you seriously considered sclerals? They help make up for some of the remaining dryness I have from lost glands. If you are able to wear them well like WVM, you might be able to go back to work. I've seen you ask some questions about sclerals, but didn't know if you had decided to pursue it.

[MGD1701]

Hi Hokucat
Thanks. I asked dr last time about Sclerals lens who just said that is for serious suffers. Will ask other doctors. I only tried lens 2 times and seems that would be a problem for me.

Thanks again!

[Hokucat]

MGD1701, I would consider you a serious dry eye sufferer, given you cannot work. Is it that doctors will not approve you for sclerals so it's not covered by insurance?

Have you ever tried on a trial pair of sclerals to see if it helps (could not tell based on what you wrote above)? Sclerals are starting to become more mainstream now, not just for dry eye sufferers. Local optometrists are starting to fit sclerals, some for patients who do not have dry eye problems but for which regular contacts are getting uncomfortable, or growing concerns regular contacts which lay on the cornea will cause cornea problems in the future. A good friend of mine developed limbal stem cell deficiency doctors believe from long term regular contact lens wear...she can no longer see out of that eye and might need a cornea transplant.

[WVM]

Hi WVM. Great to hear sclerals have continued to make dry eyes manageable for you!

Do your doctors have any plans to address the MGD, or is that on hold for now? I just remember when I first got my sclerals I was so comfortable wearing them for about half a year, then my MGD and dryness got really bad and I couldn't wear them for several years until I resolved the MGD. Just don't want that to happen with you.

Am so glad at least you have found relief with sclerals. Thanks for the update.

Hi there, I'm not being treated for my MGD anymore. I'l ltry to get that up & running again asap. Thanks for the warning. I think the doctors are glad to be rid off me for a while. :-)

Hey WVM , You say you were treated in Deventer but is that at a regular hospital? I was treated for IPL and expression in Maarsen, which is not a regular hospital. I have been to two different eye doctors (Enschede & Almelo) but there was nothing they could do or try to do. In case this is different in Deventer I might try to get a checkup there.

Yes, it's a regular hospital. It was the contact lense specialist who works there that helped me with my sclerals. Try to get a check-up and ask for sclerals!