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Hi everyone, I'm a new member and have really appreciated hearing everyone's stories on this forum. It's been very comforting to know that I'm not going through this alone.
My story feels super complicated and at this point I do have a follow-up appointment next week with an OD but I'm not confident about how it'll go.
I'm 28 and have been wearing soft contacts since I was 12, monthly lenses for as long as I remember. I used clearcare solution, never wore them for longer than a month, did get dry eyes sometimes mainly if I was wearing contacts literally all day long (like 15-16 hours) but other than that my eyes never bothered me much on a regular basis. I have a very high prescription (-9) and already learned I'm not a Lasik candidate.
In February I had severe eye pain and watering and got diagnosed with a corneal ulcer in my right eye. I'm still unsure as to how I could have gotten the ulcer because my lens hygiene seemed pretty good especially compared to most of my friends who wear their contacts for double the time they're supposed to. The recovery process was pretty straightforward, I used Vigamox drops as instructed and pain went away quickly and it scarred appropriately. However, a few weeks later when I tried wearing my monthly contacts again, my LEFT eye (the eye without the ulcer) would start feeling uncomfortable a few hours in, and I'd have to take them out, and my eyes would continue to feel strange (not so much dry, but as if there's a pressure/pain sensation, and I'd get a foreign body sensation). I did get paranoid I might have gotten an ulcer in that eye but I went back to the MD and my OD and they both said my eyes were fine, no inflammation/infection. I tried daily lenses but they didn't help either, and my OD said I might not be able to wear soft lenses again and may need orthoK lenses.
I went to another OD for a second opinion, who's affiliated with a school of optometry, and she diagnosed me with GPCs, the left eye more prominent than the right, and did say I have MGD. At this point I was already taking TheraTears fish oils, using artificial tears several times a day, and using the MediBeds eye mask daily. She prescribed me Alrex drops four times daily for 2 weeks, then twice daily for 1 week, and said to come back after and we can try daily lenses again.
The first two weeks of Alrex were uneventful, I did feel some stinging sometimes but it seemed like an expected side effect. Towards the end of the two week period my left eye started acting up more and I felt that pressure/pain sensation pretty often. When I started my third week of twice daily drops it became unbearable and I wasn't sure if it was due to the steroids (or BAK?) or something else. Last week I was in Europe for vacation and the OD couldn't be reached easily (I technically saw a student intern who had the OD as an attending) so I just stopped using the drops about 4 days early. It didn't seem to help and I still felt the eye pain/pressure in my left eye, sometimes in my right but not as much.
At this point I don't know what's going on, but everything seemed to happen after my right eye ulcer. I've been in glasses for almost three months now when I never used to wear glasses much. I'm already doing what I thought I should be doing for dry eyes (fish oils, preservative-free tears, warm compresses) and it doesn't seem to help. I did the steroid drops and it didn't seem to help either. I haven't even tried on any contacts in over a month and I still feel this way. Has anyone been through something similar and can offer advice/insight?
Thank you!
My story feels super complicated and at this point I do have a follow-up appointment next week with an OD but I'm not confident about how it'll go.
I'm 28 and have been wearing soft contacts since I was 12, monthly lenses for as long as I remember. I used clearcare solution, never wore them for longer than a month, did get dry eyes sometimes mainly if I was wearing contacts literally all day long (like 15-16 hours) but other than that my eyes never bothered me much on a regular basis. I have a very high prescription (-9) and already learned I'm not a Lasik candidate.
In February I had severe eye pain and watering and got diagnosed with a corneal ulcer in my right eye. I'm still unsure as to how I could have gotten the ulcer because my lens hygiene seemed pretty good especially compared to most of my friends who wear their contacts for double the time they're supposed to. The recovery process was pretty straightforward, I used Vigamox drops as instructed and pain went away quickly and it scarred appropriately. However, a few weeks later when I tried wearing my monthly contacts again, my LEFT eye (the eye without the ulcer) would start feeling uncomfortable a few hours in, and I'd have to take them out, and my eyes would continue to feel strange (not so much dry, but as if there's a pressure/pain sensation, and I'd get a foreign body sensation). I did get paranoid I might have gotten an ulcer in that eye but I went back to the MD and my OD and they both said my eyes were fine, no inflammation/infection. I tried daily lenses but they didn't help either, and my OD said I might not be able to wear soft lenses again and may need orthoK lenses.
I went to another OD for a second opinion, who's affiliated with a school of optometry, and she diagnosed me with GPCs, the left eye more prominent than the right, and did say I have MGD. At this point I was already taking TheraTears fish oils, using artificial tears several times a day, and using the MediBeds eye mask daily. She prescribed me Alrex drops four times daily for 2 weeks, then twice daily for 1 week, and said to come back after and we can try daily lenses again.
The first two weeks of Alrex were uneventful, I did feel some stinging sometimes but it seemed like an expected side effect. Towards the end of the two week period my left eye started acting up more and I felt that pressure/pain sensation pretty often. When I started my third week of twice daily drops it became unbearable and I wasn't sure if it was due to the steroids (or BAK?) or something else. Last week I was in Europe for vacation and the OD couldn't be reached easily (I technically saw a student intern who had the OD as an attending) so I just stopped using the drops about 4 days early. It didn't seem to help and I still felt the eye pain/pressure in my left eye, sometimes in my right but not as much.
At this point I don't know what's going on, but everything seemed to happen after my right eye ulcer. I've been in glasses for almost three months now when I never used to wear glasses much. I'm already doing what I thought I should be doing for dry eyes (fish oils, preservative-free tears, warm compresses) and it doesn't seem to help. I did the steroid drops and it didn't seem to help either. I haven't even tried on any contacts in over a month and I still feel this way. Has anyone been through something similar and can offer advice/insight?
Thank you!
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