Not sure how to cope

[epicjinx]

Help. I have came back on here because of no relief, I'm doing a warm compress allergy eye drops and scope fish oil. My tbut last time was 6-7. I am getting tired of no relief, it's depressing me and I might make an appointment with my optremist soon. I'm going to start university in September but Im currently feeling hopeless, been suffering two years and my mgd is mild yet I still can't budge it. How do you cope daily with this? I feel like giving up. My eyes are red, I hate myself for using computers too much. I do not know what else to say... I can't afford ipl lipiflow or that I've tried multiple fish oil brands: theralife theratears biotears flaxseed oil Tesco holland and Barrett. As for eye drops? Countless eye drops hycosan vitamin a & e patanol optrex and more. I've tried caster oil in my eyes. I have no idea what more to do. I don't think I can live this way for the rest of my life... I just wanted to get a job and be successful. Not this. I'm jobless; at college currently until a few weeks I stop. I thought if I kept up with my stuff I would no longer deal with dryness... as far as my oil glands go? My bottom ones are milky. And top ones look okay to me. I'm paying 80 for scope fish oil, alot of money. I think next time I'll buy on amazon. I'm sorry for this very depressing post.... I have no idea how to cope with this for years. I'm 20 and no relief...

[MGD1701]

Hi

Good to know your MGD is mild. Firstly, wise to identify root causes, problems and do things step by step.

What important is to make sure you perform warm compress (wc), massage + lid scrubs correctly/effective - not easy!
But now I finally know the tricks - took several months of reasearch/experiments. What help me so far:

1) omeg 3: flaxseed oil with milk/salad and (bio) canola oil for cooking,
or simply takes walnuts etc - these are safe and economical.

2) wc: do you feel oil secretion during wc? If not, adjust time and temperature should help but
keys are constant heat of 40-45C but over 40C is bad for cornea.
Facial steamer helped my thick oil running.

After lipiFlow I did Blephasteam/42.5C for 10 min (as doctors instructed but hardly felt oil).
Now I can always feel oil with Blephasteam.
Maybe you can try Blephasteam (many researches show it is safe/effective and doctors also recommend it).
Now I do 15 min. as it is the best, I have read. If your oil is thick, maybe you also need 15 min.
I close eyes which makes difference too.

My orders are: warm compress, massage, lid scrubs, twice/day, wake-up and before bed

**I apply pure tea tree oil mixed with 100% extra virgin coconut oil (1:4) around eyes
(keep at least 1cm distance from eyes) before bed.

*let warm water run across closed eyes for 1 minute (for removing debris etc) then
wash eyes, (oily) face, nose with tree tree oil (tto) shampoo (soap-free) - tto is only for the morning.

*+ swimming goggle + oil-based drops help me overcome mid-night/morning pain & dont need ointments anymore

Others
Allergy eye drops seems bad for dry eyes, what I read? please consult dr.
MGD needs oil-based drops such as Systance Balance, Retaine MGD which are highly recommended by dr.

Do blinking exercises.

Ask doctors what others options available (probing, BlephEX, manual expression, probing etc) apart from LipiFlow.
Some doctors believe BelphEx or probing prior to LipiFlow is more effective.

Keep exploring NEW experinments to find out what can help you.

Dont give up. Others can manage it, you can too! Hope above help you gain some relief!

[Hokucat]

Hi epicjinx. To help manage your symptoms to get some comfort and daily functioning back, have you looked to scleral lenses? These are being used increasingly to treat dry eyes. I wear mines 12+ hours a day, and could not do all that I do without them. Here's a good description of sclerals in general from the Boston PROSE scleral website:

http://www.bostonsight.org/PROSE/PRO...y-Eye-Syndrome

You should still try to find the solution to your MGD, but sclerals, if you can tolerate them, can help cope with the dryness.

And great advise from MGD1701, like usual :-)

[epicjinx]

Warm compress i can't tell I do push my bottom oil glands upwards to get more oil, I did try oil based eye drops but found it didn't help much. I've seen about blephasteam but I'm not sure I can afford it either... I do try and blink alot more than usual. I do have a facial steamer but it's up in the attic somewhere... And unfortunately hokucat I live in the UK so I doubt that will be an option for me... I've kept up with allergy eye drops warm compress and swapped fish oil but still not sure what else to do. Thank you for the suggestions but I don't think I can get blephasteam either. Sorry for shooting them down... I'm going to phone my optremist today for an appointment and hopefully will get one for next week. If I can see what my bottom oil is like now then work on it, in may last year he shower me oil coming out but told me I have grade 2 mgd then told me last November everything is better than before.

[Hokucat]

Epicjinx, looks like Moorfields Eye Hospital has clinics that specialize in fitting people with scleral lenses for medical reasons. It's likely not the PROSE brand, but still scleral lenses. In my opinion, the most important thing for success in fitting sclerals is extensive experience and expertise of the specialist in this area.

http://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/service/contact-lens

http://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/sites/d...ral-lenses.pdf

[epicjinx]

Hmm thank you, I shall have to ask my optremist what else I can do. As I've been doing the same thing for several months and no improvement and the new fish oil I'm on takes 3 months to work apparently. I just wish there was more successful ways of dealing with this.

[PhoenixEyes]

Sclerals are also available via an Oxford NHS hospital:

http://www.ouh.nhs.uk/eye-hospital/d...ct-lenses.aspx

[MGD1701]

Hi PhoenixEyes
Do you know this product, Navi®blef‘ (eyelids form)?
formulated for the mechanical removal of the ocular secretions of the eyelids and eyelashes, caused by inflammatory conditions such as blepharitis
and blepharo-conjunctivitis. It can be used as to post ocular surgery. It contains: Melaleuca alternifolia (tee tree oil)
Seems only available in Europe.

[epicjinx]

I'm going to ask on Wednesday what else I can do. I'm tired of no relief, I'm not that far away but feels like it. I'll ask about my milky oil glands and update on here.

[Hokucat]

When you ask your doctor what else you can do, if he/she does not mention sclerals, you should bring it up, as well as any other treatments you've read about that might help. None of the many ophthalmologists I saw ever suggested sclerals to me, I had to ask about it. And now it is an integral part of me being able to function comfortably daily. Almost everything I do now that helps my dry eyes was a result of taking a proactive approach, and now I have my life back.

Ultimately being our own strong advocate is what many of us in this forum have had to do to see progress, faster than if we just did what our doctors recommended.

[epicjinx]

I'll try and ask about it. As I'm completely loosing hope over this, and I feel like I've tried alot already. Heres hoping i get relief one day...

[MGD1701]

Good to find out what went wrong, all small details matter, even just the order, frequency etc.
Explore NEW approach since old practices do not work. Unfortunately, we need to do lots of study, expirments etc.

[epicjinx]

By old practices do you mean by the usual warm compress, lid scrub? Or are you referring to something else.