Mgd

[sophie0416]

Hi guys, it’s me again. Here I go.

I’m pretty positive I have MGD now. I keep doing my routines and every time I test my glands at night pressing them, some days Ive managed to express them like I commented the other day... yesterday I was expressing my left one and oh gosh it was totally like poping a pimple. I actually remove it a put it on my mirror (I know, disgusting) but I just wanted to look at it. I put it on my makeup 20x mirror and I swear the thing I got out my gland looks like a PIMPLE.

I am sad, because every doctor told me my glands were fine. And now I can totally tell they are not!

I was was hoping I had some other type of dry eye but I really really didn’t want to have MGD cause when this messes up your glands there’s isn’t much you can do.. I do have some spots between my glands, you know they all look like: IIIIIIIIIIIIII in the waterline but i have some dark spots between them and I’m thinking it might be truncated glands or something... I press that area and no oil and nothing comes out.

What do I do know guys? What do I take? How Can I get better with this MGD?


Btw now it’s clear why I can’t wear makeup my eyes are clogged!

[MommyandMe81]

Hi Sophie!

Sorry to hear that you are now part of the MGD population, but I am somewhat happy to hear that you might have found the culprit after all this time. I have MGD as well. I have tried so many different things. Right now my symptoms are manageable, some days being better than others. I haven't found the magic key to this but am going hard on the fish oils, flaxseed oil and have just started on hemp oil. I use a humidifier at night and at work, a sleep mask and do warm compresses. I just started doing the compresses 2x a day, instead of 1.

I wanted to ask you for tips on the expressing. I keep the mask on for 10-15 minutes and then do the upward/downward motions. My eyes get blurry and feel wet (which i hope is from some oil) but I never see anything white come out. Pressing any harder seems like it would hurt my eyes. Is there anything you suggest for the expression? I imagine it brings you some relief when you do so.

I know the no-makeup situation is more drastic to some of us (i miss it too) but think of this as something temporary. I keep telling myself I just have to find the right combination of everything and soon will be back to my old self- or close enough. Until then I've found that blush, lip gloss and a bit of Vaseline (on upper and lower eyelids) go a long way. The Vaseline helps create a bit of a natural glow to the eye (and moisturizes some) so I don't look completely bare.

Hugs to you. We will get better.

[sophie0416]

Hi mommyandme,

well I’ll I think I’ve known for a while but I didn’t want to accept it. Specially cause everything started with my birth control, so I kinda blame myself...

ive been using flax seed and omegas too. It helps cause I’m better than before, but I still have super bad days. Regarding makeup I’m using foundation and blush too. I really miss my eyeshadow.

And about the expressing, I’ll be totally honest, sometimes I’m kinda tough, I know I shouldn’t be doing it so hard, but I really press my glands hard. DON’T do that!!!! Is just when I feel like I’ve had a bad day and I can actually see something thick is about to come out, I press them until it’s out. The next day they’re even red and hurt, so I know that’s probably something a doctor should be doing. But doctors have done nothing for me! And that’s another thing that really makes me upset.

I’m doing exactly what this lady is doing at the end, please watch the video:

https://youtu.be/hOGwoBD_-sY


if you have any other tips, please let me know. Thanks

[MGD1701]

Hi Sophie
Just a kind remainder, after expression, make sure you
put saline or drops to remove dirts, bacteria out. Small details but make a big difference - for me.

You must express very hard - can not image HOW you have managed to get such hard stuff out with ''fingers''???

[sophie0416]

Yeah I used to use some steroid drops I have but someone told they have BAK so I don’t use them anymore. I’m just using similasan eyedrops.

And yeah I press very hard

[Faith1989]

I always get relief when whatever is in my glands finally comes out. Sometimes when my eyes are bad it's white, on good days it's clear. I usually also use erythromycin around the lids at night to reduce the bacterial load. Seems to help but took a while. Removing any makeup as soon as I get home is a must too.

[sophie0416]

Sometimes its yellowish but sometimes its kinda white too. and most of the time it's clear. I have NO idea whats going on

[dede29]

Afaik yellowish can mean that a bacterial infection is going on

[sophie0416]

Really? What should I do? I have lotemax would that work?

I have my dr appt scheduled for next Wednesday...

and like I said sometimes it’s yellowish yesterday it wasn’t really like toothpaste, you know like that dense, it was more like a tear but it definitely had color, it wasn’t clear!

[sophie0416]

I just called my doctor and I talked to the nurse. I told her I was having issues cause my eyes are really dry today and something was coming out of my waterline, it wasn’t clear tears. She told me to keep doing compresses and just use they eyedrops as needed.

I was like OKAYYY?

So...

[sophie0416]

Guys, I stopped my warm compresses a few weeks ago cause I wanted to see if they were helping or not. I did feel like I was going backwards so I started using them again this week, but my eyes feel like I’ve been punched in the eye! I don’t have dry eye right now I mean I feel good I haven’t even used my eyedrops but they kinda hurt. Am I using my compresses too hot? What can it be? What’s wrong

[MGD1701]

Hi Sophie
Compress: no idea HOW hot you have been using. I used up to 44C 10 min for my thick oil.
But best is around 43C for 15-20 min. Many doctors recommend Bruder mask (seems they have new verision which is more effective?) - I think that is a bit safer than the plastic.

massage: also risky. some doctors do manual expression - that is safer and effective.

yellowish discharges normally mean bacteria.

[farmgirl]

There is a difference between discharge and oils. Oils can look a bit on the yellowish side but should be translucent and runny. If you are getting a thick, yellowish, ongoing discharge (not a one time discharge) , then I would go and see my dr and not try to treat myself.

[Yorkshireguy25]

hey Sophie, I know how you feel, in that you want to try and do anything that will help the the pain, but it's unclear what is working and actually helping. I went round in circles for years confusing myself.
In the end I think i realised, if I do not do compresses my eyes hurt more and when I return to compresses say after a week or two there is noticeable expression of thicker oil. You just need to get the balance of heat, time and compress frequency correct so as to help but not cause damage. Then I coupled this with the cleaning and I use blink triple action drops. And lastly the major component managing my expectations and environment and general lifestyle. My ophthalmologist once told me that this was going to be 20% medical treatment and 80% managing. The adjustment was and is hard. But I have had it for 5 years now and the first 3 were terrible but yes it does improve.

Scott

[sophie0416]

Hi everyone thank you for the opinions.

my eyes are a mess, one day I’m fine one day I’m doing horrible. Like I said I’ve been using warm compress again; but I think my eyes were hurting yesterday cause I’ve been expressing them too hard, I always like to see clear oil so until I get that I don’t stop pressing them. (I’m not gonna do this again)

so yesterday my eyes felt soer inflamated and just in pain, I didn’t feel good at all, so yesterday I used lotemax for inflammation and COLD compress.

Today I’m doing so much better! I actually feel the difference.

I have have an appt with my dr tomorrow afternoon, I want to hear his thoughts. He really seems to care, but he’s not a dry eye specialist. I’ve made an appt with a dry eye specialist who even does lipiflow and has a lot of machines to test dry eye, but that one is until next week, it’s like 4 hours away but I’m getting pretty tired of this so I’m going to do it and drive all the way there!