Dry eyes and cannabis, pot, weed in 2018

[Rebecca Petris]

I have found out what’s going on, it’s most completely related to not closing my eyes when I sleep. So I’ve been taping them shut at night and that’s finally got things turning around.

This is a huge and overlooked/undertreated area of dry eye. Nocturnal lagophthalmos is extremely common but for most people I don't believe it's a serious problem. It's when we get the "cluster effect" of several different dry eye risk factors that the poor eyelid closure can turn into a huge issue. One of the reasons I have been so excited about the EyeLocc strips we have at the shop is that it makes a much easier introduction to the idea of taping lids shut than using actual tape... it's a more user friendly approach meaning people are more likely to try it and doctors are more likely to recommend it if they think patients are going to be 'compliant'. - I'm hearing from people who have chronically red eyes that are improving, or who are sleeping through the night for the first time in ages. Unfortunately for some people the adhesive is not working for their skin at all but at least it gets the idea across and then they can move on to more skin friendly tapes *if* the concept is working.

Not to distract from the main theme of this thread, just glad to see you're seeing progress by addressing the lids.

[Guest]

This is a huge and overlooked/undertreated area of dry eye. Nocturnal lagophthalmos is extremely common but for most people I don't believe it's a serious problem. It's when we get the "cluster effect" of several different dry eye risk factors that the poor eyelid closure can turn into a huge issue. One of the reasons I have been so excited about the EyeLocc strips we have at the shop is that it makes a much easier introduction to the idea of taping lids shut than using actual tape... it's a more user friendly approach meaning people are more likely to try it and doctors are more likely to recommend it if they think patients are going to be 'compliant'. - I'm hearing from people who have chronically red eyes that are improving, or who are sleeping through the night for the first time in ages. Unfortunately for some people the adhesive is not working for their skin at all but at least it gets the idea across and then they can move on to more skin friendly tapes *if* the concept is working.

Not to distract from the main theme of this thread, just glad to see you're seeing progress by addressing the lids.

Not detracting at all, this is the purpose of the thread. When the doctor first saw my eyes after the abrasion he said to me, do you have any dystrophies in your family...because it’s in the exact same spot in both sides. That statement makes complete sense to me now. Every doctor thought it was a dystrophy, but they saw that “island” because the eye was exposed to air on both sides, same spot. This made it difficult for the epithelium to properly adhere...that’s why it never healed properly.

It took 7 doctors before someone finally said, after my third erosion, I think you’re skeeping with your eyes open and there’s a vent possibly above your head. That’s when I started with bandages and goggles, the goggles gave me a worse erosion, the bandages prevented erosions, but my cornea was still sooooo dry and painful. Once I got the eyeloccs, what you said was 100% accurate. It made me realize, this is the solution. I am allergic to the adhesive too sadly...so I’m buying different tape now to find a better solution.

Let me also add, I’m literally allergic to everything. I needed ointments, but they cause issues in and of themselves. Now that my corneas are much better, still working on the right eye, I can use gels. Which removed another irritant. This whole thing has been an exercise in fine tuning. I knew I needed eye protection...but it’s taken me 5 months to figure out the best way to keep them closed. Another reason I’m thankful I have a dr that understands dry eye and has me on compounded methylpred for 6 months...he understands, as I’ve found out, you need to use preservative free steroids somewhat liberally until the tear dysfunction has been set straight. In my case, eye closure at night. Once I can heal really well, when I come off the steroids, the hope is that the new environment won’t lend itself to tons of inflammation. I’m hoping for that at least.

I have no idea how good I can get..I’m hopijg I can get even better. Last night was the first night I found a really solid combination of what to do. Gel in my eyes, tape the eye immediately from the nose just past the lid line and then cover with sleep mask. Remove and repeat as needed. I only woke up once last night AND I got to sleep in my side. I’m hoping in a month or two, once I get a better tape, I will see more improvement. Again, I’m really going for that.

Thank you for this site and for the shop, saved me, literally.

EDIT: Forgot to mention...I also agree nocturnal lagopthalmos is probably not an issue for most people. I believe I was sleeping with my eyes open for a long time before the injury. I had dry eyes prior to the abrasion...but as you said, that incident caused my sleep issues to cause a much greater problem.

[loveheals]

Just wanted to update this thread. I have found out what’s going on, it’s most completely related to not closing my eyes when I sleep. So I’ve been taping them shut at night and that’s finally got things turning around.

As for the pot, I’m finally able to actually enjoy it again. I know a lot of people use cannabis for inflammation, however, my situation was so bad, the pot just made it worse. In the sense that, I just felt the inflammation more than had I not used the drug. Now that I’m on steroids and I’m taping my eyes shut, smoking pot is actually very soothing to my eyes. They’re still dry, but what was being amplified was pain from my dried out cornea. Even my lids are doing better because they’re sealed at night. I’m finally producing clear oil from my glands. I can blink with almost no discomfort...but I still get sticky eyelids, my caruncle burns a bit sometimes and I still have a regimen to follow. I’m just glad that regimen is finally offering relief.

I genuinely believe marijuana could help some dry eye sufferers. I never thought I’d get to this point. To be honest, just like the person above, I thought smoking weed caused this. I’m almost certain now that it didn’t. When I consume weed now, it actually makes my eyes feel more supple, just overall more comfortable. I’m very happy about that. I’m finally turning things around and I can get my life back. I have a few other things to tackle, I have to finish coming off xanax (currently under .5mg) and I just started tapering my opiate use (I cut my dose by 10% yesterday, felt terrible, feeling good today though). My goal is to be clean by April 2019. Had I been able to keep using pot, I never would have taken these drugs. But that’s in the past, time to tackle this thing with a nice slow taper.

this is so interesting because I just started seeing a new dr and he has me on steroids and taping my eyes shut too! The steroids seem to be helping a lot but I’m not noticing much of a difference with the taping. He also wants me to try restasis but I’m super hesitant cause I tried xiidra once and it seemed to make my dry eye worse. I tried the restasis last night for the first time and my eyes burned for hours. I’m hoping the steroids will continue to help. Glad you are feeling so much better tho! Just thought I would chime in cause again our stories are so similar I’m going to look into the tape Rebecca recommended cause the kind I’m using is really uncomfortable to take off. I just wish it would all go away! Just want to enjoy the wind in my face again without special glasses lol

[Guest]

this is so interesting because I just started seeing a new dr and he has me on steroids and taping my eyes shut too! The steroids seem to be helping a lot but I’m not noticing much of a difference with the taping. He also wants me to try restasis but I’m super hesitant cause I tried xiidra once and it seemed to make my dry eye worse. I tried the restasis last night for the first time and my eyes burned for hours. I’m hoping the steroids will continue to help. Glad you are feeling so much better tho! Just thought I would chime in cause again our stories are so similar I’m going to look into the tape Rebecca recommended cause the kind I’m using is really uncomfortable to take off. I just wish it would all go away! Just want to enjoy the wind in my face again without special glasses lol

The mepitac tape is the only tape I’ve been able to use without a reaction. Good stuff!

I was allergic to restasis...it wasn’t helping, it was hurting actually. Yeah, I’m pretty sure st this point I have sleep apnea and floppy eyelid syndrome. When I pull up on my upper lids, they stretch like a rubber band. So I sleep with my eyes open. I’ve been taping consistently for about a hair less than two weeks. My eyes are way better...not perfect, but mouth more tolerable. I’m still mentally having a hard time with the change...but I shouldn’t be upset honestly.

I hope you’re doing well and this works for you. It was important for me to make sure the tape covered from nose to past my eyes onto the temple. I have to make sure the eye is completely sealed, so I have to check after I apply the tape. Because I can still open my eye sometimes. I put gel in my eye right before I tape (oasis tears plus) then I put the tape on. Sometimes the gel spills out and loosens the tape. If your eye opens even for a little bit, you won’t get much benefit from this. At least I didn’t. So just make sure you’re sealed 100%. I also wear a sleep mask over the tape so I don’t rip it off.

Good luck and thank you for updating this thread. I think it’s important for us to share our experiences. You’re awesome, hope you get better soon!

[IanWelchPl]

Well i was also suffering with dry eye problem actually this is mostly cause of the lenz that we use for the party wear or as a contact lens we used the dry eye prblem is mostly because of this reason but the cbd benefits are very good for this problem. But you guys also share good information about this major problem !!!

Cheers !!

[gilles]

I have read some very interesting ideas in this topic. First of all, the fact that MGD is effectively treated with anti-inflammatory solutions (e.g. azithromycine and minocycline for anti-inflammation characteristics rather than only anti-bacterial), could potentially lead to the interesting path with the known anti-inflammatory qualities that CBD has to offer.

On the other hand, I had already read some things about floppy eyelid syndrome and Nocturnal lagophthalmos being a reason to result in inflammation of the eyes resulting in the inflammation of the eyelids (meibomian glands in specific). I might try the taping of the eyes at night myself as I remember my first symptoms of posterior MGD being my left eyelid hanging a bit lower (and specificly in the evenings).
I'm interested if the eye-irritation is caused by the friction with the pillow at night (as we all know a person moves a lot in his sleep), and or the bacteria of e.g. clogged hair follicles coming into contact with the meibomian glands (eye lids) and resulting in infections.

[AlexanderParrish]

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