NatraSan First Aid Spray may be safe for eyelid hygiene!

[hannsho]

Hi everybody,

It is now a little more than 3 months that I have been using Natrasan First Aid spray, and I have good news to report. Today I visited my ophthalmologist, an ocular surface disease specialist, to find out how my eye condition has developed during this period. The ophthalmologist did not know that I had stopped using the cyclosporine 0.05% eye drops he prescribed to me for indefinite use, and replaced it with the Natrasan spray. I carefully explained to him that stopped using the cyclosporine drops because they contained the preservative BAK and the difficulty of getting Restasis, or at present even Ikervis, in Spain. After demonstrating that the Natrasan spray is virtually identical Avenova he examined my eyes. He found that my eyes had fared very well with the Natrasan spray, that I did not need any additional treatment and that he saw no reason why I should not continue using the spray. This was excellent news and a great relief for me, because I was aware that I had been taking a risk!

Since I have been using Natrasan my eyes have not returned to going red, something that happened frequently in the past. My eyes hardly ever feel itchy, and I have not felt an occasional sharp pain in my eyes, suffered from photosensitive or my eyes being stuck together when waking up in the morning. All of this plagued me in the past. Whilst most of these improvements are probably due to Restais, and later cyclosporine eye drops, these symptoms have not returned as I replaced cyclosporine with the Natrasan spray - in fact, I believe I even noticed slight improvement when I started using Natrasan in having to use slightly fewer artificial tears. Apart from the Natrasan spray, I am using only artificial tears, a gel during the night, and I take an Omega 3 supplement. I have given up warming my eyelids. I have been taking acetylcysteine 600 mg effervescent tablets for the last 30 days, which were recommended to me by my doctor for their mucolytic properties – not for my eyes.

I will not shout victory just yet but wait for another 6 months. If my eyes still feel as good s they do now, then I will report in the ‘Our-Dry-Eye-Triumphs’ thread.

[MGD1701]

Thanks for sharing great news, hannsho.
Well, it was indeed a bit risky for me to try NatraSan (in fact, I found a total of 3 brands and only the 3rd, NatraSan helps as 2 others are not pure). I tried it based on my solid research, at least 100 hours, I think. Well, no risks, no gains - but I am still very careful.

cyclosporine 0.05%
why dr prescribed you this? for inflammation? how long did you use and how many times a day?
Did you feel burning when you use it?

Do you use other lid hygiene products with tea tree oil for example?

congratulations.

[hannsho]

Hi MGD 1701

Firstly, I owe you a big thank you, because if I had not been for you, I would never have heard of Natrasan. So, the hours of research you put in paid of doubly! My ophthalmologist originally prescribed Restais to me and inflammation was a big factor because my eyes would constantly go red. Restasis was then, and is now, easily available from Andorra where I obtained it from a reputable pharmacy – I can supply the name of it anybody who wants to know. However, unfortunately, after about 2 months the supplies of Restasis dried up. It wasn’t available anywhere in Andorra due to some supply chain problem. It is then that my ophthalmologist prescribed me cyclosporine eye drops 0.05%, which is basically the same as Restasis. Theses eye drop were made up by a specialist pharmacy here in Zaragoza, Spain where I live – and a lot cheaper than Restasis. The special formula the pharmacy used did not cause me any burning whatsoever - but unfortunately, the formula contained benzalkonium chloride.

I do not use any other hygiene products such as tea oil. However, in addition to using the Natrasan spary I quite frequently use lukewarm tap water to clean my closed eyelids.

Well, thanks again for your discovery. Think it is not too much to say that it changed my life.

[MGD1701]

Inflammation
just curious how did your doctor detect it, with MMP-9, osmolarity or slit lamp?
What were and are the signs/symptoms? Did you also have watery eyes? Thanks.

[hannsho]

Hi MGD 1701

I was diagnosed with chronic posterior blepharitis and later with ocular rosacea, both are basically inflammatory diseases of the eyelids. I could actually see the inside of my eyelids being red and noticed when they were particularly red invariable my eyes would get also red. More precisely it translated into superficial hyperemia, which usually required steroid and antibiotic drops to cure. Unfortunately, after the treatment my eyes usually stayed white (normal?) for only about 3 days, before it was necessary to apply next round of steroid drops. I was also low dose 40 mg doxycycline for 6 months, which unfortunately had no effect in my case. It is quite some time since the original diagnosis was made, and I could not tell you which tests the ophthalmologists used then to establish it.

[MGD1701]

Thanks for info. Glad it has helped you to avoid steriod/antibiotic - so these opinion leaders in USA are actually right.
It is a mystery why it helps me with watery eyes since all +15 doctors said I dont have inflammation.
I have no doctors to ask since they have no idea about pure HOCL. I dont have red, burning nor itchy eyes - I was just very curious/determined so tried it out.

[hannsho]

Hi MG1701

When you mentioned in your last post that your eyes were not afflicted by inflammation, an idea occurred to me that might explain why Natrasan works for you. I have read in a study, at the moment I can’t remember which one, that says that meibomian gland dysfunction does not necessarily lead to inflamed eyelids. If this is the situation in your case, then I can think of a mechanism that could explains why HOCI works for you. If you have some type of symptomless MGD, then you would still have an overgrowth of bacteria on your eyelid margins. This would lead to the production of enzymes and lipases by these bacteria which would lead to the destabilization of your tear film. That in turn would lead to the irritation of your ocular surface (dry eye?) and a reflex signal from your ocular surface to the lacrimal glands to produce tears to counteract the irritation. It is a well-known fact that, paradoxically, dry eye can lead to an excessive production of tears, particularly at the early stages of the disease. HOCI would reduce to the overpopulation of bacteria on your eyelid margins and therefore reduce the amount of lipases secreted by them and therefore interrupt that harmful process somewhat.

If you think that this is plausible and interests you, then I can try to find the study which claims that MGD need not necessarily be accompanied by an inflammatory process.

[MGD1701]

Thanks for your info. I have heard or read similiar statements from these opinion leaders who recommend
PURE HOCL. Likely my inflammation is low and only confocal can detect it. All my doctors just examined by slit lamp.

I gave it a try, just because these doctors all said it is safe (+ did my own research - the key is PURE HOCL) so, why not? I did not expect it would help my watery eyes though - a good surprise.

[SirDryEye]

Please be aware that this may work very well for you but could be bad for others. The effectiveness of dry eye treatments differ person to person. Plus this product has not been clinically tested for treating dry eyes...

[hannsho]

SirDryEye,

That is an important observation. In fact, I have pointed this out previously and warned that Natrasan First Aid spray has not been tested specifically for use on eyes. The best approach for anybody having any doubts would be to discuss it with their doctor, armed with the information that shows that Ocusoft’s Hypochlor spray, which has been approved by the American FDA for the purpose of eye hygiene, is essentially identical to the Natrasan First Aid Spay - which furthermore has the advantage of not including a preservative. Applying the logic of analogy, the recommendations made for Ocusoft’s Hpochlor should also apply to the Natrasan First Aid Spray. Here is the comparison between these two products again.

NatraSan First Aid Spray contains:

· Hypochlorous acid of 0.017%

· pH neutral

· Saline solution of 0.05%

· No preservatives


These are the characteristics of the Ocusoft’s 'Hypochlor' spray, which has been approved by the FDA for eye hygiene:

· Hypochlorous acid of 0.02%

· pH neutral

· Saline solution

· Preservative: sodium hypochlorite - also known as bleach

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to add that I e-mailed NatraSan to ask if the NatraStan First Aid Spray is safe for eyeline hygine. I got this response

"Hi Daniel,

Thank you for your email.

Yes, NatraSan is safe to use for eyelid hygiene. NatraSan kills 99.9999% of bacteria without stinging and is composed of <5% Hypochlorous Acid in saline solution, which does not contain Sodium Hypochlorite.

I hope this information is helpful.

Kind Regards
Chloe Rose-Neale"

/ Daniel

[Giacomo]

hannsho MGD1701, re-reading all the posts, does it make sense to add a few drops of Tea Tree Oil to cotton pads which are wet with Natrasan and then using this combo to wipe the eye lid area? This would seem to eliminate a step, i.e., one swipe taker than one with TTO and another with HOCL?

[Giacomo]

Here is an interesting comparison by Ocusoft comparing their HypoChlor product to Avenova.
http://www.ocusoft.com/the-facts-abo...id-cleansers-2

What I found most interesting was the part which described the need to have a surfactant cleanser component to remove “excessive oil, debris, and desquamate skin from the eyelids”. (This is supplied by their LidScrubs in pads or foam.) This cleanser is not an ingredient of HypoChlor.

My question is this: Is this surfactant cleanser yet another part of DRY EYE care? Or do the tea tree oil and HOCL provide the cleanser effect? I haven’t seen mention of this in all the posts

[Guest]

Good luck! :-)

[Giacomo]

Thanks SAAG. your contribution is always welcome. I follow what you are writing. Do you have thoughts about this “surfactant cleanser” I write about ?