Just been diagnosed with blepharitis....could do with some advice

[burningsensation]

hiya everyone,

this is a wonderful forum and i hope someone can help me with my eye problems.

I have been diagnosed with dry eye/blepharitis.

My job is mainly using computers for admin work and I believe this can make the condition a lot worse.

Now I'm aware that I need to use the pc as less as possible and if i do use it, to blink more, but is there

anything i can tell my employer to get for me, so that I can place it over the screen to help?

I was thinking along the lines of a tint screen?

Thanks again

[cathy8889]

Hey, I'm glad you've got a diagnosis, this can be the hardest part sometimes. Which type of blepharitis do you have? I have posterior without any of the crusty eyelashes. I work on the PC all day, I have my screen lower than eye level, so less of my eye is exposed, I make my font really big, turned down the brightness, sit by a window so I can get a good flow of fresh air (now it's gone a lot colder I can't have it open as much so I go outside and take
Breaks in the morning and afternoon. There are apps you can download which remind you to blink, http://www.blinknow.co.uk

What treatment did your doctor give you?

I hope your condition starts to improve, I think the earlier you start to deal with it the better, mine was left for a long time untreated so got pretty bad

Cath

[burningsensation]

Hey, I'm glad you've got a diagnosis, this can be the hardest part sometimes. Which type of blepharitis do you have? I have posterior without any of the crusty eyelashes. I work on the PC all day, I have my screen lower than eye level, so less of my eye is exposed, I make my don't really big, turned down the brightness, sit by a window so I can get a good flow of fresh air (now it's gone a lot colder I can't have it open as much so I go outside and take
Breaks in the morning and afternoon. There are apps you can download which remind you to blink, http://www.blinknow.co.uk

What treatment did your doctor give you?

I hope your condition starts to improve, I think the earlier you start to deal with it the better, mine was left for a long time untreated so got pretty bad

Cath

Hiya Cath,

Thank you for your reply and kind words. I actually have had this issue on and off for about 6 months and only started my treatment 2 days ago. I'm just wondering if my condition is actually belphartis or something else as I tend to have the following problems:-

1. Some burning/stinging sensation during and after pc usage
2. At night, I'll go to sleep and wake up with severe burning/stinging, eyes watering non-stop, but by morning they'll have calmed down, although I'll have swelling to the eye bags

So does this sound like blephartis?


I actually wasn't told which blephartis I was diagnosed with, but your description fits exactly the same as mine. I don't have any crusty eyelashes, so I can only assume it's the posterior. My specialist gave me:-

1. Blephaclean eyelid cleaners (preservative free)
2. Hyloforte lubricant (preservative free)
3. Catacrom drops (preservative free)
4. Vita-Pos eye ointment (preservative free)

Unfortunately after discussing with my specialist, I only use no.1 & no.2 medications as no.3 and no.4 sting and burn my eyes.

I'm also on the pc for the whole day and although I've already put the 24" pc monitor's brightness down, it still does somewhat burn. Can you recommend any cheap anti-glare/tint papers?

[cathy8889]

Hey, to begin with I got my symptoms exactly the same time as you, during PC use and at night, except for the watering, mine were very dry, I think I have a bit of aqueous tear deficiency though. I'd wake up in night with very dry eyes and a burning gritty feeling, it was literally like I had grit under my eye lids. Do you have this gritty feeling? Sometimes it's hard to describe what you're feeling, I couldn't put it in to words for a long time.

With the swelling is it the whole eye bag or just the rim of the lid? My lower and upper lids were severely swollen earlier in the year, it is now just my lower, particularly the lower right. When mt lids very rarely stop swelling I can feel the oil come out, I know the oil is there it's just that it can't get our.

When I was first diagnosed the ophthalmologist said that very little oil was coming out and the oil that was coming out was of very poor quality, I think that the oil was just full of bacteria and this was what was causing the burning feeling.

Did the doctor tell you to do warm compresses or anything? I was doing warm compresses but I think the direct heat on my lids was making things worse, I bought a blephasteam, on the advice of last ophthalmologist I saw.

I also use tea tree wipes and wet ones to clean my lids, I did try blephaclean and systane lid wipes but I don't think they were killing the bacteria.

It's important to stick to certain things for a while just so you know what's working and what isn't.

I was using lacrilube at night for a long time, this is an eye ointment but I think it made my condition worse as it wasso sticky and could only help the bacteria grow I feel. The last ophthalmologist I saw said if I could help it try not to use drops because I'm only clearing away what little good tears my eyes are producing. I haven't used drops for 2 months, 6 months ago I was using them four times an hour, it was awful. If anything you put in your eye burns, stop using it, I was using systane and very time I put it in it hurt. The only thing that gave me relief was vismed multi, but when My lids were very inflamed the drops were useless, they were just being mixed with an unstable tear film and making it worse.

The key in all this is to get your tear fill stable again, the right blend of tears and oil. Mine was really messed up but it is feeling a lot more stable. I've been on doxycycline for three months too, this has helped a lot.

I'm sorry if I've just thrown a lot out there, it's just that I've learnt so much over last three months. It's such a personal condition and I think that what works for someone might not always work for another.

I think it sounds like your eyes aren't producing the good oil which means your tears are not sticking to the eye surface. You need to get that oil flowing again, this is my mission lol.

I'm not sure about where to get screen tints sorry. I have found that if I haven't blinked for a while and then I blink I get a burning feeling, I'm convinced this is the bad oils seeping into my eye.

Hope I make sense, see what works best for you, there are lots of people on here going through same thing, someone else will
Hopefully add their thoughts but I do think it sounds like you have blepharitis

Cath

[burningsensation]

Hey, to begin with I got my symptoms exactly the same time as you, during PC use and at night, except for the watering, mine were very dry, I think I have a bit of aqueous tear deficiency though. I'd wake up in night with very dry eyes and a burning gritty feeling, it was literally like I had grit under my eye lids. Do you have this gritty feeling? Sometimes it's hard to describe what you're feeling, I couldn't put it in to words for a long time.

With the swelling is it the whole eye bag or just the rim of the lid? My lower and upper lids were severely swollen earlier in the year, it is now just my lower, particularly the lower right. When mt lids very rarely stop swelling I can feel the oil come out, I know the oil is there it's just that it can't get our.

When I was first diagnosed the ophthalmologist said that very little oil was coming out and the oil that was coming out was of very poor quality, I think that the oil was just full of bacteria and this was what was causing the burning feeling.

Did the doctor tell you to do warm compresses or anything? I was doing warm compresses but I think the direct heat on my lids was making things worse, I bought a blephasteam, on the advice of last ophthalmologist I saw.

I also use tea tree wipes and wet ones to clean my lids, I did try blephaclean and systane lid wipes but I don't think they were killing the bacteria.

It's important to stick to certain things for a while just so you know what's working and what isn't.

I was using lacrilube at night for a long time, this is an eye ointment but I think it made my condition worse as it wasso sticky and could only help the bacteria grow I feel. The last ophthalmologist I saw said if I could help it try not to use drops because I'm only clearing away what little good tears my eyes are producing. I haven't used drops for 2 months, 6 months ago I was using them four times an hour, it was awful. If anything you put in your eye burns, stop using it, I was using systane and very time I put it in it hurt. The only thing that gave me relief was vismed multi, but when My lids were very inflamed the drops were useless, they were just being mixed with an unstable tear film and making it worse.

The key in all this is to get your tear fill stable again, the right blend of tears and oil. Mine was really messed up but it is feeling a lot more stable. I've been on doxycycline for three months too, this has helped a lot.

I'm sorry if I've just thrown a lot out there, it's just that I've learnt so much over last three months. It's such a personal condition and I think that what works for someone might not always work for another.

I think it sounds like your eyes aren't producing the good oil which means your tears are not sticking to the eye surface. You need to get that oil flowing again, this is my mission lol.

I'm not sure about where to get screen tints sorry. I have found that if I haven't blinked for a while and then I blink I get a burning feeling, I'm convinced this is the bad oils seeping into my eye.

Hope I make sense, see what works best for you, there are lots of people on here going through same thing, someone else will
Hopefully add their thoughts but I do think it sounds like you have blepharitis

Cath

Thanks again cathy and please don't be sorry at all! I'm glad that your helping me with loads of information. I'm not sure if it's gritty, but it's definately burning/stinging. The whole eye bag is swelling and usually once I'm woken up in the middle of the night, my eyes are all red.

Sorry I forgot, yes the doc said to use warm compresses and then the blephaclean pads.

Having spoken to you cathy, I agree now that it sounds like blephartis. Only time will tell if it'll get better.

BTW, I noticed that your from uk, so may I ask where from? Also I hope you don't mind me asking and don't have to give an answer, but can you give me your age? Just seeing what kind of age group is affected by this problem.

[spmcc]

I was thinking along the lines of a tint screen?

Check out this thread: http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showt...3714#post63714

[burningsensation]

Thanks very much for the link spmcc. I will read through it and let you know how I get on...

[cathy8889]

Hello, i'm sorry for replying late, I'm 27 and live in the north west, how old are you? Have you had any luck improving your eyes. Ive had problems with my eyes since I was about twenty, I blame working in a smoky pub from the age of 16 amongst other things. Blepharitis symptoms have been going on a couple of years now. cath

Thanks again cathy and please don't be sorry at all! I'm glad that your helping me with loads of information. I'm not sure if it's gritty, but it's definately burning/stinging. The whole eye bag is swelling and usually once I'm woken up in the middle of the night, my eyes are all red.

Sorry I forgot, yes the doc said to use warm compresses and then the blephaclean pads.

Having spoken to you cathy, I agree now that it sounds like blephartis. Only time will tell if it'll get better.

BTW, I noticed that your from uk, so may I ask where from? Also I hope you don't mind me asking and don't have to give an answer, but can you give me your age? Just seeing what kind of age group is affected by this problem.

[burningsensation]

Hello, i'm sorry for replying late, I'm 27 and live in the north west, how old are you? Have you had any luck improving your eyes. Ive had problems with my eyes since I was about twenty, I blame working in a smoky pub from the age of 16 amongst other things. Blepharitis symptoms have been going on a couple of years now. cath

Hiya cath, I'm 37, live in west yorkshire. I'm feeling much better as a matter of fact. I don't know whether this is a temporary blip or whether it's due to me changing something. I did the following:-

1. Used a blephaclean pads
2. Stopped using the lubricant and any other medication for eyes
3. Reduced the time spent on computer and also the screen brightness.
4. I have deliberately been blinking more.


Now one or a combination of the above seems to have almost stopped all of the above mentioned problems for me. Although the eye muscle twitching is still there, it has vastly reduced. I personally think I was having reaction to the medication and I was spending way to long on the computer and hardly blinked.

Do you mind if I ask what you do for a living and your life-style? It might help to see if there is a pattern.