Does anyone else in this community struggles in finding any type of relief with artif

[Daniel2]

I don't know how normal is this but having tried at 20 different types of artificial tears, desperately trying to find something that gives me any short term relief, I can't find it.

Whenever I put on drops, either they sting or they work for about 5 seconds and 2 minutes later the burning comes back even worse than before.
Even though i'm using Moisture chambers the whole day and they do help a little, my eyes burn progressively more as the day goes by and I cannot find anything that gives me short term relief to function, my eyes are just inflammed and burning constantly.

So my question is, does anyone else dont find relief with artificial drops or is it uncommon?

Thanks a lot,
-Daniel

[JJdryeye]

I would say most of us on here don't find any significant relief with otc drops, that said, I use Alcon Tears Naturale Free for Mild/Moderate dry eye. They are preservative free. You can buy a box of 60 at Target or WalMart for under $12. They've been the best drop I've found, and I've tried a lot. I would say on a typical day they give 20-30 minutes of relief, and if I use them all day they take the edge off. I can't tolerate drops that aren't preservative free, they actually give me more burning. Not to say that Alcon drops are a solution or take my dry eye away, but they make things more tolerable.

[Daniel2]

I would say most of us on here don't find any significant relief with otc drops, that said, I use Alcon Tears Naturale Free for Mild/Moderate dry eye. They are preservative free. You can buy a box of 60 at Target or WalMart for under $12. They've been the best drop I've found, and I've tried a lot. I would say on a typical day they give 20-30 minutes of relief, and if I use them all day they take the edge off. I can't tolerate drops that aren't preservative free, they actually give me more burning. Not to say that Alcon drops are a solution or take my dry eye away, but they make things more tolerable.

I see... thanks for the response JJdryeye.

[cathy8889]

Hi Daniel, eye drops when my eyes had progressed to their worst stage have me no relief. I now know this was because the meibum was such poor quality and so toxic that it was just mixing with the artificial tears and making things worse. The only thing I could do when my eyes felt like that was go outside in cool air and that calmed them down a bit. I had burning sensation periodically through the day, I don't have it anymore (7 months down the line). I had to get the meibomian glands secreting good oil again, I've been on doxycycline for 7 months, used tea treewipes(superdrug own) for 3-4 months, tea tree face wash 3 times every day, leaving it on my lashes for 2 minutes to make sure all bacteria and demodex are dead, I have recently just had lower plugs put in which has helped with inflammation cycle. I do blephasteam once a day now, I was doing it twice a day for 5 months. Warm compresses make my lids more swollen and inflamed. I was my face in cold water always, never let anything warm near eyes except blephasteam. I didn't know I had demodex until my optometrist told me in January, 3 ophthalmologists never spotted them, I had debris in my lashes, only slight and that is a sign of them. My glands were definitely clogged up with bacteria that was eating all the good oils. I also use coconut oil every night, it has to be one that suits you though, I can only use one of the purest forms (tiana pure virgin coconut oil), the coconut stopped the demodex activity at night time. I tried another coconut oil the other month and had bad reaction, severally inflamed eyes, red veins everywhere. It's been such a hard 2-3 years, I'm seeing progress but have to be so patient and keep trying new things. I'm worried about when I stop taking doxy but will have to cross bridge when come to it. If something doesn't feel like it's working move on. It took mea couple of days to notice if something was working or not. Coconut oil (noticed difference overnight) tea tree left on eyelashes for two mins ( noticed difference after 1 day, tea tree wipes (1 day). I tried a lot if drops too and they never helped in the end. I hope you find some relief x

[Daniel2]

Hi Daniel, eye drops when my eyes had progressed to their worst stage have me no relief. I now know this was because the meibum was such poor quality and so toxic that it was just mixing with the artificial tears and making things worse. The only thing I could do when my eyes felt like that was go outside in cool air and that calmed them down a bit. I had burning sensation periodically through the day, I don't have it anymore (7 months down the line). I had to get the meibomian glands secreting good oil again, I've been on doxycycline for 7 months, used tea treewipes(superdrug own) for 3-4 months, tea tree face wash 3 times every day, leaving it on my lashes for 2 minutes to make sure all bacteria and demodex are dead, I have recently just had lower plugs put in which has helped with inflammation cycle. I do blephasteam once a day now, I was doing it twice a day for 5 months. Warm compresses make my lids more swollen and inflamed. I was my face in cold water always, never let anything warm near eyes except blephasteam. I didn't know I had demodex until my optometrist told me in January, 3 ophthalmologists never spotted them, I had debris in my lashes, only slight and that is a sign of them. My glands were definitely clogged up with bacteria that was eating all the good oils. I also use coconut oil every night, it has to be one that suits you though, I can only use one of the purest forms (tiana pure virgin coconut oil), the coconut stopped the demodex activity at night time. I tried another coconut oil the other month and had bad reaction, severally inflamed eyes, red veins everywhere. It's been such a hard 2-3 years, I'm seeing progress but have to be so patient and keep trying new things. I'm worried about when I stop taking doxy but will have to cross bridge when come to it. If something doesn't feel like it's working move on. It took mea couple of days to notice if something was working or not. Coconut oil (noticed difference overnight) tea tree left on eyelashes for two mins ( noticed difference after 1 day, tea tree wipes (1 day). I tried a lot if drops too and they never helped in the end. I hope you find some relief x

I see, thanks cathy. Its about trial and error at the end of the day, im glad you manage to find something that makes you feel better, ill try different things too.. also i know putting lots of drops can hurt the eyes, but that applies to preservative free tears also?

[No tears in ATL]

Hey Daniel,

No, it isn't just you. I finally figured out that drops were making me much worse. Though I'm not advocating that you stop all drops cold turkey, because we all are individuals, I found that quitting all of it (drops, restasis) made me much better. I take 20 mg doxycycline, krill and seabuckthorn oil, use moisture chambers, hot compresses, and that's really it.

While I won't venture to say that I feel awesome, less was better in my situation. Stress, allergens (tree pollen is not my friend), and lack of sleep tend to exacerbate my inflammation even more than usual. I keep a bottle lotemax gel around when things get bad (lower % of BAC and no raised pressure risks).

I weaned off drops by using cold compresses for bad inflammation/burning, moisture chambers, and warm compresses twice daily. It did suck for several weeks, but got better.

[Max52]

Hey Daniel,

No, it isn't just you. I finally figured out that drops were making me much worse. Though I'm not advocating that you stop all drops cold turkey, because we all are individuals, I found that quitting all of it (drops, restasis) made me much better. I take 20 mg doxycycline, krill and seabuckthorn oil, use moisture chambers, hot compresses, and that's really it.

While I won't venture to say that I feel awesome, less was better in my situation. Stress, allergens (tree pollen is not my friend), and lack of sleep tend to exacerbate my inflammation even more than usual. I keep a bottle lotemax gel around when things get bad (lower % of BAC and no raised pressure risks).

I weaned off drops by using cold compresses for bad inflammation/burning, moisture chambers, and warm compresses twice daily. It did suck for several weeks, but got better.

Lotemax gel has no raised pressure risks? Not trying to give you a hard time, but where did you hear that? Lotemax is the best for me and although I find the gel difficult to apply I'd use it more often if I wasn't afraid of it raising my eye pressure..Max