Re Xiidra and anything that could a fellow M.G.D.

[Heidi]

Please could you help my sister please?. My sister has tried everything she knows of for example, massaging her eyes/compresses/alternative health remedies going into hundreds and hundreds of pounds/antibiotics/eye-drops/ painkillers/resting with eyes closed/seen eye specialists/ private Doctor. A drug has been mentioned called Xiidra. I would appreciate any views re side-effects/does it work?/ does it cause redness of the eyes and eyelids? approx. how long can it take to work please/ anything that might help my sister please. Thank you very much Heidi.

[deep_dry_eye]

Xiidra is a really good drug, its considered very safe and effective. Every patient is different, my advice is to give it a trial and see what happens. Some patients see relief after a few wks, others may need a few months.

Personally, I am on Xiidra, Restasis and IPL. I don't think any 1 treatment helped me, but rather the combination of all 3 has helped me a lot.

[Heidi]

Good afternoon, Thank you very much for your reply Moderator, that was very kind of you. It is my 1st time on this forum. My sister is very concerned re side-effects as there are some very common side-effects like redness of the eyes and redness of the lid. Has anybody suffered from side-effects from Xiidra please in particular re redness of eyes and lids please. I am helping my sister as she is unable to do much computer work as it effects her eyes badly. I am new to all this, eye problems; can Xiidra be prescribed in the NHS, my sister thinks it has yet to be authorised? What is the closed group please? Can my sister join? Any help gratefully received please. Thank you very much Heidi.

[Alix]

Good afternoon, Thank you very much for your reply Moderator, that was very kind of you. It is my 1st time on this forum. My sister is very concerned re side-effects as there are some very common side-effects like redness of the eyes and redness of the lid. Has anybody suffered from side-effects from Xiidra please in particular re redness of eyes and lids please. I am helping my sister as she is unable to do much computer work as it effects her eyes badly. I am new to all this, eye problems; can Xiidra be prescribed in the NHS, my sister thinks it has yet to be authorised? What is the closed group please? Can my sister join? Any help gratefully received please. Thank you very much Heidi.

Hi are you based in the UK? Xiidra is not available on the NHS as it’s not even available to buy in Europe right now, the manufacturer still waiting for regulatory approval. The earliest we can hope to see it available on the UK is 2021.

So in the meantime you will need to travel to the US or Canada to buy it. Please note there are alot of negative reviews on this drug you only need to do a quick google research on it.

[deep_dry_eye]

Good afternoon, Thank you very much for your reply Moderator, that was very kind of you. It is my 1st time on this forum. My sister is very concerned re side-effects as there are some very common side-effects like redness of the eyes and redness of the lid. Has anybody suffered from side-effects from Xiidra please in particular re redness of eyes and lids please. I am helping my sister as she is unable to do much computer work as it effects her eyes badly. I am new to all this, eye problems; can Xiidra be prescribed in the NHS, my sister thinks it has yet to be authorised? What is the closed group please? Can my sister join? Any help gratefully received please. Thank you very much Heidi.

There seems to be no adverse side effects that I am aware of. However, a small portion of the population cannot tolerate it. Redness of eyes and lids should not preclude from using Xiidra, as they have no structural impact.

Xiidra is currently unavailable in the UK, it is only available in Canada and the US. If you are in the UK, you should look into IKERVIS (Cyclosporine, Restasis) and IPL. You should also give Azyter (Azithromycin) a try as that is very cheap and low riks, but potentially very helpful.