Can this condition be genetic?

[hästen25]

Hello! I was hoping for some insight here. I have a lot of problem with my eyes, severe mgd and very dry eyes. I have a gland loss around 50% and I’m only 20 years old. I started getting problems around 2 years ago and I assume my problems started with using lenses very bad for many years. But the weird thing is that my twin sister (we are identical twins.) started getting problems with her eyes now as well. She has never worn lenses so it’s weird. She has been having the same symptoms that I got in the beginning for about 6 months now. Eye infections, blepharitis, redness and swelling.

Does anyone know if this could be some sort of clue of a genetic condition that we both might have? We both have very dry skin and eczema but it’s weird because not all people with eczema get blepharitis. I would ve very thankful for some insight or your thoughts about this! What do you think? I was wondering about rosacea but no one else in our family has that condition and I don’t have a red face or many visible veins.

[ostas12345]

Hello
I am sorry to hear that You both have such problems with the eyes

I think this condition with the eyes can be genetic, because I have 2 cousin brothers which are identical twins. They both fell sick to DMD disease (Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy) at the similar age, around 12 years I think. They both had identical symptoms, most of their muscles are disabled and they both ride on special wheelchairs. This can't be a coincidence, they were both genetically programmed to have this disease. Hopefully there will be some cure for this in the future

Does your sister also have problems with vision like -6 in eyesight?
I think You both might be sick with some kind of autoimmune disease like Sjögren's syndrome like me. I think that autoimmune diseases might be caused by wrong genetic mutations
Do You have any other diseases other than with Your eyes? Autoimmune diseases can be related with each other. I think You might have some kind of connective tissue autoimmunization/disorder, which includes parts of the eyes or some skin autoimmune disease which is causing secondary Sjögren's disease or some autoimmunization to the eyes like it its in my case

[hästen25]

r

Hello
I am sorry to hear that You both have such problems with the eyes

I think this condition with the eyes can be genetic, because I have 2 cousin brothers which are identical twins. They both fell sick to DMD disease (Duchenne muscular Dystrophy) at the similar age, around 12 years I think. They both had identical symptoms, most of their muscles are disabled and they both ride on special wheelchairs. That can't be a coincidence, they were both genetically programmed to have this disease. Hopefully there will be some cure for this in future

Does your sister also have problems with vision like -6 in eyesight?
I think You both might be sick with some kind of autoimmune disease like Sjögren's syndrome like me. I think that autoimmune diseases might be caused by wrong genetic mutations
Do You have any other diseases other than with Your eyes? Autoimmune diseases can be related with each other. I think You might have some kind of connective tissue autoimmunization/disorder, which includes parts of the eyes or some skin autoimmune disease which is causing secondary Sjogren's disease or some autoimmunization to the eyes like it its in my case

Thank you for replaying! My sister does not have the same bad eyesight as me, she has maybe around -1,5. My doctor believes it’s because i read a lot more as a child. I do not have any other health issues other than scoliosis and very dry skin/eczema. What was your symptoms regarding Sjögrens disease? Was it only eye problems or others?

[ostas12345]

Hmm, Sjögrens disease might be quite multifactorial disease. Because of it I have dry eyes, dry mouth and dry skin. I need to drink often because of dry mouth, it makes harder to speak. And I need to use special soap and ointments for the skin on my hands otherwise skin on my hands gets too dry and starts to have ruptures and bleedings from these ruptures.
Maybe my Sjögren's disease is caused by my other autoimmune disease - inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis)

[hästen25]

Okay I understand! I’m very sorry for you that you have to struggle with those diseases. Don’t take me wrong, but the upside must be that at least you know what is wrong with you and you have been diagnosed properly, and for that I am a bit jealous since both me and the doctors seem to have such a hard time understanding why my eyes are affected this badly it’s really hard to treat. If you have any idea what could be causing this or what I can do to make the doctors diagnose properly I would be very thankful for your insight! You seem well educated. I wish the doctors could just run a test you know!

[ostas12345]

You could try to run blood and antibody tests to check for autoimmunization like in the included photo
You can try to have salivary gland biopsy, maybe You have Sjögren's disease too, correlated with eczema
or You might have some kind of connective tissue autoimmunization/disorder, which includes parts of the eyes, maybe eczema can make inflammation of the eyes too, but I'm not an expert
You can also try these promising universal treatments which treat any eye ocular disease regardless of underlying disease: Prose scleral lenses or similar, or PRP or serum drops to eyes or injections to lacrimal glands

[hästen25]

Thank you for the help I will defiantly look into it!