Doctor's Oppinion

[Dryeye22]

Hey Everyone,

I just went to another eye doctor and he was 100% sure that my dry eye was caused by contact lenses (ocular rosecea, mgd, and aqueous defficient).

He said that I must have not cleaned the lenses or replaced them because this is so rare for a person my age.

I guess my question to you all that have been wearing contacts is did you clean them and replace them?

I did both but my doctor said he highly doubts that and blames my inability to comply with direction on my current condition!

Maybe I need to find a new doctor!

[Eli]

I noticed that you have ocular rosacea, among other things, in parentheses. Wearing contacts will not cause ocular rosacea, but may aggravate it, causing the disease to manifest symptomatically earlier than it otherwise might have. I feel that that is the case with me. One thing is for sure though: those with chronic dry eye should generally avoid contacts if possible, unless you are using schleral lenses or bandage contacts for corneal erosions. Also, if you say you were scrupulous in regards to general contact hygiene, your doc should believe you. Perhaps he is at a loss and is trying to find a simple answer to a complex problem. It sounds like your use of contacts have exacerbated another underlying problem. Definately ditch the contacts-at least until your eyes feel better. Furthermore, I would be curious as to what your doctor saw in your eyes that convinced him "100%" that you had failed to comply with the suggested cleaning regimen. I'm not a doctor, but that sounds marginally bogus to me.

[kitty]

I wore contacts for years and I did clean and replace them as I was supposed to. I still ended up with dry eye. For many of us, the cause of dry eye is not known. From what I have read here, wearing contacts does not cause DES, but it can make DES worse or contribute to the condition. If it were me, I would be looking for a doctor who knows something more about DES and with whom you can have a trusting relationship.

[Rebecca Petris]

I just went to another eye doctor and he was 100% sure that my dry eye was caused by contact lenses (ocular rosecea, mgd, and aqueous defficient).

Well, like the others said this is a contradiction in terms because contact lenses don't cause rosacea. And it always annoys me when doctors assume non-compliance no matter what the patients say (though it's somewhat understandable considering how very many people really are non compliant with contact lens stuff).

BUT I'd still cut this doc SOME slack considering he identified rosacea and MGD, which is very important for starting appropriate treatment. After all how many people here were on their 4th or 5th doc before they ever even heard these words - or first heard about them on this site.

[sazy123]

Well i developed dry eye when i was 16 from wearing contacts and mine were daily wear throw aways. So i didnt have to clean them or anything, so they cant blame that. After a while i did change to the monthly ones coz they were supposed to be better for dry eye, but didnt have much success with those either!

I did sometimes have problems getting them out though, coz i couldnt do the touch my eye and slide it to the side thing. And the optition showed me a way to get them out if you hold both eye lids push your eye lids toghether to squeeze the contact out. But i never thought this could be harming my eyes at the time. Maybe it was.

Plus i dont have rocasea or anything else. It is quite common to have dry eye just caused by contacts.

[Dryeye22]

Hey Sazy,

I really think I would not have this problem either if it wasn't for the contacts. I find it funny that I have face pain also as you describe, and when it is there my eyes are better. It is just so wierd to be otherwise healthy and have this problem!!