FreshKote impressing me more and more

[Rojzen]

I promised further updates on my trial of FreshKote, and now I have something interesting to report. . .

After two good months on this prescription product, my eyes were feeling rather consistently protected, and I thought that my air tolerance might possibly be improving. So I proceeded to wear a regular pair of glasses for a day (without my usual moisture chambers), and to my utter amazement, after nearly 9 years of steady moisture chamber wear (all waking hours), I got through a day with mere regular glasses, both indoors and outdoors. . .I missed the comfort of the chambers, but I could actually get around OK without them. . .I should mention (as I did on another post) that the regular glasses in question are tiny-ish, and fit very close to my eyes. . .

After this positive experience, I spent a few days using only Dwelle, when it came time to refill the FreshKote, and the Dwelle did not provide the air protection I needed. It felt thinner/more dilute than the FreshKote, which has a lipid in it that is not in Dwelle. . .

So back to FreshKote, for me, and I will go without moisture chambers for a few more days this week. . .I don't advocate this full-time, for people with low TBUTs, because the exposure is probably not helpful to the eye surface. . .but the whole experience is quite encouraging...

Needless to say, my own experience notwithstanding, there will be many of us who do better on Dwelle than on FreshKote, when using the Dr. Holly drops, in general. . .This is the nature of our animal. . .I suspect that the tear film of every last DES sufferer is unique, in composition, making it difficult to generalize. . .The ultimate solution in eyedrops, I think, will probably have to be very broad-spectrum. . .so all-encompassing that it covers nearly all cases. . .That day is not here yet. . .And as much as I like the FreshKote, I am still one pretty abnormal and uncomfortable (but not discouraged) puppy, at time .

[liz56]

Thank you

Hi, Rojzen.

Thank you for the great description of your on-going experience!

How does the FreshKote feel going into the eye? I notice that when I use Dwelle, it sometimes burns if my cornea is really sensitive. When I have gone weeks without an erosion, I get no burning at all, but when I have had one recently, it does burn a little bit.

I'm going to give my current plan six months before I try something new (I'm at three months and one week right now), but it is heartening to think that if my plan does not work for me, there are other non-surgical options open.

Thanks, again!

[Rojzen]

variation in sensation on instilling

Liz56, thank you so much for asking that important q. . .The FreshKote tends to sting, on instillation, in my case, a little less often than does the Dwelle, and the stinging seems to happen only if I put the FreshKote in immediately after doing a lid wash, or after my eyes dry out late in the evening, from my being sleepy. I can put the FreshKote in immediately on awakening, and have no stinging, which is lovely.

My thinking on stinging is that it may not generally be a reason to stop a treatment, even if the stinging is intense for a short while. I once mused here that maybe stinging is a marker for penetration of the fluid through to the mucin layer. Call me crazy, but that's how I think of it, and that gets me past the momentary unpleasantness. . .Stinging/burning for hours is another story. . .No one should have to tolerate that. . .

I'm so glad you are working so methodically towards a satisfactory therapy. . .Trial and error really do work, but one has to be detached to let that proceed. . .Usually, I'm too impatient to be thoughtful about how a product is affecting my eyes. . .but once in a while, I remember that the stakes are high, and that care and caution may pay off well. . .