Corneal Abrasions

[vito]

I read about everyones experience with corneal erosions which they seem to live with. My problem is corneal abrasions. I have just gotten out of bed after 4 days. My cornea actually tears. Am I a severe case and is there help? Thanks, Steve.......using Dweele, rice baggy and goggles

[liz56]

Hi, Steve.

Do you know what is causing your recurrent corneal erosions? Is it from an injury, a corneal dystrophy, or something else, like something in your eyelid?

Also, are you applying the dwelle several times a day? I was told by a cornea specialist to apply it five times each day and that the erosions would decrease. How long have you been using the drops?

I hope that you can get past this and begin healing soon. It is such a terrible problem to have, and I am sorry that you are going through this.

--Liz

[vito]

Corneal Abrasion

Hey Liz,
In the 10+ years I have been dealing with this it has never been diagnosed. In So. California my HMO was Kaiser. With each of the three specialists I met with only one attempted to doing anything at all, he put in a temporary lens which folded over an wedged in the back of my eye causing even more pain. These severe tears were only happening every 2 years, it has only been in the last 6 months that the frequency has increased. I had been dealing with it by using Bausch and Lomb ointment, setting my alarm 2 to 3 times in a night to reapply. Now it is day to day battle wondering when it will happen again. At this time I am applying Dweele every 1 1/2 hours during sleeping hours. I am hoping someone with a similar condition can point me in the right direction.

[liz56]

Hi, Steve.

I am not at all sure what is causing your problem, but I can tell a little about epithelial basement membrane dystrophy.

It is a condition in which the outermost layer of the cornea's basement membrane (the Bowman's layer), which attaches it to the next layer (the stroma), is irregular. Something about an enzyme helps it to stay flat and even; those of us with ebmd (also Cogan's dystrophy, map-dot-fingerprint dystrophy, or anterior basement membrane dystrophy) retain water there, which causes an uneven surface. Microcysts form, and they cause the epithelium not to be attached properly to the Bowman's layer. If the eyelid sticks to it, it will tear, causing pain, tearing, possible infections, and, if it happens over the pupil, blurry vision. (I have read that 90% of people with this condition never even know they have it; they just feel like their eyes are weird sometimes or have spells of feeling like they need a new prescription. It is not until the rce's happen that they learn about it.)

In this link below, there is a discussion about problems with the cornea, due to lasik; however, it also talks about other problems with the cornea and shows an image of what the eye doctor sees when he or she looks into the eye of an ebmd patient (figure 2):

From Ophthalmology Management, September 2005

http://www.ophmanagement.com/article.aspx?article=86426

I sure hope that I am representing this correctly!

--Liz