A question for rosacea sufferers

[eva b]

Dr Latkany's reponse to a question in the Q & A has made me wonder whether I have (as yet undiagnosed) rosacea in addition to MGD and blepharitis.

So my questions to you :

l. Do you find warm compresses help or aggravate the condition? The Dr recommends heat to liquify meibomian fluid, which makes sense to me, but also advises against the use of heat in cases of rosacea. How do you react?

2. Are you hyper-sensitive to all eye drops? Apparently, fluorescein in particular brings on an extreme response - which is what happened to me after an eye exam.

3. Have any of you found moisturising drops which help - so far, everything I've tried irritates after a few days, including pres. free drops.

thanks very much in advance for any and all responses.

[TRiBaL]

Yea, like I understand concept of using warm compresses for the eye lid glands but ya seems to do worst for the eye lids then good if you have inflammation. I heard using the shower moisture helps to use instead of warm compress. I can't tell the different.

If gonna use warm compresses try using it once a day and make sure compress is not hot but warm. Should do whatever it takes get inflammation down so okay use warm compresses on your eyelids.


Right now I have MDG/Ros. and I have allergies as well but I don't know if that effects my eyes.

Which leaves me to think maybe by controlling the allergies with some medication and taking doxy could help my problem out.

Some eye drops effect me some don't

Refresh eye drops appose to be one the best eye drops.

[karenct]

Hi Eva, thanks for your questions. My feedback below -

Eva: Do you find warm compresses help or aggravate the condition?
Karen: I find that warm compresses (NOT hot) are soothing and helpful. I'll generally use warm compresses right after I wash my face.

Eva: Are you hyper-sensitive to all eye drops?
Karen: I'm hypersensitive to eye drops, for sure. I find that I generally have more success with preservative free drops, although even some of those are problematic for me.

Eva: Have any of you found moisturising drops which help.
Karen: I have been trying Soothe XP drops lately, and they seem to be working okay so far.

[brudni]

my answers to questions

I have everything you have plus SLK and am Stevens Johnson survivor.

My rosacea is especially bad this winter as I have had to spend a lot of time outside snowblowing.

1. Compresses made my condition worse. Cleansing and massaging with Rosacea Relief cleansing gel helps me better than anything else. I cleanse gently with warm not hot water when eyes are bothering me. This can be several times a day. I checked out the product and it is approved for use directly on the eyelid. There is no stinging and it is very soothing.

2. I take Clarinex every night which helps allergies, not too drying so far. This is prescription medication which provides 24hr. coverage for allergies. It works much better for me than any other medication, but everyone is different depending on your allergies. Clarinex does not work for my spouse or one of my children.

3. I find Thera Tears Liquid Gel, non preservative the least irritating and most soothing.

Good luck.

[NYer]

WARM compresses work fine and they don't aggrivate my eyes. Dr. Latkany told me not to use hot but warm is fine. He also said that you don't have to use the compresses at all...you can do the "eye spa" gland expressing when you get out of the shower.
He also suggests that if you do the warm compress, just do it once per day and use cool compresses to make your eyes feel better afterwards and during the day.

I don't think I'm hyper-sensitive to eye drops. I like Systane Preservative Free and also Tears Naturale Free ...both are made by Alcon.
I do not like Soothe, Dwelle, Dakrina, GenTeal, or TheraTears (and some others, which I can't recall).
When I saw Dr. Latkany, he put some yellow anesthetic drops in my eyes - I don't know what they were called - and I had no problem with those at all.

[eva b]

thanks, everyone, for your replies so far. Makes for very interesting reading.

NYer: do you have occular rosacea? if you do, I'm surprised you didn't react to the fluorescein dye, because Dr Latkany told me on his thread that rosacea sufferers usually have a bad reaction to it...lucky you!

[NYer]

Yes. I have occular rosacea as well as skin rosacea. I also have bleph, mgd, and allergic conjunctivitis according to Dr. Latkany. And I read his comment after I'd seen him and had that stuff in my eyes, so I was a bit taken aback by that. But I didn't have any reaction to it.