Sticky Tears??

[LasikLady]

I don't know if it's the new upper plugs or the fact I've been doing the hot compresses with the rice baggie, but lately my tears seem so sticky. When I touch my tears and put my fingers together it's sticky like there is a bit of sugar in my tears or something? Maybe it's the extra oil? It's strange. Lately my eyes seem wetter but burn a bit more and my eye lids are still itchy-burny at times. Overall my eye dryness has diminished and that feels good but they burn more and my eye lids now have the problem. So I kind of feel I swapped some of the eye symptoms for a dermatological situation. Which is worse? I don' t know. Probably the eyes I think, for now. I'm still hanging in here and hoping I continue to improve with the new plugs. I was sleeping with vaseline on my eye lids and under them and that could be cause for the extra burning. I remember my eyes feeling like this once when I tried to sleep with eye ointment. I will give that up tonight and see if I notice a difference in the morning. But why the sticky tears all of a sudden? Maybe the vaseline getting in my eyes at night. Or the compresses are bringing out the oils. Who knows.

[dianat]

Don't use Vaseline or any petrolatum product in your eyes. This could be part of the problem. Petrolatum makes me suffer terribly. Dr. Holly seconds my instinctive notion that it does not mix well with tears. There must be a mild moisturizer out there you could try for your lids. Have you asked the docs?

[dianat]

I just remembered one thing that might be worth trying...aloe?? I wonder what the docs would say about pure aloe for eye lids.

I recall reading something long ago about aloe being soothing to the eyes.

[Lucy]

Lasik Lady,
After using your drops, take a wet tissue and wipe over your closed eyes and it will take any excess drop moisture off and possibly eliminate the problem.
It is worth a try. Lucy

[LasikLady]

Thanks for your suggestions. I will give them a try!

[Jade9923]

If you are not doing this, please try to do eyelash cleansing with a diluted solution of baby shampoo and water. Make sure you get a lather going on your eyelashes and then rinse them throughly. This was an enormous problem for me in the beginning. Keeping the eyelashes as clean as the hair on your head is a must. Lid cleansing totally eliminated the burning and sticky feeling. I continue to do baby shampoo scrubs 5 times a day for the last 16 years. If I don't, the sticky debris and buring start again. Please give this a try if you have no done so already.

[LasikLady]

Really? Would this help me even though my dry eye is from Lasik? I don't have any other conditions that I know of. I will try it if there is a chance for it to help even though I don't have eye lid conditions.
Thanks for the suggestion