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Hello Dr. Bazan,
Thank you very much for your time here! I apologize for the lengthy post, but want to provide you some history. I am now 18 months post LASIK. I wore contacts for 20 years before the surgery. My vision is great 20/15 in both eyes since LASIK. I had the usual dry eye after LASIK for several months, used Systane 10X daily then started Restasis 5 months post LASIK. TBUT were around 7 seconds before Restasis in both eyes. About 5 months after starting Restasis, I developed eye pain, mostly under the upper eye lids. Not the usual dryness I was feeling before but now real pain, especially late afternoon and evening. Back to my doctor and then started Doxy 100mg, 2x day for 4 months, fish oils, warm compresses, scrubs. I'm now getting TBUT in the 12-15 second range. I am now on doxy 100mg 1x/day and continue to take oils, Restasis, Systane 4-6x/ day. The pain is better. Some days I have "Normal eyes" where I feel like I did before LASIK. Then I'll have a day or so where I have pains behind the upper lids. My doctor says That there is no evidence of MGD or Bleph, nor has there ever been evidence, but the Doxy seems to help a lot. I was on a Beta Blocker for elevated blood pressure before LASIK and post LASIK. After doing much research, I just went off it and started new medication (Calcium Channel Blocker) 2 days ago. Beta Blockers (Inderal) has a side effect of dry/sore eyes. I'm hoping this will make a difference. Too soon to tell as of now, although I did have a good mostly pain-free eye day today. Wow... sorry for the long post.
My questions are, why do you think the eye pain started 10 months after LASIK (6 months after Restasis).
Is this type of eye pain a result of typical dry eyes?
Can the Restasis cause this numbing pain as a side effect?
I actually can get evening headaches from this pain, but rarely. The pain truly feels like eye strain! My TBUT is about 12-15 seconds and the other tests for tear generation appear normal as they did pre-LASIK. I am on the computer daily for 6-8 hours, but I do take breaks. When I apply warm compresses to my lids, I can instantly feel the tears flowing from my lids. Mornings are usually good, some dryness after the shower then wet again until pain starts around 4-6 pm most days. I just started GenTeal eye gel. That seems to work well although my vision is blurry for 5 minutes after using it.
Can stress cause the symptoms also?
When I'm stressed, my eyes hurt even more. I try not to stress much! ;-) My LASIK surgeon and my optometrist seem to feel that the dry eye is minor from the test results, but I feel these pains almost daily. I hardly ever have what I would consider dry eyes where they actually feel dry. I just get this dull numbing pain mostly under the upper lids. I may try plugs at the recommendation of my optometrist. I welcome any advice or suggestions. I understand it's difficult not seeing me as a patient. Thanks!
Thank you very much for your time here! I apologize for the lengthy post, but want to provide you some history. I am now 18 months post LASIK. I wore contacts for 20 years before the surgery. My vision is great 20/15 in both eyes since LASIK. I had the usual dry eye after LASIK for several months, used Systane 10X daily then started Restasis 5 months post LASIK. TBUT were around 7 seconds before Restasis in both eyes. About 5 months after starting Restasis, I developed eye pain, mostly under the upper eye lids. Not the usual dryness I was feeling before but now real pain, especially late afternoon and evening. Back to my doctor and then started Doxy 100mg, 2x day for 4 months, fish oils, warm compresses, scrubs. I'm now getting TBUT in the 12-15 second range. I am now on doxy 100mg 1x/day and continue to take oils, Restasis, Systane 4-6x/ day. The pain is better. Some days I have "Normal eyes" where I feel like I did before LASIK. Then I'll have a day or so where I have pains behind the upper lids. My doctor says That there is no evidence of MGD or Bleph, nor has there ever been evidence, but the Doxy seems to help a lot. I was on a Beta Blocker for elevated blood pressure before LASIK and post LASIK. After doing much research, I just went off it and started new medication (Calcium Channel Blocker) 2 days ago. Beta Blockers (Inderal) has a side effect of dry/sore eyes. I'm hoping this will make a difference. Too soon to tell as of now, although I did have a good mostly pain-free eye day today. Wow... sorry for the long post.
My questions are, why do you think the eye pain started 10 months after LASIK (6 months after Restasis).
Is this type of eye pain a result of typical dry eyes?
Can the Restasis cause this numbing pain as a side effect?
I actually can get evening headaches from this pain, but rarely. The pain truly feels like eye strain! My TBUT is about 12-15 seconds and the other tests for tear generation appear normal as they did pre-LASIK. I am on the computer daily for 6-8 hours, but I do take breaks. When I apply warm compresses to my lids, I can instantly feel the tears flowing from my lids. Mornings are usually good, some dryness after the shower then wet again until pain starts around 4-6 pm most days. I just started GenTeal eye gel. That seems to work well although my vision is blurry for 5 minutes after using it.
Can stress cause the symptoms also?
When I'm stressed, my eyes hurt even more. I try not to stress much! ;-) My LASIK surgeon and my optometrist seem to feel that the dry eye is minor from the test results, but I feel these pains almost daily. I hardly ever have what I would consider dry eyes where they actually feel dry. I just get this dull numbing pain mostly under the upper lids. I may try plugs at the recommendation of my optometrist. I welcome any advice or suggestions. I understand it's difficult not seeing me as a patient. Thanks!
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