Topical antibiotics caused my dry eye damage

[rubyslippers]

Has anyone had experience with this? I used Vigamox 3 courses in 7 weeks and the doctor says this caused my dry eye syndrome. Does anyone know if I can expect improvement? I have not used the Vigamox for nearly 4 weeks and have been unable to wear contacts for 2 weeks. Today my eyes felt some better until I tried my gas permeable contacts for only 5 minutes and my eyes went crazy with burning. Has anyone experienced topical antibiotic dry eye? What was your experience?

[eva b]

yes, ruby, I can absolutely identify with this, although most eye docs will deny this is possible.

There is even a name for it "medicamentosa".

I never had any problems with my eyes at all (except age related reading glasses being necessary) until I got some irritation in my right eye, then blurring of vision, and started seeing specialists.

They diagnosed, variously, blepharitis, herpes infection, corneal scarring of "unknown origin"...none of them could say with any certainty what had caused the original problem, and no-one ever saw any active infection, but I was nevertheless treated with various antibiotics, antivirals, steroids drops, moisture drops, and of course the combined anaesthetic/fluorescein drops they used every time I went and was examined, which amounted to dozens of visits.

My eyes continued to get worse and worse, in terms of burning and stinging and dryness, and I'm quite convinced that it was all caused by a build up of the various medications.

I am now unable to tolerate any moisturising drops, even preservative free, or any chemicals at all in my eyes.

The thing that has helped me most has been warm compresses twice a day, gentle lid massage and cleansing, and wearing glasses indoors at all times to protect the eye surface, and foam lined goggles when I go outside and it's windy, or if I'm in air-conditioned spaces.

Your eyes will recover, but in my opinion, you need to stop putting anything in them unless it's absolutely necessary. At one time, an eye doc wanted to prescribe an anti-viral ointment, and when I refused point blank, he reluctantly agreed that the oral route was an alternative - not perfect, but a possibility.

I would certainly give them a rest from contact lenses, in my experience once the eyes have been irritated it takes them some time to settle down again, and they do it best if you leave them to rest.

Sorry if this comes across as a lecture it's certainly not intended as such, and I wish you all the best.

[faithlies]

Since I was diagnosed with viral conjunctivitis eight weeks ago, I've been unable to wear lenses.

I've ended up allergic to my contact lens solution and all preservatives in eye drops.

I've been wearing my lenses without problems for nine years now and it's only now I've become allergic to my lens solution. My dry eye problems started a few weeks into using chloramphenicol, FML and Viscotears (with preservative) I didn't know about the problems that can be caused by preservatives until reading this site.

I'm convinced it was the medications that have caused my dry eyes -- caused by the sensitivity to preservatives.

I've now found my eyes are best when I'm putting nothing in them - not even preservative-free drops.

Optician diagnosed some blocked meibomian glands yesterday, and the warm compresses are providing fantastic relief. My eyes were clear this morning when I woke up, I did five minute compresses and I've spent the past hour in the garden.

My eyes are still clear and I've used no drops at all this morning.


I'll keep persevering and only using preservative free drops when the feeling is unbearable, but I think the warm compresses are doing the trick with the glands and my eyes really don't feel dry this morning at all and are not red at all.

I've got my lenses now soaking in peroxide solution and I've been told to put them in today if my eyes are clear.

I'll let you all know how I get on

[eva b]

just read your post Faith, and you reminded me...I would say my dry eye problems really REALLY got worse after being forced to use Chloramphenicol ointment for 5 days after a minor surgery to remove a chalazion.

Even though I told the surgeon I'd had bad reactions to it and other medications in the past, she told me "if you don't use it you'll get a really bad infection and they you'll really be in trouble"....it used to burn hideously for about 2 hours each time I put it in. So I stopped after 3 days of the torture, didn't get an infection, and lived to tell the tale.

BUT, it was the finally straw as far as my dry eye status was concerned, and it was downhill from then on.

So be very careful.

[rubyslippers]

My doctor admits it was the meds but said they could not be avoided. The bacterial pink eye in this area is very antibiotic resistant and virulent. I know he did not do this on purpose, but I am angry that I got this on top of my being hearing impaired. Thanks to all the posters on this thread. You give me hope as well as hints. I have noticed that the less I put in my eye, the better, with the exception of the Soothe which really does help.

[kkahthesea]

vigamox

Hi Ruby,
How are your eyes doing now? any better? I put just one drop of Vigamox in my eyes and my eyes felt dry and very irritated! It's been a week and they still feel dry and irritated. But my eyes are hyper sensitive to any drops. I'm wondering if this dry, irritated feeling will go away.
Karen

[NYer]

I used topical azithromycin drops -"Azasite" - this past week and it had a terrible effect and after-effect on my eyes. It made them dryer and very sore. I stopped the treatment after 4 days. It has now been 4 days since I stopped. My eyes are better but still worse than they were before I started the Azasite. And they LOOK terrible. The lids are pink, the rims are red and I have shadows under my eyes.
So, YES. Antibiotics can cause havoc with your eyes.

[rubyslippers]

I used the Vigamox for a course in Dec., again mid-January, and again in early February. It is now nearing the end of March and I have had considerable improvement in the last week. In fact, I hardly dared to believe I could feel this good. I still have some dry eye and some feeling that something is in my eye at times. I am on the second pair gas permeable contacts of what the dr. feels will be a series of of 4 pair. I had severe corneal shaping and even though I have not worn that pair of contacts for 5 weeks, my vision continues to get worse. I am on my third pair of glasses since mid-January. The good news is that I can wear the contacts at a comfort level of 90-95% for about 4-5 hours. Then if I take them out for an hour or 2, I can manage another 5 hours. I have to wear reading glasses with them due to the fact that my prescription keeps changing. He is designing my contacts to allow considerably better tear flow over and around them. If I put my old contacts on I cannot bear them for even 2 minutes, but these are much better. PROGRESS!!!

I feel that the hot compresses and fish oil helped soooo much! Running a humidifier in every place I spend time helps an awful lot too. I did try to go for a walk on a breezy day last Wed. for 15 minutes and the dry eye returned with a vengeance for the rest of that day. I have been faithfully using Soothe eye drops which are supposed to last for 8 hours without reapplication (Walmart had them) on my doctor's recommendation. They really do seem far superior to the others. I use Gen-Teal gel at night.

Anyway, I doubt I will ever be back to pre-medication comfort, but I am no longer in horrible despair. I had about 3 weeks that were so rough that I could only sit in the dark and cry in the evenings and I have a pretty high pain/discomfort tolerance. I hope old age does not bring this back to me. My doctor told me that because I am mid-way through menopause, that certainly exacerbated things.

Oh yes---very important. I could not figure out why every other day was bad and every other day better. Duh!! I was taking Prilosec for my stomach every other day. A side effect can be dry eye. Got off that right away.

[rubyslippers]

Just an update. I continue to improve. Wore my contacts for 13 hours yesterday. The doctor never thought I would get that far. I am to get new contacts tomorrow which are designed for increased tear flow, tomorrow!

[eva b]

progress indeed

So pleased to hear you're maing progress - little short of miraculous
amazing how much effect other medications can have on our eyes, though...

[kkahthesea]

Hi Ruby,
Glad to hear you're getting better. My eye still hurts after using just a little Vigamox... but it's still less than 2 weeks.
I found an article about how bad Vigamox is for eyes (even more toxic to the occular surface than BAK preserved drops!)
It really scared me. But if you are healing from 3 courses of it, it certainly gives me hope that I will heal too.
I've had a rough year with various drops on my eyes, all causing me much discomfort and anxiety...so anytime something changes the way my eye feels (negatively) it always scares me into thinking it will be permanent.
But I guess eyes can and do heal themselves over time. Keep us posted about your progress!
Karen

[Randal]

I'm curious: What are these new contacts for increased tear flow? Are they still gas-perm (hard) contacts?

Thanks.

Randal

Just an update. I continue to improve. Wore my contacts for 13 hours yesterday. The doctor never thought I would get that far. I am to get new contacts tomorrow which are designed for increased tear flow, tomorrow!

[rubyslippers]

Yes, they are gas permeable but made to fit with the curve instead of a flatter fit like I have worn for years. When you have the flatter fit, it shapes your cornea giving you very crisp vision, but the tears do not flow well at all down and over your eye. As my eyes adapt to each pair (about 10 days each) he then gets me a new pair that fits even in a more curved fashion. I continue to improve constantly. My dry eye only bothers a few hours here and there now, and even then it is mild. Still cannot go for a walk in the wind or run the heater in the car, but each couple of days is better than the previous couple of days. I can wear my contacts 10-14 hours per day with reasonable comfort most of the time. We are still working on getting the vision more acute but he promises me that in the next couple of months we will get there. I use reading glasses to make up the difference for now. I was so horribly distressed only weeks ago, that every day I am so thankful for good optometric care.

[Randal]

This sounds like an interesting process that you're going through. I'm on my third set of RGPs as I go through something similar, but my optometrist isn't focusing so much on tear flow underneath the lenses. (Maybe he should be?)

Have you noticed that if your vision isn't too crisp but you then add drops, your vision then improves (if only temporarily)? I'm experiencing that with my current pair, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it, other than that perhaps dry eye is leading to an incomplete "tear lens" underneath the RGPs and that my optometrist should be giving this more attention. Any thoughts?

In any event, congratulations on your steady and ongoing progress.

Randal

Yes, they are gas permeable but made to fit with the curve instead of a flatter fit like I have worn for years. When you have the flatter fit, it shapes your cornea giving you very crisp vision, but the tears do not flow well at all down and over your eye. As my eyes adapt to each pair (about 10 days each) he then gets me a new pair that fits even in a more curved fashion. I continue to improve constantly. My dry eye only bothers a few hours here and there now, and even then it is mild. Still cannot go for a walk in the wind or run the heater in the car, but each couple of days is better than the previous couple of days. I can wear my contacts 10-14 hours per day with reasonable comfort most of the time. We are still working on getting the vision more acute but he promises me that in the next couple of months we will get there. I use reading glasses to make up the difference for now. I was so horribly distressed only weeks ago, that every day I am so thankful for good optometric care.

[rubyslippers]

The curved ones were not enough to do the trick. A couple of months ago they fit me with Synergeyes and they are so comfortable that I can wear them from when I get up to when I go to bed. When they are in, I have virtually NO dry eye symtoms and have excellent vision. When they are out I do have dry eye. On the weekends when I don't get them put in for an hour or so after waking, my eyes burn (menthol feeling) and are quite gritty. The instant I put them in, all symptoms go away. The nice thing is that the longer I have them, even the time without them in is now better and my eyes are gettiing better in general. They are being used to treat dry eye and I know several people who have had the same result as I have had. They are a hard gas permeable contacted embedded in a soft contact skirt so the hard part is held slightly off the eye and it traps fluid to the eye under that. I was skeptical when I heard about them being used for dry eye, but I am 100% sold.