Anyone find their dry eye is BETTER with contact lenses in?

[faithlies]

I've been suffering with dry eyes for several months now.

Started off with viral conjunctivitis, I developed or was already allergic to the preservatives in the drops/gels I was prescribed. I'm a full-time lens wearer and couldn't wear lenses for around a month while my eyes were absolute agony/bloodshot/dry even with the Viscotears I was given.

I've ended up allergic to the all-in-one contact lens solution I'd been using for about nine years.

Been back in lenses for a good month now, vision is good, get the odd feeling of dryness while they are in, but feel like I've got to the bottom of things and my optician agrees.

My eyes are good in my lenses and I'm now using peroxide solution. I probably notice the odd red vein more than I used to, but otherwise no problems and I very rarely use Refresh and sometimes a water spray on my face while in lenses.

BUT -- my eyes are red and they burn when I take my lenses OUT -- whether it's night or day.

Optician says she suffers the same thing and that she believes the lens protects the eye like a bandage and prevents evaporation. Take the lenses out, and my eyes are instantly slightly red and they are sore within seconds.

Refresh and Celluvisc soothe them a bit once lenses are out but I don't think I could cope wearing glasses for a full day.

Anyone else experience this? I wear silicon hydrogel lenses and have done for several years. Optician says these are suitable to dry eye conditions due to lower moisture content and doesn't recommend changing them.

I'm just concerned that I'll never be able to get along WITHOUT my lenses, when a couple of months ago I thought I'd never be able to wear them again!

Oh - and my optician was so impressed with my knowledge of dry eye, thanks to all of your help, guidance and knowledge folks. She says she's going to check the site out herself

[kimby2007]

Contact lenses

I too wear contact lenses. My MD is Dr. Latanky and he says that the lens serves as a bandage for my eyes. He compared it to putting plastic over a puddle, the tears spread over the cornea with a contact lens. Sometimes I get tired of wearing contacts but heck if it helps it helps.

[faithlies]

Hi Kcoffiner

Does Dr Latkany say there is anything you can do to improve your dry eye both in and out of lenses?

I'm considering trying anti-bacterial soap as my eyelids are often a bit puffy and my optician said I have a few blocked meibomian glands, not sure if that will help?

Warm compresses seem to irritate more or at least make my eyes more red and the eyelids more puffy.

[Zarla]

I too find my dry eyes usually feel better with lenses, although there are days when one eye won't tolerate them. But this isn't a popular opinion on this board so you might find you get a lot of 'real dry eye patients can't wear contacts' type reponses quite soon!

[kimby2007]

Contacts

Hi: I will ask Dr.L next visit I have with him since I get tired of wearing my contacts day in day out. Best wishes!

[faithlies]

Thanks Zarla.

I have the utmost respect for the opinions of peeps on this board, but I've also got to go with what my optician tells me and what works for me -- and that's that my eyes are dry and sore without lenses!

I feel lucky to have been seen by an optician who suffers similar probs, at least I don't feel like it's all psychological any more!!!

[calli66]

I used to experience the same thing before I quit wearing contacts altogether---my eyes used to feel better IN contacts, and felt truly awful as soon as I took them out. That was my reason for continuing to wear contacts, and it worked for awhile, until last year. The inflammation get worse and so my contacts were always going opaque from too much mucous and debris--not good! I really wasn't seeing well.

If you get to that intolerable stage with contact-wearing, you'll quit. You'll probably keep trying to wear them as long as possible, like I did. It took me a least a month OUT of lenses before my cornea and tear layer stabilized without the contacts---then my eyes felt OK.

I could never wear the silicon hydrogel type lenses---my doctor told me they don't "wet" very well, and so there's quite a bit of friction and rubbing on the cornea. I could wear higher water content type lenses, but they seemed to collect all my inflammation debris and didn't last very long.

Calli

[shoebox]

Wow!

To me this looks like just another example of how incredibly different we all are!! Maybe I'll ask about hydrogel contacts for special occasion use if I ever get my eyes able to wear contacts at all!
Thank you for posting this, faithlies

[Amy09]

faithlies, I'm going to have to disagree with you a little. I also used to believe that my contacts made my eyes better. I have had problems with dry eye since I was 14 years old, but up until I was 17, my eyes actually felt worse when I took my contacts out, too (ex. extra burning and redness). When contacts became absolutely intolerable though, and I was forced to no longer wear them by my opthalmologist, I eventually learned that the extra pain, burning, and redness that my eyes were experiencing w/out contacts were just "withdrawl symptoms" of no longer having the contacts over them (i know this is an extreme comparison, but try to compare it to addicts that experience extra, painful symptoms when trying to get over an addiction). Within a year my eyes felt much better without contacts (when I tried wearing contacts during my senior prom I was in sooo much pain). To this day, four years later, I'm glad I stopped wearing contacts before my eyes had a chance to get even worse. I'm just letting you know this because I would want your eyes to become worse as well. Just my two cents.

[atta]

scleral lenses?

Hi,
if you can tolerate contact lenses, maybe you should try scleral lenses.

[stephgurl1986]

My doc told me to start wearing soft silicone contacts to improve the evaporation. I'm very sceptical about all these things as I used to wear contacts (but with high water content) over years and that probably caused my dry eyes. I haven't worn the silicone ones long enough to say whether they improve my condition or not but I'm sure it helps some people, Dr. G (see forum) was very sure about this.

[atta]

My experiment

If I wear soft contact lenses in only one eye. This eye feels more comfortable as the other one. And it doesnt get redder as the other (they are both with red veins).
After 40 min I removed it. The other eye got much redder.
(I didnt wear contact lenses for more than 8 years. Contact lenese arent the reason for my dry eyes.)

[stephgurl1986]

Okay, so I wore my contacts for 4 hours today and my eyes felt quite good BUT now, after taking them out they hurt (but I think this is because it took me over 30mins to get them out...I have real problems with that, I have to press on my eyes to get them out somehow which means I have to press on my blood vessels...any ideas?)

[Marina26]

******g the problem

I have to say that I felt the same way for a few months, as soon as I took my contacts out I would feel the discomfort. I think that the contact is ******g the damage. And in my opinion it continues to damage your eye until you can't tolerate the contact at all. I have been out of contacts for over 2 months and won't go back until I get this under control. I don't want to risk any more damage.
I've read contacts desensitises the eye, which slows tear production?

[atta]

Hi stephgurl

I usually take drop before I remove them. And I dont press them but rub them together with 2 fingers.
(Zeigefinger und Mittelfinger an rechten und linken Enden, gegeneinander drücken damit die Linses aufstehen.)
By the way, does the redness on the corner of your eyes disappear already?