Very frustrating day yesterday.

[traveler]

Yesterday I was working with a friend helping him build a deck. While using a circular saw I ended up getting some sawdust in my left eye even though I was wearing safety glasses. As soon as I could I rinsed my eyes out with Bausch and Lomb eye wash and when I was in the shower I just adjusted the shower head to a trinkle with luke warm water and let it wash my eyes out for about 5 minutes. I am really sure that I got everything out and it doesn't feel like there is anything in my eyes. Prior to cleaning my eyes out my eyes didn't look bad. In fact they looked pretty good. They were bright and white. After cleaning my eyes out my eyes were very red and they still are pretty red this morning. Just to be safe I picked up some Tears Naturale preservative free ointment last night and used it before bed. I normally use Dwelle, Dakrina, & Nutratear but just wanted extra protection due to yesterdays incident. For the first time since my Lasik surgery 5 months ago my eyes were feeling pretty good and looking great. Now they look like they did right after surgery, though they do not hurt or feel bad. I hope everything returns back to normal in a few days. I am really frustrated with everything I am going to go and pick up some chemist style goggles for carpentry work as it is apparent that safety glasses are not enough and being that I am seemingly finally recovering from my Lasik surgery I don't want to do anything that might jeopardize my progress.

~Adam

[lasiksurvivor]

Break healing

If you are not feeling any pain when you get something in your eye like sawdust, your break may not have healed up yet. One of the things they do not tell you when you have lasik is that the cilliary nerve ending is broken when they make your flap and needs to heal back up before you will get normal sensation i. e. pain when your eye is irritated and your tear film will begin to rebuild correctly. I would definitely go see a competent opthamologist and hav your eyes looked at. Do not trust the post treatment people at the place you had your lasik done at. They are generally clueless. You must be very careful with any eye irritation until your cilliary nerve break grows back together. Usually takes 6 to 12 months although new lasers are supposed to reduce this.

[calli66]

Regular water from the shower, that you rinsed with, can be very irritating to the eyes. It's not "buffered" like sterile saline rinse. Then, the ointment, being oily, irritated and upset the tear balance too.

It might take a day or two to get back to normal. Best to go back to the drops and routine that were working for you before this happened.

Calli

[traveler]

Thank you for the replies. I started back using my Nutratear and Dakrina this morning and my eyes are feeling pretty good now. The color of my eyes is also nearly normal as well. Since having my Lasik I went to an opthamologist who is considered to be the best in my area. It so happens that he has had Lasik and has punctal plugs due to dryness so he understands what I am going through. I have seen him twice in addition to the 5 follow ups I had at the Lasik place. He has checked my eyes over thoroughly including retinal scanning and has said that my healing is going well though I have some minor visually insignificant striae in each eye. The Lasik place have never even mentioned the Striae in the flaps in my eyes. So no I do not trust them at all. They just tell me everything is "fine"....

[Rebecca Petris]

Sorry to hear what you went through.

A few years ago my daughter - who must have been about 3yo at the time - fell off a swing face down in the mulch. I probably used at least a bottle of saline rinsing bits of wood chips out of her eyes, one of which was bleeding. I remember being grateful that I always had unpreserved saline (Unisol 4) around for my contacts because having to flush with tap water leaves the eyes feeling so raw.

[rubyslippers]

Watch for infection for a few days. My doctor said any time you rinse with tap water (because it is not isotonic) you upset the balance and will be prone to eye infections. I am prone to eye infections and he told me to keep tap water out of my eyes and be sure to keep my eyes closed in the shower or my back to the shower head.