Update

[acarol]

Just returned from my appointment with Eye Doctor in my local eye clinic - saw a different Doctor there than the last time, the last Doctor told me use 'Celluvisc' drops for 3 months and return if the problem persisted - those drops actually made my eyes sting even more than normal as they are quite thick and stuck to my eyelashes. I obviously didn't wait the 3 months i rang them and got a closer appointment

Anyway the Doctor today seemed to think the problem lies in my eye lids and this is causing the dryness. He told me to use 'Chloromycetin' ointment at night for two weeks and artifical tears during the day. None of the other Eye Doctors or Opticians i've been to have mentioned a problem with my eye lids.. Soo soo confused over this annoying, life alterating problem and i keep getting told different things from 'oh theres nothing that can be done for you' to 'your tear film needs to stabilise'.

Has anyone any experience with this ointment? I also have to cleanse with baby shampoo every morning and night. I just don't want to use something (else)that will make my eyes dryer or worse than they already are.

[lasiksurvivor]

Diagnosis

I think your doctors need to give you more information about your condition in other words a diagnosis. I had the same problem with the lousy post treatment I got from the people who did my Lasik. I finally gave up on them and went to one of the doctors a person who actually cared about getting me help referred. Generally the eyelid scrub is for people who have blepharitis or Memobian (probably spelled really wrong!) gland disorder. There are a number of threads that go into these conditions on this website. In short what happens is the pores that secrete oil onto your eyeball are at the edge of your eyelid. If these get plugged up, you don't get the oil onto your eyeball. No big deal? Thats what I thought. Turns out the oil is extremely important as it helps things stick to your eyeball and helps keep your tear film stable. No oil equals rapid tear film break up, your eye gets dry and as I understand it starts to produce water which is great to keep things wet but is a terrible fluid to try to see things from. Light starts bouncing off the water in all directions and you end up with starbursts. As things worsen you get ghost images that can be moved around if you squint and then hard ghost images that won't move. This all happened to me because no one at the Lasik place explained what was going on. The scrubs and warm compresses are designed to unplug your eyelid glands and promote the flow of oil onto your eye. If the edges of your eyelids are slightly swollen then you may have blepharitis. I would suggest asking your doctor what condition he is treating and what your tearfilm break up time is. They put drops in your eye and then use a colored light to measure this. At my worst I was around one second which is really bad. I'm now up over 15 which is much better. Didn't see where you lived but Dr. Janice Jurkus at the Illinois Eye Institute in Chicago is an excellent provider and I've had great luck with doctors who practice at University hospitals.

Hope this helps

[acarol]

Thanks for your advice - i think the Doctor just decided i had Conjunctivitis bacause my eye lashes were all clogged up from the Celluvisc drops i was using. Even though i told him that they clog up my lashes and he said no they wouldn't clog up the top lashes that much as drops usually fall to the bottom lids!

He examined my eyes using the slit lamp and pushed against my eye lashes and said that the problem seems to be my eye lids.

I live in Ireland and the health care is awful, i've been to a private eye specialist aswell and she didn't seem to be able to give me any answers either.

[rhad]

That's sad to hear that their is so much confusion with what your eye doctors are telling you, but I know what you mean, every opthamolagist that I have gone to has told me the same exact thing. we don't know why people get dry eye, and their is no cure, it is just manageable with warm compresses and lid scrubs....i hate hearing the same thing over and over again, the opthamologists just say the same exact thing that they all memorized from a text book... it's frustrating sometimes, and this condition is no walk in the park, it is difficult, it literally makes life extremely difficult. Im only a 20yr old male with this condition, so i know it is sooo hard... I actually have found more relief from not using drops and not doing warm compresses, and lid scrubs, because they seem to just irritate my eyelids even more, and the drops dry them out further then they already are. I am working on a cure, If i find the cure for my MGD/Blepharitis, (I think I am close, only time will tell), I will share it with everyone I can.

Rhad

[acarol]

[QUOTE=rhad;31509]That's sad to hear that their is so much confusion with what your eye doctors are telling you, but I know what you mean, every opthamolagist that I have gone to has told me the same exact thing. we don't know why people get dry eye, and their is no cure, it is just manageable with warm compresses and lid scrubs....i hate hearing the same thing over and over again, the opthamologists just say the same exact thing that they all memorized from a text book... it's frustrating sometimes, and this condition is no walk in the park, it is difficult, it literally makes life extremely difficult. Im only a 20yr old male with this condition, so i know it is sooo hard... I actually have found more relief from not using drops and not doing warm compresses, and lid scrubs, because they seem to just irritate my eyelids even more, and the drops dry them out further then they already are. I am working on a cure, If i find the cure for my MGD/Blepharitis, (I think I am close, only time will tell), I will share it with everyone I can.

Oh if you do find a cure please let us know - i would do almost anything at this stage. I stopped using the Celluvisc drops yest that i had being using for 6 weeks (on the advise of the Eye Doctor) and i found that while my eyes were still dry they didn't sting as bad. Any treatment i've tried just seems to fail miserably and i'm usually back to square one again. I might just try cleansing the eye lids with baby shampoo twice a day and using artifical tears and see how that goes. I'm beginning to think the less i have to put into my eyes the better - those drops Celluvisc drops were only making my situation worse - when they dried it was like glue on my eyes.

[Plat]

Hi, what is your diet like? Do you eat healthy or do you eat a lot of inflammatory foods. My diet is/was really bad. I eat/ate the opposite of a healthy diet. I started eating fruits, vegs, fish for the first time in years.

[stella]

Hi acarol
Chloramycetin(chloramphenicol) -they are one and the same thing - This antibiotic eye ointment has revolutionized my life
I use it every night on a q tip and apply to LID MARGINS ONLY - I put a little smear of vasaline on my outer eyelids cause they are v dry,though at first i smeared a little of the antibiotic ointment on the outer lids as well - for a coule of months ,then i thought if i am going to use antibiotic ointment longterm i'll use the minimum so now its only on the lid margins
After repeated use for 6 months now - i have my blepharitis under control and never use drops in the daytime anymore
Treating the blepharitis (MGD) has cured my dry eye - my optician tells me i have no more "holes" in my tear film - which in turn means i dont have the painful symptoms that drove me mad
Go for it and use the ointment after you do eyelid hygiene last thing at night and i wish you every success
You may have to do the eyelid thing at night indefinately - so what if it gives you the relief you need

[acarol]

Hi stella,

Its great that your feeling better - its always so reassuring to hear of success stories - it gives me hope.

I think i used too much of the ointment last night as a lot of it got into my eyes and they feel quite dry 2day - i will use just a tiny bit tonight along the lid margins, do you find it gets into your eyes though? I don't have q tips but i guess a cotton bud would be ok to use would it?

[acarol]

Hi, what is your diet like? Do you eat healthy or do you eat a lot of inflammatory foods. My diet is/was really bad. I eat/ate the opposite of a healthy diet. I started eating fruits, vegs, fish for the first time in years.

No i eat quite healthy now (i don't think i had a very unhealthy diet before, maybe not enough veg though), i have increased fruit and veg a lot - i eat carrots, broccoli and green beans most days with dinner plus during the day avocoda, apple, kiwi, plum, i've also started drinking carrot juice and flaxseed oil. Don't drink much alcohol anymore and have increased water intake.

[lasiksurvivor]

Flaxseed

Probably wouldn't hurt to take some flaxseed in pill form or in solid. It's supposed to help you make oil for your eyes. The reported effects vary widely so it may or may not help. My doctor told me to avoid Omega 3 fish oil which is supposed to do the same thing but may cause an eye irritation due to an allergic reaction? Not sure about the last part, I only focused on take flaxseed only. The curent doctor I am seeing also thought I might need a stitch at the edge of each eyelid to reduce the surface area of my eye that is exposed to air. Thank God I got better and didn't need to do this, I was worried it would make me look odd.

All best and God Bless

[bernmee]

Do you suffer from a rosecea? It is where your facial skin gets red and flushed easily. It is something that affects Irish and British people especially.

I have always suspected I had rosacea as my mother and her family had it, and my skin gets very red at times. Turns out I have MGD and my oil glnds in both eyes blocked. The strange thing is my eyes never bothered me, until I had Lasik in one eye and am now in terrible pain in that one post Lasik eye.

Is there any chance you could have rosacea?

B.

[acarol]

[QUOTE=bernmee;31547]Do you suffer from a rosecea? It is where your facial skin gets red and flushed easily. It is something that affects Irish and British people especially.

I have always suspected I had rosacea as my mother and her family had it, and my skin gets very red at times. Turns out I have MGD and my oil glnds in both eyes blocked. The strange thing is my eyes never bothered me, until I had Lasik in one eye and am now in terrible pain in that one post Lasik eye.

Is there any chance you could have rosacea?

No i don't suffer from Rosecea and i don't know if i have MGD either? How would i know if i had blocked glands? I tried the steaming and squeezing around the lids but nothing comes out. The last Doctor i went to see said the problem seems to be the eye lids but he didn't specify what the problem was - just to use ointment for 2 weeks - i'm using the ointment but it seems to be irrating my eyes further. I WISH i could just get a correct diagnoises or have i simply 'just developed dry eyes' like one Optician told me.