exasperated..whats next to try

[Jen72]

I am 7 weeks post Lasek and have severely dry painful eyes. I saw my Dr. today, she put in 4 punctal plugs about three weeks ago, started Restasis 4 weeks ago, stopped steroid 10 days ago and I still have very dry eyes. The Dr. said that I am her most severe case (great), she expected tears to be running down my face from the plugs, etc. No, that just does not happen, still dry. I am starting on Freshkote and Elestat (allergies may be a contributor) today. Just dont know when this will get better, frustrated that this is happening to me, and feel like I am this unusual case now. Any feedback, any similar experiences. would love to hear form you.

[dianat]

Well, Jen, unfortunately you are not an unusual case in this forum. But there is a lot of hope for you, my friend. You are so very close to your surgery. Your eyes have a great deal of healing to do in the next many months.

The treatments you are using currently seem a great plan for you, though I might also recommend Dwelle for nighttime use.

In addition, start on omega fatty acid supplements and warm compresses. Take good care of yourself, rest, maybe get some exercise.

I know you'll get plenty more suggestions...

Dianat

[Jen72]

thank you Diana- I read your story and its commendable how you have dealt with all of this. Its really unfortunate that you are even in this position over a procedure that is actually supposed to improve your life! I hope that you get better. I do hope that my situation improves with healing, did you notice even a slight improvement over 3 mos, 6 mos.? After seeing the Dr. I feel even more anxious due to her surprise of my lack of tears. I will try to have a good holiday weekend and get my mind off of it. I hope you can do the same

[dianat]

Jen,

Keeping your mind off your eyes is key, but very difficult. "My story" you read is now rather old news. While it's completely accurate, there have passed about 3 years since then that I have not yet recorded. A follow-up is in order.

To date I am certainly not at my pre-LASIK state...not even close. My eyes require constant attention. But, I have come nearly full circle from where I was in those very early years. My eyes went from burning unmanageable to manageable.

I now live my life as I always did, care for my eyes the best I can and have adjusted to the fact that given the current pharmaceutical products available, they are as good as they will get.

I hesitate to say too much about my "travels" in all this because everyone with dry eye (refractive surgery-induced or not) is very different. I do know people who truly believed they were in this dry eye thing for the long haul, and ultimately graduated happily from this bulletin board never to be heard from again. I will pray this to be you as well.

So, read all you want here but concentrate on what you can do to make yourself feel better, not on the struggles of the posters here. The members of DEZ are the best folks you'll find anywhere, and will be very supportive of you despite their own struggles. I daresay we actually have fun.

My best to you and welcome to the forum. (Lesson #1: be sure to check out Hangus' avatar.)

[bernmee]

Jen,

Please don't panic. You are not an unusal case, and as hard as it is to hear you are only 7 weeks post surgery, though I bet you have gone through 7 hells within this time.

i am four months post surgery, I am just ahead of you, but I hear so much of my story in yours. It took me four weeks of crying in my surgeons chair pleading for help, and all I heard was how atypical I was, how he had never seen a case like mine before. This caused me anxiety, fear and despair, I thought there was no hope. That sort of talk will not help you at all, so do not think about it. It was thanks to the information on this site that I was able to request, and get plugs, my Lasik surgeon for some reason was very slow to acknowledge what was going on with my case. But as you see from this site there are many cases, however we all improve to some extent or another.

I look back on my first 6 weeks and I don't know I got through it, well I do, valium. However, I have a long way to go before I am better, but I am so much better then when I was then, and all this is within 4 months. So you will be to. What you must do though is take control of your own health, read through as many posts as you can and get ideas for your own treatment. When I am having a bad day i remind myself how much better I am now then I was then, and in four months time I will be that much better again, it usually works

When I got my plugs it was two weeks before I had my first tear fall out. I was wearing an eye patch, lifted my patch to show everyone, it was a great moment. That probably happened in week 10/11 after Lasik. When I started to produce tear it felt like my eye was in a bath of water. Now I have days where I have to wipe away tear...nice!

The next thing I discovered was genteal pm gel (not ointment) That got me through the night in terms of moisture, I was also having erosions so night time moisture was what predicted my daytime comfort. Ask your Dr. if you can use this.

i swtiched Dr. as I felt my Lasik Dr. wasn't being honest with me, and he recommended Rebecca's rice baggy, another life saver. i can't say enough good things about this for immediate pain relief. i know alot of the veterans use it. It is so simple yet so effective.

Next is your diet. You must take Omega 3 oils and try to stick to an anti-inflammatory diet http://nutrition.about.com/od/dietsf...inflamfood.htm

If you want to understand "dry eye" Dr. Robert L's book from the dry eye store is a good read, or you could order it from the library.

Please don't take to heart what your Dr. is saying, maybe he/she has never seen a case like you before but if they were to do a little research on the internet they would see that it is not unusal. But you will get better. I can say this from personal experience as I to am on that slow, and painful journey of getting better. While it may be slow it wil et better, its just hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

You are in the right place here for getting help. Keep doing your research until you find the combination that works for you.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

[lasiksurvivor]

Things should get better

Lasik providers say the dumbest things so it's best just to ignore them and seek competent post treatment help elsewhere.


The thing they don't tell you before Lasik is that the connection for the cilliary nerves in your eyes are cut when they make your flap. It takes 6 to 12 months for this break to reconnect and almost normal sensation and wetting to return. Between now and then, you need to do all the things that you stated you are doing. Restasis can take up to six months to kick in and reduce the inflammation in your eyes so they can start normal wetting again.

The thicker drops you can tolerate the better. Genteal makes some great drops. I couldn't see much through them when my tearfilm went kaput though.

Seek psychiatric help as needed. I got great support there and it helped me through.

[Jen72]

Thank you Bernmee, Diana and LS. Its good to know that others are improving as the weeks go on after surgery. Having had LASEK I thought that I would be spared some of these dry eye issues because of the lack of the corneal flap in my case. But that gives me hope because less nerves were affected? I have used many good suggestions on this site, every little bit seems to help. I feel that I am in good hands with my Dr. and I that it being treated aggresively. I ordered onion goggles today, I'm taking more flax seed oil and using warm compresses in addition to constant drops and gels. On the up side my vision is better but I am just so uncomfortable. Your reassurances are great and welcome.

[Jen72]

Update: Went back to the Dr. today. While my vision is better (20/30) my eyes are still very dry. The Dr. again remarked that I am the most challenging case. Others have responded to plugs and Restasis not me. Although I am interested in other cases I dont like being compared, I really feel like a freak abnormal case now. The Dr. also said that I will probably have dry eyes for life! and that I had them before the LASEK. Why was I approved then?!? I am still processing this info and trying not to be upset and discouraged. The Dr. said that it may be 3-6 mos. before I am over the hump. But what does it matter if I have dry eyes for life?

[dan_can]

Yeah, why were we approved anyway?

First of all, I am sorry to read about your dry eyes. But do know that it will get better!!!

I too wondered for soooooooo very long why I was approved for Lasik. I have my personal file her with the questionnaire I answered before the surgery. "Yes" is circled as the answer to the question : "do you suffer from dry eyes?" I asked my surgeon why he had approved me despite this and, kind of shrugging off the question, he just said "oh, it makes no difference...". Yeah. Right.

I am 15 months post-lasik now and though I still put a lot of artificial tears, I have no pain, no grittiness, no burning... this is MUCH better than at first!

Your eyes still have a lot of healing to do, just hang in there!!! Think positive!

[Lucy]

Your doc sounds like a bag of hot air. One one hand, he says "you'll probably have dry eyes for life?" (Not likely.) Then, he says, "it may be 3-6 months before you're over the hump?" (More likely.) Jen, you can find more, and better information on here than you can from your doctor. You won't have dry eyes for life. You are not the only patient with dry eyes. My doc tried this one on me, too. Just had no other patient with my problems. Yeah.

You may have had dry eyes prior to Lasek, but it's kind of beside the point now. He should have checked whether you had dry eyes or not. My doc did not do this either.

And, per Lasiksurvivor, "lasik providers say the dumbest things so it's best just to ignore them and seek competent post treatment help elsewhere."
You will get better in your own time. We hope it's sooner rather than later. Lucy

[bernmee]

I have to say I agree with Lucy. I went to my Lasik Dr. one day after going to my dry eye Dr. and my Lasik Dr. is still saying I don't have MGD, he has never seen a case like mine before etc. You must remember that maybe your Lasik Dr. can not/is not as objective as he could be, after all he did the Lasik.

How about getting a recommendation for a Dr. that knows and understands dry eye? Try to get one from this site...where are you located.

Honestly when you find a Dr. who is really interested in your situation you will have the weight of the world lifted from your shoulders, and you will have someone to take you in the right direction.

Start looking now.

Bernadette

[Jen72]

Your eyes still have a lot of healing to do, just hang in there!!! Think positive!

[/QUOTE]

Thanks, that gives me hope that it is just a matter of time before I heal. How long was it before your eyes felt functional and comfortable?

[Jen72]

[QUOTE]

You won't have dry eyes for life. You are not the only patient with dry eyes. My doc tried this one on me, too. Just had no other patient with my problems.

.

Thanks, that helps to put things in perspective. I hope that this is just a temporary situation however after this last visit to the Dr. I feel like I have to prepare for the long term. Obviously the docs want to downplay any other "challenging" cases, or they would never have any clients. I was a little bothered to see that my clinic now offers Lasik. I was told before that they only do Lasek or PRK due to all of the problems with flap complications with Lasik. Soooo, if they know this why do they offer it now-.

[Jen72]

Bernmee, At what point did you get a second opinion? I am just 2 mos post-op, I figure I would wait until 6 mos out to see how things level off. What more can they offer? I already have 4 plugs, Restasis, Freshkote and home remedies. Thanks for all of your help.

[dianat]

Restasis can take months and months to show results. Dr Latkany reveals how it works in his book, which I do recommend. I do hope your doctor didn't lead you to believe it was a quick fix? How long have you been on it? An ophthalmologist may be in order for you...particularly one who specializes in dry eye. My LASIK surgeon said so many incredibly ignorant (in terms of dry eye treatments) and horrible things to me when I was at my most vulnerable. I couldn't stand to be in his presence.