Dryness even with sclerals

[Dryeyes1984]

I dont know what to do anymore I've done everything lipiflow sclerals,probing,omega, 3 Chinese herbs , is there any hope i can't work due to my condition just applied for disability i been like this for a year and not getting any better all of this happen after i had a concussion i hear sclerals is the last resort so if this didn't help i dont know what will

[Hokucat]

Sclerals are not the last resort, there is always something else to try and new treatments and meds are continuously being added. And once you find some thing(s) that helps even a little, you might be able to go back to some of the things you already tried and find they do help.

For example, I tried making various diet changes before I tried sclerals, and it didn't help my eyes at all. Then I tried sclerals and it worked great for about half a year but then my eyes continued to get drier and sclerals no longer helped, in fact it started hurting my eyes a lot to wear them. At my scleral specialist's advice I tried adding a few drops of Refresh Celluvisc in with the saline in my sclerals, but my eyes were so dry the Celluvisc stung my eyes even more, and eventually I could no longer tolerate sclerals on my eyes so stopped wearing them. Then I tried probing which seemed to help a little, but within a week my eyes were bone dry again. I ended up doing probing several more times while each time making different diet changes, and found the last diet change I made kept my glands (the few I have left) open, so I have not had another probing for several years now. The probing in conjunction with the right diet change for me helped me to get a thin tear film back, which now enables me to go back to wearing sclerals with Celluvisc to help with the remaining dryness I will always have because I lost several glands.

Are you using anything besides saline to fill your sclerals? Besides Celluvisc, some people find including a few drops of other preservative-free artificial tears containing sodium hyaluronate (Healon-this is RX, HyloForte, Oasis Plus, etc,) or their favorite PF drop makes the lens more comfortable. You can also put a few drops of saline or PF artifical tears in your eyes over and around your scleral lenses while wearing them to add some comfort.

[Dryeyes1984]

1st of thank you for your reply i tried celluvisc with my sclerals i still felt dryness like you the white part of my eyes gets so dry and painful is impossible to wear them . My foctor that did the probing told me that when he pokes my eyeglanfs no oil comes out and told me to go on disability but i never had any medications besides xidra and minocycline and doxycycline which didn't work. I'm thinking about making an appointment at the university of Illinois to get another opinion even though i dont have insurance since i had to quit my job also maybe accupuncture i tried going without meat see if that would make a difference but nothing only thing i have stop doing that i noticed right away that drys my eyes is beer i had to let that go

[Hokucat]

You're welcome. I'm sorry its been so tough. What is very interesting to me is that you noticed beer dries your eyes. So it's possible that other things you are eating or not eating could also be contributing to your dry eyes. I had tried going without meat like you a few times and it didn't help, but what I ultimately discovered for me was the type and quality of the protein I ate made a difference. Whenever I eat a very juicy/oily salmon (Costco salmon works the best for me but it's a big size) for a few days or a good cut of beef that has some marbled fat like filet mignon, my eyes always feel less dry. In fact, when I remove my sclerals at the end of they day after wearing them 10-12 hours, the lenses come off much easier because my eyes are more moist.

I'm not a nutritionist or doctor, but I would be happy to PM you my diet and what foods I avoid (because they cause my eyes to be drier), in case there is something there that might help you. I think it's worth a try to experiment with different changes to your diet, given what you mentioned about the beer affecting your eyes.

I'm assuming you have both MGD and lack of tears? Do you

know what the (probable) underlying cause is?

I think it's worth your while also to get a consult with another dry eye specialist, espeically one who members in this forum have had positive experiences with.

[Dryeyes1984]

If you could pm your diet to me I'd appreciate it, my probable cause of my dry eye all i know that back in july of last year i hit my head on a robot machine at work i had to go to the e.r couple of times that month because my head hurted so bad i couldn't complete sentences when speaking, the pain lasted till the end of july then i started seeing double and had painful light sensitivity but no dry eye i just had blurry vision and had trouble walking straight the floor looked like it moved i would look out the window when driving and itll go from blurry to clear it was very scary i thought i was going crazy September roll by and then thats when i started getting extreme dry eye i couldn't even look myself in the mirror one doctor send me to another doc telling me i had convergence insufficiency thats why all the dry eye treatments weren't working i had to stop the exercises my eyes were to dry to complete them i think the doc just wanted my money and claimed i had convergence insufficiency he send me to a cornea specialist which recommended lipi flow 1000 dollars in the the garbage but before i had it done he told me about how he sees patients all the time with concussions and dry eye that i should wait so i wouldn't have to spend the 1000 dollars but me wanting to get better had it done anyways

Do you think a bad concussion from last year could of provoke my dry eye? also is it normal that when i take my sclerals out there is no solution on them left pardon my punctuation I'm not the best when writing i do have mgd doc told me when i had my lipi view my score is at 37 normal people are at 70 whatever that means i also dont have tears i never asked for my scores I regret that now

[Hokucat]

I just PM'd my diet to you. And here's a study I came across that showed alcohol negatively impacts tear film, so you were not imagining it:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22330961/

I read several articles that mention dry eye can result from a concussion or other trauma to the head, I included a few articles below. The concussion might have shifted parts of your eye so you are unable to completely blink anymore, you may have inflammation from the blow that is affecting your eyes, the mental and physical stress of all the resulting visual and other symptoms from the concussion could be impacting yours eyes, etc. Or it's also possible the timing of your dry eyes happening after your concussion could be a coincidence, Have you seen a neuro-ophthalmologist? They would run different tests that might be able to point the concussion as the cause of your dry eyes (than a dry eye specialist or regular ophthalmologist), which could focus on what treatments might best work for you.

https://www.brainline.org/article/vision-and-rehabilitation-after-brain-trauma-part-1

https://heartland-eye.com/concussions-when-the-visual-system-takes-a-hit/

When my eyes were reaching zero tear film, whenever I removed my sclerals, like you I also had no solution left in them, even after wearing them for only a few hours. In fact, the sclerals were like tight suction cups pulling on my eyes, my entire eyeball was so dry, I think the surface of my eyes absorbed all the solution as soon as I put on the lenses! So I know exactly what you mean. The sclerals got so uncomfortable, I could no longer wear them. I found some temporary relief using Genteal Severe Dry Eye Gel day and night...it provided a soothing, moist coating on my eyeballs that lasted longer than other drops or gels, I believe it literally saved me from getting any corneal erosions or abrasions and gave me some sanity, as the surface of my eyes were like sandpaper (per my doctors) for several years.

https://dryeyeshop.com/products/genteal-gel?_pos=1&_sid=ca23d09dc&_ss=r

[Dryeyes1984]

Thank you for your help and all the research you did I'll try your diet even though it seems strict I'll keep you posted god bless you

[Hokucat]

You’re welcome. I meant to ask, assuming you’re from the U.S., did you also apply for worker’s compensation since you were injured on the job? From what I understand, worker’s comp and disability are independent programs, and one could potentially be on both at the same time if you qualify for both.

Yes, do keep me/us posted. I hope you get some relief real soon.

[Almgrenr]

Hi Hokucat,

This is my first post on this forum. I was reading this thread and it interested me. Do you mind pm-ing me your amazing diet so I can try it out as well. Thanks.