Dry eye irritation

[ANGIEIRISH]

It doesn't sound much, does it, dry-eye irritation, but it's making my life an absolute misery. For two days now I haven't been able to read - my great pleasure in life - as the irritation is so bad compounded by the glare as well. Wearing dark glasses indoors is a sort of help but it's not enough and despite putting in drops every couple of hours or so, nothing seems to help. I had a period of about a week recently when everything was fine but for the past week it has been really bad. I use Theoloz duo drops (Evolve if I'm out somewhere as the bottle is a handier size to use when not at home). I can use the computer for about a half an hour at a time and view television for about the same time. Any ideas?

[springcross]

Hi AngieIrish. I have dry eye in my wet AMD eye, made worse by retinal detachment op and vitrectomy, then fifteen months later, a cataract op and also overuse of iodine pre injections. I've used many makes of drops including the Thealoz duo and stopped using them because I didn't feel they helped and I've gone back to much cheaper drops called Vizulize Dry Eye Drops Long Lasting Relief. It isn't always that long lasting but can be used whenever needed (two drops per eye) which can be better I feel rather than waiting around for a certain amount of time in between. I found the more expensive drops (most of them) could only be used four times a day and didn't give me much relief at all. Another thing I find useful is a heated eye mask which I bought on Amazon but you can buy them from other places. It really is quite good and much more effective than a hot flannel my optometrist at my eye clinic told me to use, as that goes cold much too quickly. The one I use is heated via a three pin wall plug with a usb port or the usb port in my laptop. It can help to increase the production of tears and keep the eye lubricated. I also massage my eyes when I use it to distribute oils in the eye. I hope this will be a little help to you as it really is quite an unpleasant conditon I feel. Good luck.

[Rainyda in reply to springcross]

Thx for info!

[tallyho]

Dry eyes are horrid I had them so bd that I got corneal abrasions after injections. I agree the heated eye masks are very good I had punctual plugs inserted in the end and that had been a game changer for me.

[ANGIEIRISH in reply to tallyho]

May I ask what punctual plug are? I've never heard of them. I've also got calcium deposits on one of my eyes, I had this on the other eye and they were removed by laser a few years ago but it's not done in my area so means a day-long trek to a hospital in another town/city.

[tallyho in reply to ANGIEIRISH]

aao.org/eye-health/diseases...

Here is some information as said they were great for my eyes.

[ANGIEIRISH in reply to tallyho]

Thank you. It makes for interesting reading and I'll have a word with my consultant about these. I am a bit unsure though, reading of the side-effects, but no harm in discussing it with him anyway.

[Rainyda in reply to tallyho]

Interesting...thank you!

[Whitegoose]

Hi Angieirish! Make sure your drops are preservative free, I had the same problem, my doctor changed them from non preservative ones. Also I wear yellow tint prescription glasses all the time, they don’t look much different from normal ones. I hope your irritation gets better soon.

[ANGIEIRISH in reply to Whitegoose]

I do use preservative-free eye drops and yellow tine prescription glasses all the time. I recently had some electrical stimulus treatment to drain the lymph glands (to help with my tinnitus) and the mild irritation I had, disappeared for about two weeks in what seemed a miracle, only to return with a vengeance! Related? Who knows.

[DPOM]

Use hylo night eye ointment at night. It’s really good stuff.Also, use thealoz duo eye gel instead of the drops during the day. It’s far better than the drops.

The injections cause the dry eye.

[Rainyda in reply to DPOM]

Good to know, thank you!

[doubleorbust]

I saw a consultant privately as I had double vision, wet AMD i one eye and dry in the other and dry eyes so I wanted to know what would be the most important to tackle. He said the dry eyes and he was right. He said it was due to blepharoitis (my eylids are often quite red) . Treatment was to massage the eyelids twice a day, preferably after warming them with a heat pad. The heat helps soften the oil which can harden in the tear ducts and can then be easier to remove by rubbing with a pad soaked in Blephasol. He started off this treatment by prescribing Maxitrol, (I think), which is an ointment with a steroid in it. I took that for three weeks which reduced the inflamation. I was doing the heat treatment and massage at the same time as using this ointment, and at the end of three or four weeks the problem had gone, although I continued the treatment. He also said to use Hycosan Extra drops 4 times a day and Hycosan ointment at bedtime. The drops are preservative-free. So now I wouldn't say I'm cured of the dry eye. But it is completely controlled with this regime.

[ANGIEIRISH in reply to doubleorbust]

All good information here and thank you for sharing this. I shall try the treatment, apart from the Maxitrol which, as it contains steroids, I'd prefer not to use. Thanks again for taking the time to explain all this. It's a great help.

[mil253443]

Hi! I have allergy and dry eyes. I have found the Systane Gel drops before bed and Alcon Pataday daytime makes a major difference.

[ANGIEIRISH in reply to mil253443]

Eeryone seems to agree that the eye ointment is good, provided it's the preservative free one, so I shall go down that road. Thank you for contributing your thoughts to this post, I do appreciate it.

[whiskbroom]

I agree with Whitegoose about using drops that are preservative-free. I was miserable with itchiness, redness, etc. etc. My ophthalmologist said that my eyes were reacting to the preservatives in Systane (which my optometrist had recommended). I changed to Systane with no preservatives and that did it. It's amazing to me that many health practitioners recommend various eye drops, yet they rarely note the possible effect of the preservatives. I hope this change is helpful for you.

[Hallas24]

Hi I had very dry eyes and on the dry eye website it recommended acupuncture. I went to a Chinese clinic and had about three lots of acupuncture. I haven’t had a problem since!

[ANGIEIRISH in reply to Hallas24]

Thank you, that is something i shall look into. I've just had a few sessions of lymphatic drainage around the eyes which was supposed to help but it didn't. At the moment I'll try anything!

[Hallas24]

I went to an acupuncturist, but he wasn’t very good. Then went to a Chinese clinic. Would highly recommend.

[ANGIEIRISH in reply to Hallas24]

There is a Chinese clinic in a nearby town so I'll check that out. Thank you.