Severely dry eyes

[Linny17]

Anyone else suffering from dry eyes? Been told I have blepharitis which can only be managed. . Washing eye line with baby shampoo, have hylo forte drops and vitA pos ointment for night time.. anyone got any good tips?? I also constantly wear wraparound sunglasseswhen outside ( look a bit of a div in the rain!).

[Heloise]

I read that a vitamin A deficiency could be the cause of dry eyes so why not take it as a supplement for a time. Warm compresses may help your eye lids.

[humanbean]

This stuff is a better choice than baby soap for many people. Read the reviews :

amazon.co.uk/Blephasol-100m...

I've bought it in the past from Boots. I found it in the same section as eye drops and contact lens solution. I've never been diagnosed with blepharitis, I just have severely dry eyes.

[kavidacat]

I have two friends who suffered from this and it takes quite a long time to clear up. You do have to cleanse your eyes regularly with baby shampoo and follow the doctors instructions. Painful but it will get better if you persevere.

[Hidden]

My optician specialises in autoimmune diseases affecting the eyes - and was horrified that I'd been told by his predecessor that I should use baby shampoo - he exclaimed "nooooh never use that!!!!"

I have Sjögren's - which isn't just eyes and mouth but affects my entire system same was as RA or Lupus do. But the dry eyes (sicca) are one major symptom and my optician has written to my GP explaining that I have three different types of eye disease as part of this. The main things I would say are that he has rediagnosed blepharitis as Mybomiam Gland Disease (MGD).

The main treatment recommended for MGD is same for blepharitis. This is eye pads (you can buy from most high street opticians) heated up (15 seconds) in microwave and use them daily for 15 minutes lying down. Then afterwards you massage the eyelid above and below with very clean finger tips or a silicon eye massage tool you can buy online. This unblocks the pores surrounding the eye and greatly improves quality and quantity of oil secretions. I still have incredibly dry eyes and avoid all drugs that make this worse, such as antidepressants used for pain etc. But I'm told that this therapy will save my eyes so I do it every day religiously! Hope this helps - avoid baby shampoo and get yourself some nice microwaveable eye pads. More pleasant and less faff too!

[MarsBar12 in reply to Hidden]

Do you have a link for the silicon eye massage tool? I've looked on Amazon, but can only find cupping tools.

[Hidden in reply to MarsBar12]

Sorry but I've lost the name of this product now. My optician sold it to me. It looks like a semi transparent white clitoris lol! I think the fingertips are probably as effective if it's just for blepharitis.

[Silver_Fairy in reply to Hidden]

Made me laugh out loud 😂

[Hidden in reply to Silver_Fairy]

I made the woman on the Sjögren's helpline laugh about it too - especially when I told her my rheum has put me on viagra for my Raynauds - what a combo!! I had to stop the viagra because it caused the erectyle tissue in my nose to become very inflamed - who knew?!

[Silver_Fairy in reply to Hidden]

Lucky your nose didn't have an erection 😏

[Hidden in reply to Silver_Fairy]

Oh but it did!!!

[BadHare in reply to Silver_Fairy]

Glad I'd finished my coffee, or it would be up my nose & all over my laptop!

Imagine going in to a shop & asking for something with that description!

[Hidden in reply to MarsBar12]

Ps just found old HU post and pasted a copy below - my optician specifies treatments here. Hope this helps!

[Rac73]

I have have just been diagnosed with MGD and my optician prescribes preservative free eye drops, to put in after using the heat pad and massaging of the eye lids, these have helped a great deal. He also said it could take a year to get the glands back functioning correctly.

[stiltzski in reply to Rac73]

I also had blepharitis. My optician said the same as yours and it worked well.

[Summer64]

I have Sjogrens and for years I was on some drops called sno-tears. They have preservative in them and I got corneal ulcers so was switched to Celluvisc drops which are preservative free and Xailin ointment at night. Managing OK with this. I too was told by an eye specialist to use the baby shampoo on my eyelids but I find the Xailin works just as well.

[Hidden]

Dear Dr...(GP)

Re: Ms (me)

DoB: 1963

Ms T came to see me for the first time on 18/01/17. She has Primary Sjogrens Disease and was being treated with Lacrilube and Hyloforte. This appears to be quite stable at present but she has to use lots of the drops/gel.

At the first appointment the Sjogrens keratitis appeared to be well under control with a very low Tear Break-Up Time (TBT) and tear meniscus and very low grade Superficial Punctate Keratitis (SPK). She also has concurrent Meibomean Gland Dysfunction (MGD), which requires treatment with a heat mask and massager to be used on daily basis. I also advised her to use of Artelac Nighttime Gel as an alternative to Lacrilube while the situation is stable. Her Mycophenolate therapy is almost certainly implicated in the present stability.

She has returned to see me today for a follow-up. She is having problems with the MGD treatment as just moving house but should improve in the near future.

She has been feeling a sporadic twitch at the Right frontal temporal area, but her eyes feel better and new prescription glasses with tinted lenses have helped and she is seeing well

On slitlamp examination today she has bilateral discrete low grade ISK with moderate/ shallow depth staining; the limbus is slightly injected, but there are no vessel changes. TBT is low at 5-7 secs and there is obvious low grade free mucin; there is also some tarsal and bulbar conjunctival injection. Tear meniscus is on the low side. The lid margin has obvious MGD disease with low grade scarring and stenosis; glands are expressible but cloudy with a slightly thick discharge from about R: 65% L: 65% of glands; there is also low grade non ulcerative bilateral blepharitis with small crusts present.

She has low grade mucin and tear deficient dry eye concurrent with Sjogrens syndrome, with low grade anterior blepharitis and moderate MGD.

My advice for treatment is: Hyloforte four times a day and more if required; Lacrilube on a nightly basis; heat with an eye bag followed by massage with Blephagel on daily basis with massage; Artelac Nighttime Gel used during the day during acute attacks; Celluvisc 1% to be used while travelling. I would be very grateful if you could prescribe the Hyloforte, Celluvisc and Artelac Nighttime Gel on a repeat basis.

Many thanks for your help.

Yours sincerely,

Kind regards,

(optician)"

[BadHare]

I have this, too. I found the severity of all my skin issues greatly reduced since taking thyroid hormones, along with increasing my dose of vitamin D3. I use eye drops & simple ointment, which is lanolin based, or occasionally petroleum jelly based. I live near the coast where it's rarely not windy. I found wearing very pale sunglasses helped stop wind irritation, & keeping sand & dust out of my eyes.

[carnation]

As a recently retired optometrist I would agree with Twitchytoes' regime. The use of baby shampoo is no longer recommended. Eyebag or similar heat pads are the way to go.

[Hidden]

Some opticians do Blepharitis treatments, I don't know what its called but its a little wand that rotates and 'exfoliates' the eyelids. Doesn't hurt but it does give relief of symptoms for up to 3 months. And I have heard of some further treatment where the eyes are warmed and then vibrated/massaged afterwards to unclog the pores as well.

[Linny17]

Thank you everyone. I feel a trip to boots for some heatable eye pads... x

[opal11uk]

I have a heart condition (PAF) and the drugs that I take for this cause dry eye. Last August I presented with Blepharitis and also Herpes D, which I first had in approx. 1998 and not again until last August. From August until December I had 3 further attacks, eye swollen red and itchy, I was medicated and at my last appointment in December the eye specialist put me on anti viral drugs for 3 months, he also enquired as to my general health/immune system. I did not have any further episodes until last Friday when the Blepharitis flared up again, I had by the way been using wipes specifically aimed at Blepharitis since last year. I went to the emergency hospital clinic on Saturday because I was concerned that I might have Herpes D in my eye as before but so far all clear. I am really fed up with this condition, I use eye drops twice a day and wipes at night however I shall be increasing this in the hopes it might help. The odd thing is that last August I started to wear glasses all the time and have a nickel allergy and was convinces it was the fault of the new glasses so, at great expense, I had them changed to plastic in the hopes it would make a difference, it didn't lol so yet again wasted my money, I also wondered if the cause could be lack of circulation around the eye, whether or not this has anything to do with it I have no idea. Reading everyones posts with interest right now to see if there is anything I can do to avoid this in the future, I am 73 years of age, retired and with no stress in my life other than a husband and a dog lol