Dry Eye Syndrome

[General_Kirby]

Anyone any experience? Started about a year ago and not getting any better. Worse in mornings/evenings, veins very inflamed all over eyes, dry, stinging. Doesn't feel better until tear reflex kicks in and provides some moisture. Work in air conditioned environment, dry air which I know doesnt help. Eye doc seems content with trying to help alleviate symptoms with drops etc, rather than find the cause!
Can any eye infections present themselves like this? There is no discharge/mucas etc. Or caused by diet/stress/hormones......

Thanks

[DX Wombat]

Yes, they can, especially conjunctivitis, but the symptoms may also be indicative of something else eg Sjorgren's Syndrome (http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/sjogrensyndrome1.shtml)so get back to your doctor as soon as possible.

[Loose rivets]

Yes, keep looking for a specific cause, but as for drops, don't be fobbed off with some notion you can apply them say, 4 times a day. When things are bad, it's every few minutes.

Some people are not tolerant to hypromellose. I can't use it. But I can use Snotears. A coupe of quid buys a tiny bottle which lasts much longer than you'd think.

The little white and black box on the right has been my friend for years, though once under control, I don't use it for months at a time. To this day, I use a full military gas mask when using an angle grinder on brickwork etc.!

Sno tears Eye drops 10ml (http://www.mistrys.co.uk/sno-tears-eye-drops-10ml-p-1856.html)

I thought I was going to have to give up working on my house. The pain was extraordinary.

Hypromellose: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions, Pictures, Warnings & Dosing (http://drugs.webmd.boots.com/drugs/drug-240-HYPROMELLOSE.aspx?drugid=240&drugname=HYPROMELLOSE&source=2&isTicTac=false)

Cause. Since I love doing building work, I had a long hard think about what to do. I dug around for an old pipette, and hooked it up to a bit of rubber pipe. The professional smooth tip I used to massage around the outlet of the tear gland - while sucking on the pipe. No one believes me, but I noticed an immediate and marked improvement. Not very good science, but who knows?

[RAC/OPS]

Have had the condition on and off since about 2005 - lasts a few weeks then usually goes. This current episode has been particularly irritating, and I finally went to see the Optometrist about it.

Apparently my tears are of low quality, lacking some of the greasy stuff (can't remember the name - something like mubein?). The result is that when I sleep, the eyes dry out and the eyelid sticks to the cornea and when you open your eyes a tiny piece of cornea is ruptured and forms a cyst.

The feeling is as if a piece of grit is in your eye. My low quality tears really flow but there is nothing to wash out. The pain/feeling usually subsides within an hour, but my eye can be sensitive to light nearly all day. I usually get it in my left eye, occasionally the right.

I was prescribed a vaseline type ointment to squirt in my eyes before bed. This blurrs the vision but is OK the next morning. I also use drops as and when I need them to simulate natural tears, and I apply heat to the eyes at least twice a day using a (clean) sock with about a cup of rice inside and microwaved for about a minute. This is to unblock the glands that secrete the greasy stuff.

Still getting the gritty eyes when I wake up though, and this can happen several times a night. Anyone have similar experience with a good result?

[Loose rivets]

I'm no help I'm afraid. Tears are a wondrous mixture. Years ago 'they' had discovered four major discrete layers when formed over the eye. Maybe more known now.

Maybe there's an expert somewhere that will steer you towards the missing component which can then be prescribed without the normal mixture. That greasy stuff really does degrade the focus yet is prescribed for use during the day.:ugh:

I can only remember the lubricant and the antibiotic. I'd really trawl the internet for more information about that part of the mix. Also, see if anything is known about where is is generated. It seems impossible the multi-mix would all be created in one place.

[RAC/OPS]

Loose Rivets, I have pm'd you!

[Loose rivets]

Just to add to the not very helpful PM, this is where I would have got my info in the first instance. Note that I stress in the PM that I'm a retired pilot, not a doctor.


File:Gray896.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray896.png)



Edit: I've also told the story about removing a membrane from my baby son's lower lacrimal duct. (puncta) His eye was as right as rain in about 3 days, after weeks of doctors taking cultures etc., etc.





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[Bank_Left]

I think I know now what has ailed my eyes as of late. Going to the doctor's soon, as I am not keen on sucking my own tear ducts clean just yet

[Loose rivets]

A close friend might add another dynamic.:p