Had prk procedure done approcimately 25 days ago. I am putting in drops in my eyes every 15 minutes. The eyes dont really feel dry (i.e. they dont feel like when having contact lenses in for too long)

It feels like a stinging discomfort in an isolated part of the eye....and usually the part of the eye where i felt the discomfort has a little red line/vein there. IS THIS DRYNESS?

And secondly, does anyone have any statistical or approximate figures on what percentage of LASEK people need drops and for how long they need drops for?

For example, 5 in 10 need it for 3 weeks. 2 in 10 need it for 3 months. 1 in 50 need it for a year. And 1 in 500 need it for a lifetime. (these are made up figures - - does anyone have the true figures?????) Just need some reassurance here.

Decided to stop by my optometerist just for a quick checkup. It wasnt even dry eyes! Turns out my eye lids were a little dirty or something which caused small little cysts/pimples to form on the eyelid which caused some irritation in the eye (because when you blink it creates a tear film and due to the small pimple on the eyelid, a good tear film could not be made.)

so he gave me lid scrubs and it so far had a great effect. Also wetting a small towel with warm water and putting it on the eyes for a few minutes a few times a day improved the vision a little bit and helps with dry eyes a lot.

And lastly, the refresh nightime gel is really really great. cant fathom why the laser center didnt encourage or mention it.

That said, i only needed the artifical tear drops a few times today.

Glad to hear you found the cause.

Are you talking Gel or ointment? Do not use the ointment! It sheds moisture away from the eye. While it feels good while it's in, it does in fact shed moisture away from the eye. Think of it like vaseline. Genteal Gel is fantastic as is Dwelle.

Do you have any articles or other information to corroborate this? I dont understand how it can shed mositure.

It doesnt even make sense because my eyes always felt dry in the morning. After using this in the nightime, the eyes felt much better in the morning.

I am using Refresh P.M. Nightime is that different than genteal? i didnt want to buy genteal because it did not say preservative-free on the cover

Genteal Gel is preservative free in the eye. While preservative free is great, there are many preservatives that aren't harmful. Novartis who makes Genteal brand products uses a preservative that disapates when it hits the eye leaving no preservative. Look at it's contents and you will see that it's almost all petroleum base with a little bit of mineral oil. A quick test would be to smear some on a plate and then drip some water onto it. The water will immediately shed away. Here is a link that someone here was gracious enough to post for me on this board. dryeyezone was my savior in controlling my post lasik dry eye. I'm much better off now. I used the ointment for quite some time, but in doing so, I noticed that I used more artificial tears during the day. After switching to the Genteal Gel I found my usage went down significantly. Now I'm using Nutratear, Dakrina and Dwelle as needed.

http://www.dryeyezone.com/faq/otcats.html

Genteal and especially Dwelle are really simple to use and get into the eye. Both will allow you to see once they are in the eye. Dwelle won't hinder eyesite at all. Genteal is clear, but it's thicker than the Dwelle. I promise you will find more comfort with the Genteal.