Hi I am a fellow sufferer of dry eyes ever since my surgery in June of '00. My question is, will this ever go away, or am I destined to live a life of discomfort and pain. I have never regreted doing anything more than choosing Lasik. I never thaught of the debilitating effects of dry eyes, or the accomanied reduction in quality of life.
If anyone can help with suggestions, I would appreciate it. I have tried steroid drops, punctal plugs in the lower lids, thousands of drops, genteal gel, and am considering a process where the doctor spins my blood to create a drop for my eye. GROSS!!
Please help with any suggestions!
Paul.

Paul, I've also suffered from the misery of dry eye since my lasik of April 2000. I've been diagnosed with blepharitis. I've used plugs,warm compresses,tobradex ointment at night,doxycycline, and refresh tears on a daily basis for quite a long time. Things have gotten better since the days when I felt nearly disabled. However, in no way am I completely healed. I seem to have tormenting discomfort on days when I get less than seven hours of sleep or interrupted sleep. Try seeing adry eye specialist in your area. Time supposedly heals all wounds. I'm sure you are running out of patience and hope. Hang in there, I think that is all you can do with our perplexing problem. Things do get somewhat better.

PAUL I;M JUST LIKE YOU, I HAD SURGURY IN 1999, AND STILL HAVE VERY DRY DYES, I'M HOPING I WILL WAKE UP ONE MORNING WITH MOIST EYES, I'M STILL WAITING, I'M NOT SORRY I HAD THE SURGURY I CAME A LONG WAY HANG IN THERE

Here are things to talk about with your doctor

1. Low dose steroid eye drops for a few weeks (FML, lotemax)
2. Oral Doxycycline and lid scrubes - if you have any oil gland problems, blepharitis, or poor tear film quality issues.
3. Consider Allergan's new drop called Endura - which has a layer of oil in them
4. Dr. Holly has a few custom drops, such as teargard, which have oils in them
5. Flax seed oil gel caps - which contain helpful oils that improve the quality of the tear film.

I hope this helps

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL

I had the lasik procedure done on 7/16/02 and am suffering from dry eyes. I had plugs placed in the lower ducts of each eye and this works very well, but I am still experiencing periods of unsettled vision. Yesterday, I went back to the doctor and he put temporary plugs in the upper ducts of each eye (now all ducts of both eyes are plugged.) My vision is great, but now I have a lot of tears in my eys all of the time sometimes streaming down my cheeks. He said this is what happens with both ducts plugged. My doctor also said that sometimes it could take as long as 6 months for the dry eye condition to clear, but he said he thinks it will. My decision now will be whether I want the two upper plugs put in permanently (like the lower ones) or not. Have you tried having plugs put in the upper ducts? This may help tremendously.

You may want to have your doctor try Flow control plugs. They block about 80% of the flow since they have a tiny hole in them. I have had dry eye patients do well when they say that 4 plugs tear too much. Your doctor may want to put them in the lower plugs and the full plugs in the upper since I have found this combination works the best.

Good Luck

Patrick Chin, MD
Westwood, NJ