Dry Eye products

[Julie Murphy]

Hi All,
I've had KC for 20 or more years and wear rigid lens. My vision through specs is appalling and I cannot drive or work whilst wearing them. My eyes are always bloodshot to a lesser or greater degree and one went very bloodshot about two weeks ago. my optician diagnosed some mild ulceration and sent me to the doctor. The doc gave me antibiotic drops and tablets and told me to leave my lenses out for a few days. It was bank holiday weekend so that was ok as I didn't need to drive or work but as soon as I started to wear the lenses again the redness and soreness returned.
It was so bad last night that this morning I went to the A&E at the Eye Hospital in Birmingham (City Road). The ulcers have gone but I have dry spots on my eyes.

I now have Chloramphenical eye drops to be used 4 times a day, Celluvisc to be used 8 times a day and lacri-lube at night. I am also to leave the lenses out..... well - I said that I would but they will have to be worn for half an hour morning and afternoon so that I can get to work and I will have my nose pressed against my computer screen inbetween to attempt to see what I am meant to be doing!

I have had pain and redness for weeks now and just hope that this can sort them out. I am getting married in September and dread having horrible red eyes on my big day.
My optician also advised me to use Optrex Red eye drops for two weeks to try and shrink some of the obvious bloodvessels but they seemed to make the redness worse. Is this because my eyes are poorly at the moment or are they just a bad idea?

I not had to use dry eye products up until now? Do you think it will sort them out?

[Andrew MacLean]

hello Julie, and welcome to the forum.

You seem to be having quite a time of it: I hope that your various medications manage to sort out the immediate infection, and that you find a dry eye product that works for you.

my favourite two are Optive and clinitas soothe (with clinitas hydrate at night), but others prefer products like Hypromelose or Systane.

All the best

Andrew

[Julie Murphy]

Thanks for your reply and your welcome Andrew.
Hopefully the multitude of eye products that I am currently using will sort out the immediate problem but I now realise that I should be using lubricating drops on a regular basis to prevent reoccurance.

I have tired systane but it says that it should be used before putting lenses in and after they are taken out. Do you know if any of the others are suitable for using during the day when my lenses are in situ?

[Andrew MacLean]

I think there may be a problem of the lens being washed out if the eye. I sometimes pop my lens out and fill it with clinitas before popping it in again.

Andrew

[optom]

I use the systane before i put my lenses in and then use hyco forte through out the day its lovely . also putting themin the fridge wen ever u can just adds to that soothing effect i find !!!!!!!!!

[Johan]

I'm using Oculotect. In NL it's available in so called "unidoses" which contain 1 (quite large) dose each. It contains enough fluid to put 3 drops in each eye.

I mainly use it for my right eye because the RGP lens on that eye tends to "stick" in the lower half of the cornea when the eye is dry, mostly when I am at work and have been at the screen staring to long .

To be honest, I don't have a real dry eye problem. I use Oculotect to prevent the lens from being stuck in a corner of my eye and to soothe my left eye after I take out the big scleral lens at night.

[melissa]

other non-medical options which are reported to work:
- flaxseed oil tablets-they are not too expensive and also good for your hair and skin.. apparently they improve the quality of the oils secreted with your tears helping them to last longer
- a humidifier under your desk... to keep your local environment more comfortable

[Julie Murphy]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Melissa - I am going to try the flaxseed oil tablets....

[liam82]

Hi, is Optrex Actimist ok for KC'ers to use?

[longhoc]

Hi, yep, I use Actimist with both RGPs and Silicon Hydrogels. Their product marketing blurb says it's just fine:

Q. Is Optrex ActiMist™ Eye Spray suitable for use with contact lenses?

A. 7 out of 10 contact lens wearers suffer from dry eyes at some point. Optrex ActiMist™ Eye Spray is ideal for contact lens wearers and there is no need to remove your lenses to use it - simply spray onto your closed eye in exactly the same way but with the lens in place.

http://www.optrex.co.uk/optrex_range/op ... _and_a.php

Cheers

Chris