Postby rosemary johnson » Fri 23 Jan 2009 7:40 pm
Hi Garnet, and welcome to the forum.
I've had 4 hydrops sof ar, so here goes....
You don't say what type of painkillers you are trying; did the hospital give you piankiller eye drops/ointment, or are you meaning ordinary things like paracetamol and neurofen?
- if you've got special eye drops, try the tablets from the chemist or supermarket; if they aren't doing any good, you could try asking the hospital (or doctor) if they can suggest any eye preparations that might help.
Also, have they given you any other medications, eye drops, etc?
- opinions int he medical world vary as tot he best way to treat a hydrops - some places give you all sort of eye drops, etc, some of which sting like crazy, and others reckon they do nothing, or make things worse if they sting too much, and it is better to leave the thing strictly alone to get on with healing over itself.
The hospital I awas oging to at the time of my second gave me prescription pain-killing eye ointment, which frankly didn't make much difference, and the other three I had nothing for (beyond paracetamol/ibuprofen) and wouldn't have used any of the eye drops some people get given, after previous experience (not that I'm suggesting you should be ignoring medical advice, you understand......!!!! But personally if I have another one, I'd say "no thanks" to anything to put in it... mind, I now couldn't use some of the ones some medics use, having developed hypersensitivity to them).
OK, what else?
I'm surprised you can gt your scleral in! - my (scleral) lens tolerance went right down in the affected eye - after 3 and 4, for several months though they were only small ones. Though I have to say I was putting the lens in for a few hours at a time within in week of the 4th out of dire necessity, as both eyes were too sore.
I did find the pain wore off after a few days, so with luck, yours might too. But pain levels do vary enormously.
You didn't say anything about how extensive it is - is the whole world a white-out, or just a cloud inthe middle?
I have heard of someone being told to point a hair dryer at the hydropsed eye to attempt to dry it out! - that was since my latest one, so haven't tried it, but the person who did seemed to think it worked.
Lastly, don't let anyone talk you into an immediate corneal transplant! - the eye needs to heal over, dry out and stabilise before anyone can tell how the vision will be affected, if at all, whether there will be any scarring, or indeed whether the hydrops has helped to stiffen up the cornea and this could all take several months.
For Gareth: I don't know how you take your lenses out, but I've never "prodded" my eyes to do so! - certainly not sclerals. At least, not intentionally!!!
Good luck! - I hope it clears up soon and the pain lets up pronto. DO keep us posted.
As regards cross-linking - I would have thought that would now be "redundant" in the hydrops-eye - it is probably by now too thin, and that's why it hydropsed. It is certainly too late for it to "prevent a hydrops" which is one of the stated aims of the CXL enthusiasts. And the hydrops could well have the same effect as the CXL in stiffening the cornea - in fact, one of the earlier treatmetns for KC was to induce hydrops precisely for its stiffening effect.
One thing you might like to talk about with the CXL people, though, is the pain and light sensitivity you are experiencing - in case a CXL procedure inthe other eye gives similar results.
Rosemary