Pretreatment dry eye?

[Echo]

I am pretreatment and have occasionally had my right eye (AN side) bother me.  I spend many hours a day on the computer at work, which doesn't help, but the weird thing is it's only my right eye.  Today it bothered me all afternoon.  The skin around the eye feels ever so slightly like it's pulling, the eye is dry and feels slightly gritty. It actually looks narrower than my left eye.  I know it's prime allergy season but again, my left eye is perfectly fine!  I've been adding drops and will try bathing it tonight with some cool water.  I know from all my research that eye problems can occur after surgery, but I haven't run across anything indicating they can be an issue pretreatment.  I don't like to associate everything I experience with the AN, but this has me wondering.........

Thanks, Cathie.

[mk]

Hi Cathie

I also had eye problems pre-treatment. You are right that many people report eye problems post-surgery, which is usually attributed to facial nerve injury. Problems before treatment may be due to the trigeminal nerve, which is a sensory nerve, and sometimes gets affected by the tumor. This causes loss in sensation (hypoesthesia) of the cornea, which in turn leads to reduced tear production and dryness/gritty feeling, because the cornea doesn't send the right signals for proper lubrication.
So you are probably not imagining things.
The way to deal with this is with a lot of drops at frequent intervals, so that you don't let the cornea dry. The preservative free drops are the best.

Marianna

[Cheryl R]

Cathie, Yes,Yes,Yes!       You are having dry eye now. It does not mean the tumor is on the facial nerve but might be pushing on it a bit. Your computer work does make it worse.           Try some heavier gel drops in the day and the gel in the tube for the night and see if that helps.  I would as soon as possible get these at any drug or discount store.      You may have t see what brand works best for you.   I use Refresh brand.       There can be damage to the cornea if gets too dry.    I have no trouble with using ones with a preservative in it so do use ones in a bottle in the day but some people do and use the little vials.                Let us know if this works as there are heavier day use ones or use the nighttime in the day. One just has more blurry eye with the heavier ones.
                                         Cheryl R

[LakeErie]

The AN Association booklet "A Glimpse of the Brain" states on page 7, about symptoms of AN's, "A dry eye is due to the loss of innervation ( nerve supply ) through the facial nerve to the lacrimal gland that provides natural lubricating tears to the eye." So, yes, according to the Association, a dry eye is symptomatic of having an AN, and is not exclusively a post treatment issue.
Good luck.

[Echo]

I didn't think I was imagining it!  Thankfully I'm not having the problem every day, it seems to come and go which I'm grateful for.  This afternoon was very rough and I came home quite frustrated and concerned.  Last week with allergy season I was sneezing frequently. I noticed a strange tingle that came after the sneeze and went from my jaw line up my entire right cheek - never on the left.  It only lasted a few seconds and only after a sneeze so I think now with the dry eye that the trigeminal nerve is starting to make itself known! 

Thanks to everyone for such a quick response.  I have been using Systane Ultra drops but will check out some other brands.  Thanks Cheryl for suggesting gel in the tube for the night.  I am going to run out to the drug store right now and pick some up so I can get some relief tonight.

Cathie.

[arizonajack]

I also have dry eyes. It started along with my other symptoms (imbalance, tinnitus, loss of hearing) in Dec 2011, more than a year before my GK.

My opth said age but that was before my DX.

My dry eyes haven't changed post GK.

I use Refresh because I can get a package of 5 bottles at Sam's Club for $20 including tax and that lasts me about 3 months.

Check out the Dry Eye Talk website and forums.

http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/forum.php

[Echo]

Hi Jack,

Did anyone tell you what to expect long term after Gamma regarding the dry eye?  Just wondering if you have a better chance for it to return to normal as opposed to the problems you can encounter after surgery.

Cathie.

[arizonajack]

Hi Jack,

Did anyone tell you what to expect long term after Gamma regarding the dry eye?  Just wondering if you have a better chance for it to return to normal as opposed to the problems you can encounter after surgery.

Cathie.

Dry eyes never came up in my consults. I'm usually OK during the day so I guess I didn't think to ask.

I'm due for my annual eye exam soon and I'll ask my opth about it.

However, I am almost 4 months post GK and still have it. No change.