Dry eyes

[JLR]

My eyes are very dry due to facial paralysis.  Which eye drops or ointment are recommended. I know there is a difference between preservative and non persvative. Please help. Thanks. Joan

[Jill Marie]

Hi Joan,

I've been dealing with this issue for 25 years and have found that different things work for different people.  I will tell you some common things to do and also what I do.  Others are sure to chime in with what they do.  You're also welcome to read up on the other threads, lots of good info.  I know it's a lot to read so hopefully we can help by responding to your post. 

Make sure you use preservative free eye drops and eye ointment.  Depending on how dry your eye/eyes are you might get away with drops only.  Lots of people use drops during the day and ointment at night.  Others use a contact lens called a sceral lens that is fitted just for your eye. 

I use a daily disposable contact lens and eye ointment during the day and use ointment and a patch at night because my eye doesn't completely close on it's own.  The ointment I use is Bausch and Lombs Soothe pm.  It's the most inexpensive ointment I can find that works well.  Considering I use a tube a day the cost is important.  Before I got a lens I used 4 to 6 tubes a day.

What you do also depends on how long your facial paralysis has been and how long you will continue to have it.  If this is going to be a long term issue I HIGHLY recommend getting some kind of lens to keep the moisture in your eye. 

Let us know more about your situation so we can better answer your question. 

Jill Marie

[Cheryl R]

Sometimes you have to just try all the OTC heavier liquid and gel drops to see which works best for you.      I have never had a problem with the ones with preservative but many do.      Just don't go with the liquid ones you can get for occ use.
                              Cheryl R

[lorigasper]

Hi Joan -

I use Refresh PM for night.  Since I have an eyelid weight, that is all I need at night.  I used it with a "patch"  of Press n Seal for a long time before I got my weight, and that worked well too. 

I use a Scleral Lens during the day and use saline without preservatives, at my doctor's recommendation.  If you haven't looked into these, you might.  I am SO thankful to have this lens!

Wishing you comfort!!

[JLR]

Yes thanks again. The Refresh PM  has a large % of mineral oil and that helps tremendously. Also have been patching at night with press n seal.  Many thanks.

[caryawilson]

The damn eye.....  Here's what worked for me, (in order of biggest help for the cost / effort)
1. Tear duct plugs.  Real simple in office, no pain, 30 second procedure. The plugs prevent you from losing the artificial tears. If you don't produce tears, you want to retain the artificial. This is not permanent and can be easily removed.
2. Syatane ultra preservative free artificial tears. I use them all day.
3. Syatane pm for night.
4. Restasis prescription. Helps with tear production.. Not cheap. I use a single dosage bottle for 3-4 days now. 30 vials is around $200.

Next.. you need to make sure the eye is closing well. For me:
1. Eye weight to let it close. No facial nerve means I can't close my eye.
2. I needed a lower eye lid tightening.

Now my eye is good.  Perfect really but I'm religious with eye care and the drops.  Eye pain is the worse.. In the beginning.. it sucked. I used a patch day and night. Find a good optomologist and ocuplastic surgeon.

[Machia2332]

I found that the ointments can help during the day, but most make your vision blurry and might only be feasible for night time use.  I found that "Systane Gel, night time protection" (A different product from the Systane PM) could be used during the day with minimal blurriness to my vision. 

[JLR]

Thank you all. I use refresh pm every 2 hrs and at night the same ointment and tape or press n seal. The eye almost closes. I'm 4 months post op and hope it all gets better very soon because it's being a drag. I certainly didn't think this would occur. Thanks again