dry eye and hot weather

[jaqiday]

I have been have two days of new eye irritation. Its been in the upper 90s to 100 temperature here. I had gotten to a tolerable routing of just a dab of ointment in my eye and now nothing is working. Areas that have never been inflamed are now all red and painful.

Does anyone have any feedback?

Thanks

[alabamajane]

Hi and welcome,,
Sorry to hear of your eye issues. Sounds as if you may want to contact your Dr though if you have that much irritation and inflammation so as not to damage or hurt the cornea. Eye care is so very important especially with paralysis.

Does your eye close well or at all? Have you considered a weight in the lid to help it close? Sunglasses would also be most important. I had to have a weight in mine for about a year until lid was able to close. Dry wind, weather is horrible,, but if you have redness,,, I would think a Dr would need to see it.  Just my opinion,,,, best of luck and let us know how you get along!
Jane

[Echo]

I agree that you should probably touch base with your Dr. just to make sure there isn't some type of infection and to protect your cornea. 

I do not have any facial paralysis, but I did end up with some dry eye issues post Gamma Knife.  My neuro-opthalmologist has me using Tear Gel 4 times a day and Lacri-lube every night.  I have not had your experience with heat, but I did have extra difficulty during our cold dry winter.  In my case I have "speckles" that keep coming and going on the cornea, so I've been told to keep the eye lubricated no matter what.   

Perhaps you just need to lubricate your eye more and use a different product, but please check with your Dr.  It's so important to protect our eyes.  Hope you find some relief soon.

Cathie.

[jaqiday]

I have been using refresh pm lately all day and night without any issues other than blurry vision. I have tried every other drop with no success and was finally thinking I had a solution with the ointment. They all work for about a minute then I am in pain again. I have been seeing an opto neurologist but he wants to wait till 6 months have passed to see if my nerve function comes back. I am only at 4 months post op right now.

I am really not functioning at all and have been barely able to leave my house do to my dry eye. I really don't know what to do next.

[Jill Marie]

If you are having pain you should see your eye doctor as soon as possible.  I've been dealing with the dry eye issue for 23 years now and the pain isn't just the hot temperature.  Sounds like eye infection, scratched or very dry cornea or allergies to me.  The longer you wait the worse it will get, I've waited several times thinking the ointment would take care of it and then kicked myself for not seeing the doctor sooner.  Please keep us updated, Jill

[nancyann]

If you haven't looked into it yet , PLEASE find a doctor who is expert in the scleral lens - it totally changed my life - I don't have to put ointment in my eye every 1-2 hours during the day anymore.  If you live in the southeast, check out Dr. Kenneth Mahler in Ft. Lauderdale, FL - he is amazing.  I had asked my previous doctors to remove my eye b/c the burning was so bad & constant.  Thenk God they refused b/c since the scleral lens I have had total relief from dry eye during the day.  At night I still have to use lubricant & the NITEYE bubble bandage, but now I can let the wind hit my face & LOVE it instead of shielding my eye.  Best wishes to you

[JLR]

Dr said my eye getting worse although my facial palsy is getting better.  He wants to stitch half my eye. Watch should Ido. He said the cornea is scratched.  Help.  Had right retrosigmoid nov 1. Joan

[Jill Marie]

Hi Joan,

Sorry to hear your cornea is scratched, I had that problem a few years ago.  It was very painful. I didn't get my eye stitched but I did get a special lens.  Depending on your doctor and how bad the scratch is they probably won't let you get a lens tell your eye heals.  I've included the reply I made to a previous post of yours.  Jill


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

[JLR]

Hello Jill. Tell me more about the lens.  I'm wearing a patch tonight. The eye really seems to be feeling better. The light is bothersome so the patch helps. I certainly don't want the eye stitched. Going for another opinion. Thanks for your help. Joan

[alabamajane]

Joan,
I believe what you are referring to is called tarosshaphy ,,,? Spelling ,,partially stitching the eye lid closed. It helps keep the eyeball from drying out until facial function returns. It can be temporary for several months.

I didn't have it but did have a gold weight implanted into upper eyelid for about a year to help eyelid close to protect the eye/cornea. Not a major surgery either. But did help. As you have unfortunately found out,, it is difficult but extremely important to keep eye lubricated when eye not closing all the way. I use Systane gel drops ( a little thicker than regular drops) during the day and nighttime ointment most nights. I also have used Refresh PM or drops. They both come in individual vials which are good. As Jill says,,especially the night ointment can be expensive as a tube doesn't last long..
Hope that helps some,,,,

[JLR]

Thanks so much the info is great. I ace been using drops and ointment. Is your ointment preservative free? That's been my recommendation from doctor. Has anyone in this forum had their lid partially stitched??  Thank you. Joan 

[Jill Marie]

Hi Joan,  Here's a copy of 4 old posts that should help you start learning about the lens.  The first one is from Sara, you can follow her link to her blog and learn a lot about the scleral lens and where to go to get one.  The other posts are from me, first about the scleral lens then about the daily use lens.  There have been several people on this board that have had there eye stitched, not sure if any of them frequent the board anymore.  You can do a search under the eye post to learn more.  Good luck Jill

Everyone's path is different. I am now eight years post-op with maybe 65-70% of facial function, but still an incomplete blink and very little tear production. I have been wearing a scleral for the past three years and it makes all the difference in the world to my quality of life.

In my opinion there is no reason to wait. If you are interested, I have written some weblog posts about my experience, beginning with http://www.sarahartman.com/the-eyes-have-it/

Good luck. Sara

Hi to all that have a scleral lens, to those thinking about getting one and to anyone that is experiencing dry eyes because of the AN surgery.

I've had a scleral lens for 2 years now and can't imagine life without it.  Twice the lens has broken after taking it out of my eye and I've had to wait about 4 days to get a new one.  By the time I got my replacement lens my eye was already hurting and took about a week to heal.  Each time the lens broke I hated the thought of not having it for a few days because life is so much better with it.  I now have a replacement lens so if I break another one or loose it I don't have to wait for a new lens. 

My lens is a bit smaller then some of the others that have the lens so it costs me $300 where as others on this board have paid more.  My replacement lens is exactly the same as my regular lens but only cost me $70 because I ordered it right after I got my other lens.  My insurance company covers the lens but it is put towards my $500 deductible, hopefully one day they will cover all of it.  At first they wouldn't cover it at all, thanks to my doctor and those in insurance billing they fought to get it covered.  For now I have to appeal the claim once a year to get it approved but they are working on it so I won't have to do that anymore as long as I have the same insurance company.  I will keep working towards more doctors and insurance companies realizing how much these lenses help those with dry eyes so more people can get the relief I have from the lens and not have to pay a lot to get one.

If you have questions about the lens please feel free to ask and also check out other posts about the lens.  Jill 


Hi to all suffering from dry eye!

Thanks again to this board for helping me find the relief I needed.  Elsie posted that she was looking into the scleral lens and that her eye doctor recommended trying a daily use lens first.  I contacted my eye doctor and she said she would like to try the lens on me as well. 

I got my new lens last Tuesday!  The doctor put the lens in my eye and I couldn't tell it was in there at all.  She had me take the lens out and then put it in and take it out again, over and over tell I felt confident enough to leave with the lens in my eye.  About an hour later my eye started feeling irritated, it wasn't because of the lens, it was because my eye was red and irritated from the allergens in the air.  The scleral lens I had been wearing collects protein and the allergens attach themselves to the lens so my eye was red and irritated.  After about 4 hours my eye started feeling better and I wore the lens tell bedtime.  The next day I wore the lens again and my eye was irritated for about 2 hours then started feeling better as the lens was healing my red eye.  The next day I put the lens in and it felt great all day. 

I'm still using ointment as I wanted all the redness to go away.  Now I will start experimenting with single vial eye drops to see what will work for me so I don't have to use the ointment anymore.  I have to see how the tone in my face around my eye is so I know what drops will stay in my eye. 

The lens I'm using is called the Dailies Total 1 by Alcon.  It costs $95 for 90 lenses which means $1.05 a day.  It's more expensive then your normal contact lens but that's ok with me.  The scleral lens had several different soaking and cleaning solutions I had to use which added to the cost of the lens and the lens I used would last about 6 to 10 months and cost $200.  I don't have it figured out yet but I think the cost will be about even.  As long as this daily lens doesn't cause me any problems during the allergy seasons I don't really care about the cost, just about not having any painful days do to the allergens. 

Will keep you posted on how the lens is working for me!  Jill Marie 

It's been a week since I got my newest daily lens by Acuvue, it's the Oasys HydraLuxe.  I love it, cost a bit less then the other lens I tried and I can take it out of my eye a lot easier.  The other lens on average took me 3 tries to get it out, with the new lens I got it out the first try most nights. 

It's important to find a doctor that is willing to try new things and you have to be willing to do the same.  It's nice to know that the manufacturers and doctors are working on finding ways to help us, sometimes they are trying to help someone else but in the end it helps us too. 

Jill Marie

[researcher]

My eye doctor wanted to sew part of my eyelid. Yikes! This is what I did instead.

From my old post:  Hi! You didn't ask for help for dry eye at night but this is what I tried.

https://www.dryeyeshop.com/eyeeco-tranquileyes-onyix-quartz-eyeseals-c122.aspx

I bought the clear lens goggles. It helped me at night. You could wear the goggles during the day!

Take care,
Researcher

[feline]

Yes I have had my eyelid stichted- tarr.... procedure and a gold weight in the same eye, and I still use drops during the day and ointment at night, I feel both has helped, never had a cornea issue. Hope this help, Tina

[Cheryl C]

I also had a partial torrosoraphy for several years until I discovered the absolute miracle of the scleral lens, thanks to this forum.  I used my lens about a year before I had the guts to have the tar.... removed (for my vanity and self-image's sake .  The torrosoraphy was very necessary at the time because I had put off going to the doctor and ended up with corneal scarring.   One doctor even suggested a corneal replacement, but I was able to avoid that. I also have a gold weight that was implanted at the same time as the tar ..., but as much as I'd like to be free of it, it is not worth the chance of dealing with corneal issues.  Maybe someday when I'm 100% sure of eye closure .  At times I have full eye closure but sometimes have a "sliver"  of an opening.  At night I use "Press'n'seal" over it.  The sign that it is staying moisturized is the droplets of water, or vapor, that forms.  That is how you know the seal is tight.  I'm currently looking into moisture retention eye goggles to wear at night for a more consistent sealing.  Beteen the scleral lens with constant moisture during the day and covering the eye at night, I've been able to avoid any major problems.  Hope this helps in your decision. 
Cheryl