Questions about dry eye

[Angieshubbie]

I had a retro surgery on my AN on 08-21-06. On 09-01-06, I had a blood clot in my brain (sinus vein).  I have had some side affects from the surgery and the blood clot.  One is the dry eye.  Has anyone had it come back?  How does it feel? 

[Obita]

Hi - boy did I get the dry eye about 10 to 12 days post op.  It felt like I had gravel under my eyelid.  I had scratched my cornea to boot.  I used the lacrilube at night and put a piece of saran wrap on my eye to keep it moist.  I used the thick drops durring the day. My tears quit and my eye didn't shut all the way.  By about month 3 it was back to normal.

Good luck, I made at least 3 visits to the eye dr. to make sure everything was healing as it should.

Kathy

[Boppie]

Most AN patients experience the return of a normal tearing eye.  It feels awful when it is dry.  So, using the right lubricant and keeping it safe from scratches to the cornea are most important while it is dry.  In the beginning it seems one is putting the lubricating drops in every hour or so.  This will pass for you.

[KerriLynAngel]

my tears never came back. i had my translab june 1 2005. scratched up my cornea bad while still in the hospital beacause the nurses wouldnt listen that i couldnt shut my left eye. they actually kept on telling me to shut it and eventually the cornea got scratched and it had to be medicated and taped shut. even then it didnt stay shut.i was told by the eye specialist that my tears would come back in a couple of months and sent home with a truckload of lacrilube. well its been over a year and a half and i still cant cry out my left eye. sometimes it feels as if something is poking it again and again. ive been to the eye doc and she just tells me to keep putting glops and drops in but i have to do it every half hour and if i forget i suffer alot. the lacrilube is so thick it clouds my vision, the artificial tears dont work at all too thin i guess, forget the stuff with celluvisc that just makes it hurt worse. the only stuff i can use during the day if i want to see anything is the refresh liquigel. but the problem is i have to use it so often i think i should own stock in the company. im not sure what i should do at this point. keep waiting for tears to come back, see some more doctors? ive looked up eye problems online and there is no info about this particular problem but it is driving me crazy! anybody have similar experience or any advice?    kerri

[KerriLynAngel]

oh i forgot to mention my eye does shut the shutting part came back within the first three months
kerri again

[nancyann]

Hi Kerri:

I use the Refresh lubricant several times a day (usually up to 5 or so);
it does make things look fuzzy,  harder to read, etc., but it beats the burning & I don't want cornea problems.

Hoping if I ever get movement in that lid I won't need to do it anymore (rarely use Systane eye drops, not strong enough)

Best wishes, Nancy

[Jeanlea]

Hi Kerri,

I have a problem similar to yours.  My eye has not made tears since my surgery which was in Sept. 05.  I also have no feeling in that side of my face which means my eye doesn't hurt.  The bad part of that is that I don't know when my eye needs more drops.   In the summer I was putting in Liquigel every 4 hours or so.  Now that it's winter and dry I have to add a drop almost every hour.  At night I put in ointment.  I've had rare moments when I could see clearly out of that eye, but most of the time it is blurry from the ointment and/or gel.  Do you have problems with your eye turning red? I've been getting that more lately.  I think it must be because of the cold, dry air. 

My eye doctor sent me to get my lower eyelid lifted and the corner of it sewn with a couple of stitches to make the less likely to get dry.  Luckily it looks fine now.  No one has ever given me any indication if my eye will blink normally again or make tears.  I don't think they know.  Like you, my eye does close, albeit slowly.  I have a gold weight that was put in before I left the hospital after my AN surgery. 

I am getting some movement back around my eye.  Maybe in another few years it might even blink.  To think, I used to take blinking and smiling for granted.  :-)

Good luck to you.

Jean

[Denise]

I have had some tearing in my left eye, however,  normal tearing has not returned. When i cry only my right eye cries.  I am almost two years post op.

Jeanlea~~ my eye was getting really red last fall, then I  developed a dry patch on my cornea that was visible even to me. It was big, about 1/4 the size of my fingernail on my pinkie. My eye dr. told to use lacrilube 4x a day, not drops, that i could loose my eye sight in that eye. I freaked out, and  I put lacrilube in 8x a day for about a month and a half, and the dry patch went away. If i don't keep the lacrilube up, then the dry patch comes back after about a week.  I am now putting it in 4x a day. It sucks, because things are sometimes blurry, but my eye has never looked this good since surgery, and it actually feels good. I put drops in only in the morning to cleanse my eye, then the the first dose of lacrilube goes on.  My dr. said I only need a 1/4 inch strip on the lower lid of my eye on the outside corner, which does minimize some of the blurriness, while lubricating the eye. But, my eye feels better when I put it on the complete lower lid, from corner to corner. I am probably over doing it, but I feel better and my eye is not red and irritated.

Denise

[kristin]

hi! i had extremely dry eye after my surgery. i had my eye doc put plugs into my tear ducts (the ones that drain the eye)...and life became so much better. in fact, after a year and a half, one fell out and everyone kept asking me if my eye was ok because it was so red. i went back to the eye doc and he put in a new one.  got the bill yesterday, it was only $168 or so and covered by ins. i use eye drops only once or twice a YEAR now, instead of ten or twenty times an HOUR!

kristin in montana

[Joef]

Eye issues are one of the WORSE side effects of AN surgery .. a very close second to headaches ..

I don't think most people understand until in happens to them how life changing event it is .. if I leave the house without drops .. I go into a panic! I now keep extra drops in the car, at work, in my work bag .. basicly everywhere!

the best tip I can give ... keep you eye clean! .. I've gotten very good at picking eye lashes out of my eye .. without good tears you don't flush out hair and dust that can get in your eye .. and for the guys -- don't use a electric shaver .. I used one for a while after the surgery -- and when I stopped -- my eyes got much better!! ..

[tony]

Yes - the eye thing is for real
One solution (no pun intended) is to have 2-3 sets on hand
A set might include : the drops, a clean cloth, flushing fluid
 the over night stuff, and a small mirror.
Basically one set "at home" one set in the "glove compartment"
and in my case one set in the golf bag !
In addittion sunglasses seem to help as do clear glasses
(anything to keep the wind off)
I use wrap-around safety type for sports - or even household cleaning
- I can assure you bleech spray hurts
esp if you cant blink or water your eye !
These days clear (non focal) type lens glasses look like
normal glasses but cost $10-20 - you can look quite
interlectual if you want
All this combined does help
Good Luck
Tony

[nancyann]

Agree with you 100% Joef,
It always feels like something is in my eye,
sometimes there is (like you said, an eyelash that STICKS ),
sometimes there isn't,  but always that feeling....
+ in my case dealing with a swollen upper lid that the docs can't figure out why,
still working on getting a gold sample for allergy testing....

[Jill Marie]

my tears never came back. i had my translab june 1 2005. scratched up my cornea bad while still in the hospital beacause the nurses wouldnt listen that i couldnt shut my left eye. they actually kept on telling me to shut it and eventually the cornea got scratched and it had to be medicated and taped shut. even then it didnt stay shut.i was told by the eye specialist that my tears would come back in a couple of months and sent home with a truckload of lacrilube. well its been over a year and a half and i still cant cry out my left eye. sometimes it feels as if something is poking it again and again. ive been to the eye doc and she just tells me to keep putting glops and drops in but i have to do it every half hour and if i forget i suffer alot. the lacrilube is so thick it clouds my vision, the artificial tears dont work at all too thin i guess, forget the stuff with celluvisc that just makes it hurt worse. the only stuff i can use during the day if i want to see anything is the refresh liquigel. but the problem is i have to use it so often i think i should own stock in the company. im not sure what i should do at this point. keep waiting for tears to come back, see some more doctors? ive looked up eye problems online and there is no info about this particular problem but it is driving me crazy! anybody have similar experience or any advice?    kerri

Hi Kerri,  I wish I could help you but all I can do is support you.  I was told my eye would tear again in 2 years, that was 15 years ago.  That doesn't mean your eye won't tear again.  For me it seemed that what they told me I couldn't do I was able to do and what they said I could do never happened. They said I couldn't close my eye or blink after surgery, I did both.  They said I couldn't drink from a straw, I did, better than having everything run down my chin when drinking from the glass.  Please keep in mind that I didn't have an AN, I had a Facail Nerve Tumor so my situation is a lot different.  I can tell you that I fully understand the eye drop, eye ointment situation.  The nurses in the hospital had no idea how to take care of me, the drops they put in my eye didn't help at all, the ointment they prescribed for me had preservatives in it which dry out the eye.  A few days after I got home my husband took me to the doctor as I could no longer stand the pain.  They gave me cortizone drops to alleviate the pain.  I saw an eye doctor the following Monday and he gave me preservative free ointment and told me to get rid of the drops.  At the time my insurance company paid for the ointment then a couple of years later they realized it was an over the counter item and stopped paying for it.  I was using a tube or more a day at $8 a tube.  Not long after that I came across Puralube which sold for $3.00 a tube and now costs just under $4.  I spend over a $1000.00 a year on ointment, thankfully I'm not buying the other brands or it would cost me $3000. 00 a year or more, I would buy stock in the company then..  I understand the frustration of the blurred vision and find myself going without the ointment every now and then just to see what everyone else sees, then back to the ointment because as you say, if you don't use it regularly you pay later.  As for online help or help from the eye doctors, I've seen 3 and I know more then they do about how to take care of my eye.  The only time my eye waters is if I choke or workout hard enough to sweat, on a few occasions it has watered for no reason which gives me hope that someday it will.  I have a lot more control over my facial movements then I did after the surgery so I figure that there is still a chance that one day if will water or science will find a way to fix it.  The only way I know to help you is to say that I have been married for 30 years this month, held the same job for 12 years (got the job 3 years after my surgery), have 2 wonderful grown men that love & support me and a husband that takes good care of me.  Take Care, Jill Marie

[luv2teachsped]

Hi everyone:
   I must agree with Joef, next to the headaches, the eye pain is really bothering me.  It has been two years for me also, and no tears.  Both my ENT and eye doctor said"it will be a life long problem". I've tried plugs,restasis, anti-biotics,steriod drops,drops,gels and lubes.Once again, I'm fighting with corneal ulcers. I know I have to use my gels and lubricant more often, but how do you remind yourself when you're busy working?Any hints?  I too have bottles of gels, drops and lubes everywhere from the bathroom ,to the car, pockets, work desk...All in all, I'm still happy to be here !!!  luv2teach

[nancyann]

Hi luv2teach:  For me knowing when to use lubricant is easy:  my eye starts BURNING !!!
                   Some days are worse than others, so on those days I use it more frequently.
                   Drops don't work as well, not thick enough.
Take care,  Nancy