I have been suffering with recurrent corneal erosions in my right eye for 5 years. I have had the puncture procedure done, the contact lens, various gels and drops and I finally had the PTK surgery in 2003 to repair the damage. I was pain free for about three years and then I began experiencing "mini" erosions upon awaking a few times a month. I religiously put drops in my eyes before bed. Within the last year the erosions have gotten worse. Even before I open my right eye in the morning, I can feel the pain. This morning, the erosion was so bad, the pain lasted nearly 2 hours. I am seeing the doctor that did my PTK surgery today. He told me when he did the surgery that a very small percentage of patients need to have the surgery redone. I can honestly say that the pain of the surgery is nothing compared to the recurrent pain of these erosions. I am curious to know if there are any underlying reasons why this is happening and have read some threads about rce and dehydration. I know this sounds weird, but I have made a connection that the erosions are worse the morning after I drink any alcohol. This certainly coincides with the dehydration theory. When I mentioned this to the opthamologist, he thought I was nuts. Any feedback on anyone having PTK surgery twice to correct rce would be welcome.

The doctor wanted to put a plug in my eye, but I pushed for another option and he suggested restasis which I started taking today. In my on line research for some holistic approaches, I discovered that I should consider eating almonds every day and taking evening primrose oil for relief of dry eyes.

The doctor wanted to put a plug in my eye, but I pushed for another option and he suggested restasis which I started taking today. In my on line research for some holistic approaches, I discovered that I should consider eating almonds every day and taking evening primrose oil for relief of dry eyes.

I had PTK for RCE about 5-6 years ago. I've had occasional micro-erosions, but they were so small that I never got worried that things were coming back. From what I read about PTK before my surgery, something like 5-10% needed a second PTK, but never a third. Perhaps you have some underlying corneal dystrophy that wasn't completely eradicated with the PTK? Like you, I thought PTK was a breeze compared to the daily onslaught of erosions.

I had the punctal plugs put in and thought they helped. They took a little getting used to. Diet can definitely help dry eyes, but you will find about a zillion different things that people will swear by to help their dry eyes. Doing things like staying hydrated can't hurt. Look at the dry eye board. For me, using Genteal Gel Severe gets me through the night with no discomfort.

ebmd

Hi,
I notice that doctors don't have a good idea of long-term success rates, because a lot of dry-eye patients switch doctors, leaving the old ones thinking that the person "got better." Just a thought.

That's exactly right. I place little value in a single doctor's estimate of success for a few additional reasons - first off, they don't have enough patients to do proper statistical sampling; secondly, even if they did, they don't have the time the do this for every disease/treatment they encounter.

The numbers I do trust a little more are those published as a result of research studies where patients have been followed over many years. Those patients that leave the study are thrown out of the statistics - these are the numbers I studied before my PTK (I luckily have direct access to medical journals). I still don't trust these completely because the study authors may have a bias, or their definition of "cured" may be different than mine, etc etc, but they are the best numbers one will find.

ebmd

Hi everyone
I have only just found this thread again after a couple of years. I first had RCE nearly 5 years ago (child's fingernail trauma). I have had 3 x surgeries now and so far, nothing has been successful. First was: Diamond Burr Polishing (i.e. sanding the cornea back to the original injury) - hurt like hell! Second was: Alcohol treatment (i.e. burning away the cornea with alcohol back to the injured layers) and recently (October 2007) I had PTK. This was the least painful, but so far I am still experiencing erosions.
I have been successful in the management of my RCE from the bandage contact lens. Now and again using the Muro 128 ointment (which I have to have shipped in from the States!)
I'm considering a 2nd PTK operation (from the feedback on this sight re: 90% success rate on first attempt and 99% on second attempt).
If anyone else is struggling I recommend highly the BCL (you can purchase these yourself via consultation with your optician re: good fit to the eye, etc.) and I tend to wear just at night. Daytime doesn't seem such a problem but if the eye feels dry I just put some refresh drops in.

Good to find you all again and so sorry that many of you are also still suffering..... Hopefully, the answer will come soon!

Hi, my injury was also from a child's fingernail and it happened one year and four months ago. I had a debridement done and had an erosion 3 weeks after the procedure. Right now I am also using the BCL and definitily it has been helping me to function without erosions. The doctor wants to keep me with the lens in for 3 months, changing it every3 weeks. Did you also do this? I also was thinking on PTK but the doctor wants to try the BCL first. Do you think the BCL could resolve the problem or this is just a way to function better with the problem? For some reason my doctor is not rushing for the option of PTK since he told me there is no guaranty that pTK will resolve the problem. As you said, you are still having erosions. Do you still wear the lenses?

Please let me know your thoughts on this.

regards

One more question: did you have the procedure done PTK in the entire cornea?

Thanks so much for posting! I just had PTK with PRK Oct. 11th. Sorry to hear you are still having erosions. Things are going well for me so far, but I can see that, in my case, I still need to watch out for dry eye as it could potentially induce an erosion. This is true of my "good" eye, so I don't think I can consider myself to ever be totally out of the woods. Do continue to post, I'm very interested in hearing how things are progressing for you.

Hi everyone
I have only just found this thread again after a couple of years. I first had RCE nearly 5 years ago (child's fingernail trauma). I have had 3 x surgeries now and so far, nothing has been successful. First was: Diamond Burr Polishing (i.e. sanding the cornea back to the original injury) - hurt like hell! Second was: Alcohol treatment (i.e. burning away the cornea with alcohol back to the injured layers) and recently (October 2007) I had PTK. This was the least painful, but so far I am still experiencing erosions.
I have been successful in the management of my RCE from the bandage contact lens. Now and again using the Muro 128 ointment (which I have to have shipped in from the States!)
I'm considering a 2nd PTK operation (from the feedback on this sight re: 90% success rate on first attempt and 99% on second attempt).
If anyone else is struggling I recommend highly the BCL (you can purchase these yourself via consultation with your optician re: good fit to the eye, etc.) and I tend to wear just at night. Daytime doesn't seem such a problem but if the eye feels dry I just put some refresh drops in.

Good to find you all again and so sorry that many of you are also still suffering..... Hopefully, the answer will come soon!

Hi,

Just one question: do you put muro drops with the lens in? I also had a fingernail trauma 1 year and a half ago.

Good luck!