Meibomian gland dysfunction - Eye & Vision Message Board

jsr · 10-25-2004, 08:32 PM

Hey all,

I am 23 years old and was recently diagnosed with meibomian gland dysfunction (posterior blepharitis). I have been suffering since this past january and it has been hell. I had been wearing contacts for years, and for the past two years my eyes were really dry and sometimes my vision got blurry, but I just used rewetting drops because my routine opthalmologist never told me that I had anything. When it got bad this year, I was initially diagnosed with mild GPC from my contact use (which I do have), but I went from doctor to doctor, and basically got prescribed all sorts of anti-histamines, anti-inflammatories, as well as steroids with no luck, except elevated pressure in my eyes! I decided I needed to see the best.

I am a first year medical student in baltimore and have been desperate to control this problem so that I can study - I went and saw a specialist at hopkins who diagnosed blepharitis, and she put me on erythmocyin, doxycycline and told me to do the usual warm compresses. I have been on this treatment for about a month and I am very worried because I still have seen no improvement. My eyes are blurry, they burn, get extremely tired easily, feel gritty and sandy, and I have extreme light sensitivity. I have been using thera tears, wash my eyes a few times a day with a warm cloth, massage them, clean them with baby shampoo, but they just seem to be very temporary relievers of my symptoms.

I do not know what to do - I am afraid that this situation is not going to get any better and that I am going to have to deal with this awful situation forever (I know it is chronic, but isnt acute management supposed to put it into "remission"?) I am willing to be diligent and do all that I need to do, but I feel sort of hopeless right now - i just bought some ocusoft lid scrubs and am going to try that as well. It worries me even more because I am going into a profession in which i will be reading a lot and I heard that stress can exacerbate it (great!) will i ever be able to wear contacts again? - i dont even feel like i can see as well in glasses. does it take longer for the medication to work? is there hope for me?

Thanks in advance for all the comments - I have read everything on this site already but I didnt feel like there was that much addressing this condition

Jeff

Montgumski · 10-25-2004, 10:00 PM

First of all, relax. I know its a serious problem because I have it too, but your not helping your health anybody by worrying.

Now, about the meibomian gland dysfunction, what did your doctor say was the cause? It's very important to know the cause, some people here have acne rosacea, sebhorreic dermatitis, adverse drug reactions from accutane, the list goes on. You need to tailor your treatment to whatever you think caused it.

Another thing you should know is your surrounding facial skin and the health of your skin can contribute significantly to your eye comfort or discomfort.

I had bad sebhorriec dermatitis and once I treated that my eyes got better.

ajneedhams · 10-26-2004, 10:28 AM

Jeff-

I totally know how helpless you feel. I have the ocular rosacea form of MGD. I have been on the doxy for 6 wks and I keep hoping to see some long term improvement. Oh, I will have 1 or 2 good days, but then the burning and stinging, scratchy feeling returns. My Dr wants me to take the doxy for 6 months (at least)

I really can identify how you feel. I wore contacts happily for 20 yrs (I'm 35) and then one day, I got pink eye from my daughter, and I never have been the same. It led me to believe that the infection caused my dry eyes, but the Drs seem to think it only exacerbated an underlying condition. I don't quite get it and I am beginning to think these Drs know very little. Even though I have some meibomian gland dysfunction, I know that I also have lacrimal dysfunction as well. Were you tested with a Schirmer's test for baseline tearing etc? my eyes don't water much with this condition.

Keep up with the warm compresses and the lid massages. There are some newer things on the horizon. One (in which I haven't yet tried) is the eye drop "Soothe" which is available to order over the counter from any pharmacy and is available on the shelf at any Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy right now. I haven't yet tried it but it is a lipid replacement that is supposed to last 8 hrs. I hope it is better than Refresh Endura because that stuff stings my eyes. I'm guessing it is the castor oil component. Also there is a new RX drug called Diquefosil (sp?) that is coming out soon that may be able to help a lot of our related suffering. Keep hope.

Good luck and pop in and let us know how you're progress goes.

Amy

CSLewis · 10-26-2004, 03:15 PM

Hi - I have MGD, too. I first got it about 2 years ago. I'm in my 30's and never had any eye problems before all this happened. My ophth. thinks it may be related to rosacea, but I don't appear to have any skin problems, so he's not sure what caused it(?). And I don't wear contacts, so that's definitely not the source of my eye problems. I wish I knew what it was that set everything off.

It took me almost a whole year to get this condition under control. It was my worst nightmare! I didn't get any sleep because my eyes were just burning all the time and felt like they had sand in them. My ophth. told me that the healing process would be very slow and not to expect any great improvement for a long time. Wow - was he ever right. But now my eyes are fine and the meibomian glands have regained their function. I have been symptom-free for about a year now. So there is definitely hope for people with MGD to live normal lives, once the symptoms are brought under control. I attribute my recovery to warm compresses, preservative-free artificial tears, doxycycline, and a good, caring doctor. I've stayed away from things like steroids, punctal plugs, NSAIDS, etc. I tried changing my diet for a while there, too, but I didn't notice any real link - except for drinking lots of water, which does in fact seem to help.

Jen

ajneedhams · 10-26-2004, 05:07 PM

Jen-
In my quest for info on ocular rosacea- I had gone back in the archive boards and found many of your posts. It is so unbelievably good to hear that you are now doing so well after all this time. My story and symptoms sounded very similar to yours and my onset of ocular rosacea came on at a very stressful time in my life as well. I there is a link. I assume you are off the Doxy now. That is great.

Amy