lasik dry eyes

06-07-2006, 11:32 AM

Hi all....i am 4 wks. post op lasik surgery. My left eye is fine, my right eye is very dry. Had plug put in yesterday with limited success. Refresh Celluvisc only eye drop that offers me some relief. Also have fibromyalgia and am 57 y.o. No history dry eye previous to surgery. Surgeon is excellent, well know in my community. The doc treating me also had lasik surgery and it took her 6 mo. for her dry eye to improve. I really would not mind waiting 6 mo. Anxiety has set in and of course i am worried i will be one of those who will have permanent problems.
My question...the dryness does not show up with physicians examination. No overt findings...with their instruments my eye does not look dry and my eyelids are fine. Is this unusual? How can my eye feel dry and not show up in examination?
One last question...i use bion tears and refresh celluvisc. Do i really need to throw out the container after one use?
Many thanks for your response......sara

06-07-2006, 01:57 PM

Hi Sara,
I just had intralase lasik 3 weeks ago tomorrow. My eyes seem to be starting to feel better (last two days ok, today not so good...). I don't know how they can feel dry and not show any signs of it clinically. I feel mine might have felt a little like that pre-op because I thought I had dry eye problems but they couldn't find any sign of it with their tests. As for the Refresh, in my experience and from what I have read other places, if you can reclose it and you haven't touched the tip then most say you can reuse for up to 12 hours unless it turns cloudy or something. I treat all of the preservative free vials the same unless i can't reclose them. I haven't had any problems that way. If it is over 12 hours old or I'm not sure how long I've had it open I toss it.

I hope that you can find an answer to your dry eye question, I'd be curious to know also.

Good luck with your healing.

06-07-2006, 05:58 PM

hi bostonlover,
thank you for your reply. My surgeon said the same as you...she told me to disregard the directions for disposal, you can use a vile up until 12 hrs.
As far as the dry eye not showing up clinically, i will pose the question to her again when i see her next week. My lower puncta plug does not appear to be helping. I will keep you posted.
You sound as though you are doing well...you said that 2 days were good but today was not....what problems if any are you having with your eye. ?
Take care and i hope tomorrow is a good day for you.........
sara

06-08-2006, 12:44 PM

At this point I seem to be dealing with irritation of some sort I think. The first two weeks i had really dry eyes despite rewetting at least hourly and since I work on a computer all day I would get headaches by midday and just go home and go to bed. The third week has been better. Starting a few days ago I feel more wetness in my eyes. Yesterday felt more dry, but today I feel more wetness again. The only problem is my eyes still feel a bit irritated. I don't know if I am having some sensitivities to my eye makeup or what... Particularly my left eye feels quite wet, but I am thinking it is some reflex tearing because of irritation. Despite being more wet, it is more aware of air movement, etc. My husband just laughs at me because it seems I am in a constant state of hyper-analyzing how my eyes feel, LOL.

Anyway, that's how it's been so far for me. Keep me updated on your progress and what your doctor says.

06-09-2006, 01:32 PM

Update: I went into the doctor today for the irritation. Turns out my eyes are really dry. They tested it by putting dye in my eyes and looking throught the slit lamp. She said that the wetness is reflex tearing from the irritation caused by not enough lubrication. So, I have to rewet every 2 hours and I am back on the steroid drop for 2 weeks. Then back to the doc. Oh well, I just thought I was doing better, lol!

Sara, How did they test your eyes for dryness?

06-10-2006, 04:35 PM

That sound familiar. Did they do the test with the paper strips to check your tear production? Did you have dry spots? I would suggest that you use a gel or oinment at night if you aren't already. It might help with morning dryness.

06-15-2006, 08:20 PM

Hi,

I'm about 16 months post-op from Lasik. I had dry eyes (and red) for about a year. It gradually got better. I did notice a big correlation between how tired I was and how dry/red my eyes were. Now, I only get it on rare occassions, usually if I have only gotten a few hours of sleep. Artificial tears helps. I stopped using them about 4 weeks after surgery, unless they were really dry.

06-16-2006, 05:22 AM

Hi bostonlover,

Not sure what the procedure is called, but they used their magnifying instruments and a dye to check for dry patches....and results were negative....however they said altough tests are negative, one can still have dry eyes................:-(

sara

lasik dry eyes

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