Hycosan eyedrops

Good blog Nor.  Different background to your dry eyes than mine (meibomian gland blocked by a cyst leading to to recurrent corneal erosion) but fascinating to learn about what you've tried and I'm looking forward to the next instalment.  Very brave of you to spend this time on your computer telling people about your experiences when I can imagine that it would be better for your eyes to stay away from the screen.

Thank you Caroline. You said you have corneal erosion - is this different to having corneal scratches (which is what I get when my eyes get very dry).

Corneal erosion is like having someone drive a sharp screwdriver through your eyeball totally unexpectedly in the middle of the night!  If you have had damage to the surface of your eye at some point in the past (e.g. a paper cut or, in my case, a cut from the sharp edge of a vicious houseplant leaf) it leaves a weakness in the structure of the cornea.  Then when you get dry eye for whatever reason, overnight your eye dries out, your eyelid sticks to it, and when you involuntarily open your eye or move your eyeball in the middle of the night, the eyelid rips the surface of the cornea away from the layer below along the line of the old cut.  It's painful and scary.  But I'm dealing with it well now.  I put the Lumecare gel in last thing at night and then put on the Tranquileyes goggles, soaked in filtered water.  They hold my eyes shut all night.  In the morning I put the Lumecare drops into the corner of my eye before I open it and allow the drops to moisturise my eyeball before I open my eye.  No pain.  And I don't get any symptoms during the day so I'm very lucky.  I did see a consultant about having the remains of my meibomian cyst removed which may unblock the gland but I haven't decided whether to risk the operation - I'm a real coward about scalpels and eyes.  In the meanwhile,  I use Lumecare's warm eye mask once a day to keep the gland relatively clear.  Reading the posts on this site make me realise how well-off I am, comparatively speaking.

Hi Caroline,

Hi Nor
The funny thing is that I think I'm well off.  I've been working all day on the laptop - 13 hours pretty well non-stop - and my eyes are doing fine.  It's just the sleep bit which is a worry. For example,  I'm on a couple of long-haul flights in October and, whereas I used to just fall asleep in between films and meals, now I'll have to go through the eye gel, goggles, eye drops palaver before I can relax.  But I suppose no-one else really cares.

The goggles make me look like  "The Fly" apparently.  Not romantic.  But they just keep the eyes in a moist environment and, most importantly for me, ensure that my eyelids don't involuntarily pop open if I wake suddenly.  If the drops do the trick for you, you won't need the goggles.  But the flax seed mask is great for getting your eye lubricant moving because it's gentle and it remains warm for a long time.

Of course you can put me in your blog - I just read the latest instalment BTW.  It' s a great idea to help other people who haven't worked out what's wrong with them and to give them ideas/options of how they might deal with their syptoms.  What is worrying is that all the things I've done to get this thing under control in order to live with it have come from the research I've done on the internet.  Not one single constructive idea from the doctors on controlling the symptoms while I wait for a consultant's appointment.   In their view, it's antibiotics followed by surgery if necessary.  But how can they be expected to know how every condition they treat feels?  I hope your little boy is better now.

Caroline

Hi Caroline,

Hi Nor

Hi Posie,

No hycosan is not available on prescription. Because of this I asked my doctor for Vismed which is also very good (although I did prefer the hycosan). I managed to get Vismed on prescription but it was very difficult to get hold of for the pharmacy. It's not that common and is very expensive. (I haven't tried the Hyabak).

Thank you Nor. I am seeing my GP next week so will take account of your info. I have had a PPC recently. And thanks for doing the blog.  

Best wishes

 

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