Refractive power of artificial tears

[tlwilson]

DocH,
Thera Tears recommends saturation 4 times a day. I use a whole preservative-free vial in a 5 to 10 minute span. It has increased my comfort level. Thera Tears isn't an oily, thick drop. Overall, I'm not seeing an improvement in my acuity, but it may be early. I'm still waiting for those crevices to heal.

[DocH]

tlwilson
I've bought the correct drops and am giving it a try (day 2 today).
It's a huge volume, most seems to be just employed cleaning my cheeks! and that's spread over 10 mins.
I will give it a go till my next appointment and see if there is any improvement in my eye dryness.
Keep in touch with your progress.

[tlwilson]

DocH,
I have been doing the Thera Tears saturation for a few days now and yesterday I noticed that my eyes were more comfortable. Today was really good. I didn't feel dry at all between the saturation times until this evening after walking around the grocery store for an hour. I also noticed that the fluorescent lights in my office are bothering me a lot less. I am also seeing a bit clearer, not sigificantly, but better nonetheless. I'm feeling encouraged.

[DocH]

tlwilson
I'm not having much luck with the saturation but will persevere.
I tried moist tea bags for the bags under my eyes (which are now of course much more visable w/out glasses) and found that my eye immediately felf better as well!
Its a cheap and easy thing to do and may help

[tlwilson]

DocH,
I am better, but don't know if it can be totally attributed to the saturation dosing of Thera Tears. I also added Omega 3 supplements and a humidifier to the bedroom at night. Some days my eyes are so good I forget to put drops in and then by evening they are dry and burning. Yesterday, the doctor told me I have blepharitis and to do warm compresses. I started that this morning and I had a great day. I will try the tea bags for the bags under my eyes. I hid my bags behind glasses and now they are out there for everyone to see!

[DocH]

tlwilson
When did you have your surgery?
The tea bags can work either warm or cool I think the cool is best for eye bags.
I am also taking flax oil. Did the doctor see any improvment in your vision?

[tlwilson]

DocH,
I had my surgery on June 5, so I am 6 weeks post-op. I went to the doctor on Thursday and he said I am 20/20 in each eye, but it isn't a crisp 20/20. I had to put drops in, blink, guess, blink and I could make out 20/20. Not as good as I had with glasses, but a big improvement since the surgery. The doctor said to do warm compresses twice a day, along with gentle lid massages. I have been doing that for 3 days now and today's vision has been good and the dry eye symptoms are better.

[DocH]

tlwilson
I was at my LASIK place yesterday and measured -2 in my L eye but could easily read a whole line more after 1 drop of Refresh.
They gave me a sample of Systane Ultra and I must admit it seems a lot better than all the other drops I have tried. How are you doing?

[tlwilson]

The last week I haven't been doing as well. My right eye is blurrier. My surgeon doesn' t want to listen so I fired him and have transferred my care to another doctor. The new doctor believes I am undercorrected in the right eye, but my main problem is dry eye. He did a Tear Breakup Time test and it was 4 in the right eye, 6 in the left. Since I have already been taking Omega 3 supplements, running a humidifier in my bedroom, applying warm compresses and doing lid massages and scrubs, he went ahead and put in lower punctal plugs. I'm still blurry, but my eyes are a lot more comfortable. Also, I bought a pair of glasses to take the edge off the blurriness. I was able to drive without glasses, but I like seeing things crisply and it was a constant reminder of my problems to have blurriness. I swear, if I get over this dry eye, I will be satisfied to wear glasses. At least now my glasses are -.75 instead of -5.00.

[DocH]

tlwilson
I too will have plugs fitting at my next Doc's visit. The real temp ones only lasted 24h but seemed to help. He didn't need to do a test, he just watched me blink with his machine and said there was very little tear film there....
Unfortuately his office is shut so this won't happen for a couple of weeks.
Let me know how your plugs work.

[LasikExpert]

At least now my glasses are -.75 instead of -5.00.

After about age 40 we all suffer from presbyopia, which is a reduction in the ability to focus on near objects and is usually resolved with bifocals or reading glasses. Your current prescription of -0.75 indicates that you are slightly myopic (nearsighted, shortsighted). There are two ways to describe myopia. One is that you cannot see things far away very well. The other is that you can see things near very well.

A small amount of myopia will reduce the need for reading glasses and is similar to monovision.

[tlwilson]

LasikExpert wrote:
A small amount of myopia will reduce the need for reading glasses and is similar to monovision.

My dominate eye is the undercorrected one, so I am having a weird effect. I can see things at a distance at 20/20 or so, but it is still blurry. Not blurry exactly, but off enough to be bothersome. It is hard to explain. I am hoping my brain will adapt and learn to ignore the right eye for distance. I understand this is called "crossed monovision". Is there anything I can do to make that happen?

[LasikExpert]

The only way to make monovision work is to just look at things the way you would normally. Either the brain will adapt, or it won't. There is not much else you can do.

[DocH]

Dear tlwilson,
How are you making out with the plugs re vision?
Mine went in 5 days ago and I can notice that my eye's are a wetter for a bit longer after the drops and my vision seems a bit better (again just after the drop) but in general that's it. Yours have been in longer so what do you find?

[tlwilson]

DocH,
My situation is unchanged. My eyes are more comfortable overall, but my vision isn't any better without additional drops. I'm just not making enough tears to fix the vision problem.