Dry eyes and vision

[DocH]

Hello all, I had custom lasik at the begining of June.
If interested please follow my progress under the 'Just had it forum' under the slightly misleading title of Undercorrection......
That was my first issue but it quickly turned into a battle with very dry eyes.
At 3 months I am still not making enough tears and this really affects my vision.
At present I have puctal plugs and am using Lacrisert inserts and drops to keep my eyes moist.
These have helped a lot and my day-day vision is better.
My last eye test (mid August) was -1.5L and -1.75 R (before the plugs/inserts).
My next test is in 2 weeks time.
Anyone in the same boat just hang in there. If your vision improves when you put in an eye drop, then there's a good chance your vision still can improve with time.

[DocH]

Dear All,
Saw my eye Doc, I had the feeling that at the last visit he had thrown everything he had at me and was really disappointed with the result (maybe he was having a bad day...)

I was really happy that my vision was a bit better but he said that my vision was still flucuating. He estimated that I was now about -0.75 in my L (last script 1.5) and -1.25 in my R (last script 1.75)
He had nothing new to offer and muttered something about having residual myopia...

He didn't think it was significant that my vision was better with a drop of lube either and seemed much more uncertain about my ability to start producing my own tears, so altogether a pretty negative visit.

I still live in hope and will continue to post progress.
Feel free to comment or share experiences.

[chliansh]

This board seems to be a ghost town...........
How are the dry eyes? I still cant figure out my problem. Every time they checked me for dry eyes I came back ok? As a preventative, I started restasis 2 times a day about 1 month after surgery. Lately I have even tried over doing the drops just to see what happens, 15- 20 times a day and I can tell any diff.
Chad

[DocH]

Hi Chad,
I agree, I thought there would be more comments.
I guess having this amount of trouble is unusual.
I am now almost 5 months post-lasik and my eyes are still dry.
I have a routine which woks for me and makes my vision workable ie I can see clearly for distances up to about 9-12 feet. I have to wear glasses for over this eg driving. On a good day my vision is about 20/30 L eye and 20/50 R, both still improve about 1 snellen line with a lube drop.
I use Lacrisert pellets daily and eye gel at night and take anti-inflammatory meds daily as on my last check I was told there was still inflammation there (along with the dryness). I assume these are 2 separate problems.
I read a study that stated that nerve regrowth can continue up till 12 months...
My Doc won't even consider an enhancement until the dry-eye issue is resolved and I agree, I am just waiting for this to happen.
Does your vision change when you add a drop? If not dryness may not be the issue.

[Mr.UnPerfect]

Hi, dry or irritated eyes, that me also. I am 3 yrs post lasik. It has gotten better , but I think its just the flap, nerve damage, and I was probably borderline dry eye and the lasik pushed it over the edge.
Try some Avitears, look it up. It may help heal the cornea, it is different than the rest.

Lasik procedures are way down due to the ecomony, so the room is slow as you say. I also think the treatments are better now, so less problems. Except for the few like us.

[chliansh]

Hi Chad,
IDoes your vision change when you add a drop? If not dryness may not be the issue.

Negligible.
My last ah ha moment was when I was reading another board about dry eyes, the individual was only treating one eye. Seems doubtful to me that I have dry eye in one but not the other eye after 9 months post op. My problem seems to be related to the fact that my right eye is the dominate one and accounts for 90% of my vision due to a lazy eye.

Anyone using Oasis drops? They seem to work the best but are also the most expensive and only available at the Dr office. Seems like there should be something similar under a different name and cheaper elsewhere. They seem to stick to your eye but not feel like there is some thing in there like the celluvisc ones.

[PRK_EYES]

Hi Guys,

I am just wondering if tear gel helps.
Seems tear gel can retain moisture better than artificial tear.

[DocH]

Hi all, old dry eyes here!
I am exactly 6 months post lasik.
My eyes are still very dry but seem to have been a little better this last week.
I stopped using all drops last month and am only using either Lacrisert inserts or preservative free gel (mainly at night as it blurs up the vision)
I saw my eye Doc again and my sight is a little improved ( I am 0.05 diopters better in each eye) and also much more reproducible on testing (my variablity was really annoying him.. but there wasn't anything I could do about it)
We discussed the effects of preservatives in the eye drops and he thought that they could have been causing some of the inflammation. I am of course hoping that my eyes are beginning to tear naturally.
Will continue to post.

[DocH]

Hello All,
Now 8 months post lasik and not much change. Eyes still dry and am using preservative ointment (Lacrilube) about 3 x day and at night and the occasional drop.
One thing I have noticed, while cooking last night I was chopping onions and prior to this my eyes haven't reacted at all but last night my eyes really stung (didn't water though...) so this is new for me. A good sign or am I cluching at straws?
Any comments from other bods who's eyes took a long time to recover? (or of course you Glenn!)
My next check is early Feb I will update then.

[Mr.UnPerfect]

Hey DocH
I had lasik over 2 yrs ago, and am still bothered at times by dry /itchy eyes. As you well know there are way to many possibilities for me to cover , however I will condense it to. Permanent nerve damage from the flap, poor healing due to patient's biological/healing profile, or other issues triggered by lasik/flap (allergies, nerve sensitivity) and possibly not wearing glasses anymore as they protect the eyes from drafts, dust etc. Wow , that said you see what I mean.
So what I am trying to say is, I never had dry or itchy eyes until lasik/flap. Mine was done with a microkeratome which if I knew what I know now I would have maybe had Intralace or PRK. It may have been a more shallow flap = less nerve damage. Okay, next, I believe I have some servere nutritional deficiencies , that hindered my healing. The number on is zinc. Look up zinc and you will see it is a major player in healing, and most men are deficient. Do a zinc tally oral test and see if you are deficient. Doctors are talking about omega3 and know the importance of this oil however not much attention is paid to minerals and some other substances. Try some extra zinc and I think it may help, it did me. You may need to take 50-100mg to notice a difference. Next try some Avitears drops and also some Acetyl/Carnosine eye drops..google them and let me know , you should be able to fine them. Again this will attack the poor healing which is masked by the nerve damage done by lasik. This is my advice that I have tried on myself and of course its my opinion as I see it at the moment, any thing I say should not be held against me, as I have had lasik and premanent eye nerve/ brain damage...he he just kiddin. By the way how was you flap created, and what type of instrument was used, I am curious.
Bob

[DocH]

Hi Mr Unperfect
I had Zyoptic laser in June ie yes all the little nerve were severed.
I can't seem to find Avitears (in Canada)
I'm taking Flax oil tablets,
Haven't heard about the zinc thing but it would be in my multivit but not at the levels you indicate (but enough so I'm not low).
My eyes weren't dry to me but apparently was to the Lasik people PRE-surgery...

[Mr.UnPerfect]

Zyoptics is the laser , how did they create the flap? Blade or laser

How do you know you are not zinc deficient? A multiple has zilch in it, do you think you get enough nutrients in a 1 tablet multiple?

You will not find the drops in a drug store you need to buy them on the web.

Flax is not converted to omega3 in most people you need fish oil. (mucho)

Nothing changes if nothing changes! Bob

[davinci23]

"Assuming" zinc makes a difference in outcomes, you won't get it from a standard Multi-Vitamin supplement. A normal MV tablet only has about 11mg in it per daily government guidelines. However, if you look at the daily serving amount from a product such as "ICaps Eye Vitamins MV" by Alcon, that has about ~85mg as the total daily supplement.

I'm taking the ICaps MV. I'm not sure if it'll help but I want to give myself as much of an edge as possible.

[Mr.UnPerfect]

The Icaps has 524% of the RDI of Zn They know the amount is great for healing and vision.

Thanks for confirming that. Thats what I'm talking about. Bob

[DocH]

Mr Unperfect (seems like a good name)
I think you will find that Flax has high levels of omega 3
And re the Zinc I thought you were taking deficiency not uber concs...