Sleeping & Dry Eyes: I had Cateract and astigma surgery over a year ago and have been on Restasis for dry eyes. Saline Eye drops sometimes make my eyes worse. I want to get off Restasis too. My eyes feel the dryest through the night while sleeping and upon wakeing up. Does anyone have any experience using Eyeseals or can suggest ways that can help prevent dry eyes during the night?
i have the heat pads that i use. i have severe dry eyes with my eyes watering constantly. i have been on everything including restasis, nothing has help. The pads do help me feel better but it has not solved my problem. good luck
My eye consultant, prescribed for me, a 'simple eye ointment'. Yes that is what it is actually called. Boots have just started marketing their own. I have to put it in at bedtime, and it keeps my eyes from dryin out during the night. It works very well. Because it is an ointment, the greasiness, stays on the eye for the duration of the night. I use Hylo-Fort 2% every 2 hours during the day, so as you can imagine I am an extreme case. Try the ointment overnight, it is very effective.
Have you discussed this with your Ophthalmologist?
I have very dry eyes & currently use Hyabak drops [pres free] & VitA-POS gel - also pres free.
I am having to use the gel several times during the day as well as at night.
I don't know what country you are in but there is currently a problem getting any lubricating eye gel because one brand was withdrawn last year & the others keep running out, so we have to wait for them to be manufactured.
But if you can get a tube of VitA-POS you may find that it helps to use at night. But do talk to your Ophthalmologist.
Good luck
Thank you you are sweet, but i have been to 6 doctors, had plugs, permanent tubes for 6 months, reconstructive surgery on my tear ducts, been on restasis forever, i do use over the counter gel at night. i still get up with crust all over my eyes and junk coming out of them during the day. They water so much that it affects my work and driving sometimes. i entered this forum in hopes that there were more people like be going through the same but none as bad yet. hoping for answers. The only thing the heat does for me is makes me feel better but does not solve anything. i live in the US
I had severe dry eyes for four years due to inflammatory filamental keratitis (don't ask!). Or vice versa, I'm not even sure which was due to which.
I was on Restasis for 10 months and it didn't work for me. If anything it made things worse.
The keartitis went away and I'm now just dealing with the dry eyes.
Now, during the day I use a mix of Cellu-Visc, Hylo-Tears and Optive, Hylo being my mainstay.
At night before bed, I alternate between VitA-Pos and Lacrilube or, while away in India, Lacrigel.
Those two keep the eyes moist all through the night.
When at my worst, I put the Cellu-visc in first thing in the morning and follow up with Hylo Tears and Optive, as and when needed. Or more Celllu-visc.
Keep in mind that I went through about 10 different eyes drops till I found those that work for me.
Three most important hints I received from the various opthalmologists at Moorfields, London: (1) Not to restrict my use. Use as and when needed. More important is to keep the eye moist. (2) Vary the drops and gels throughout the day, and (3) from a German trainee ophthalmologst this precious little homily: "A happy eye is a closed eye". Eyes are quick to heal. So with that permission, I would frequently sit with closed eyes or lie down if possible (no guilt feelings there!)
For years before I had chronic dry-eye, I used saline solution until I was warned that saline is NOT good for the eyes as the pH balance is different to that of our tears. So I stopped using it.
I am putting off having my cataracts done for fear of exactly this: another bout of extreme dry eye, which, basically, messed up my life.
I was told that punctual plugs were a possible solution but luckily have not had to go that route...
I hope this is useful. I feel for you. Eyes are our most important sensory organ, and constantly feeling like you have wood chips in them is not piece of cake!
Hi there,
I have troubles with persistent dry eye. I have found that a night time ointment called Xailin Night is very effective and leaves me waking up feeling quite refreshed. They can be quite greasy but will wash during the day when you use regular eye drops. Don't use this ointment in the day as it makes vision blurry.
Make sure your daytime eye drops are preservative free. The best I have used are called Hylo tear.
Best of luck!
If you live in the UK, there is currently a problem in some parts, getting the gel type lubricants because Lacrilube had to be withdrawn at some point last year because of a problem. The other products are available in fits & starts, as they manufacture them.
Yes, I've noticed this lately too. Weird when you think of it, why yo would have dry eyes when your eyes are closed! No experience with any medications for it. Good luck.
My consultant said, that some of us, who suffer, dont totally shut our eyes when asleep, although we may think we do. Thereby with nightime 'rapid eye movement' etc, our eyes would benefit from overnight lubrication.. Hope this may explain.
I always assumed for the same reason we have a dry mouth at night. Or get dryer eyes when looking all day into a computer screen...
In sleep, apart for the REM periods, we're not moving our eyes around the way we do during the day, and it's the constant movement of the eyeball that lubricates it. Hence many people staring at small or still objects like words on a screen or doing sewing, move their eyes relatively little, which tends to make them dryer.
Perhaps you should enlighten the consultants, about your nightime thoughts. Do you work in that field?.
No I don't. But I've had so much miserable exerience of this myself and been listening to so many specialists for so long, I've been picking up all this stuff on the way.
Reading of all kinds was the most problematic when my dry eye was at its worst. I had to consciously look up and swivel my eyes around before focusing on the page again just to keep the moisture.
Not discounting at all what your consultant said about some having open eyes at night. I'm sure that doesn't help either.
Totally agree with Bumblebea. I use this ointment and its excellent.
Bumblebea has summed it up for me. I had this problem for years and it really is a case of trying allsorts of things to find your own solution. I am so surprised at how many eye consultants seem to lack knowledge in this area. I only got some excellent advice after seeing a corneal specialist. The main cause of dry eyes is the meibomian glands in your eyelids packing up. Their function is to provide a lubricating substance to your tears. Tears themselves lack this vital ingredient. Drops and gels are useles for severe cases and an ointment used at night,squeezed under the top eyelid is best. Most will say put the ointment in the bottom eyelid but I have found that it spreads better under the top lid. This is every night and even one miss will be noticed the next day. Good luck.
Thank you everyone for your posts. I haven't been on PC for a while. I was wondering if anyone has experience with using Eyeseals with a drop of water in them for moisture during sleeping? Plus, I found an Ophthalmologist that does a test called "Inflamadry" which can tell you what is causing your dry eyes, wheather it is Evaporative Dry or Clogged Glands, Inflamatory, and tear film layers affected. Does anyone have experience with these types of tests?
Oh, Thera Tears and Genteal ointments and gel were recommended to me. Has anyone had experience with using these for sleep? Will I have obvious gook coming out of my eyes that even co-workers will see too the next day at work after using the gel/ointment it the night before? Plus, I don't know which is better, gel or ointment?
One other symtom is that I don't have alot of tearing like some Dry Eye sufferers. My eyes rarely tear unless I cry. The outer corners of my eyes get dry too. I sometimes think if I could just keep my eyes moist during the night, that they would be much better the next day.
Thanks for the info. Does the ointment ooze out during the day? because I don't want others to see it at work? Hope you feel better!