Hi guys, I am quite new to this but at my wits end of what to do about my eyes. Earlier this year, I noticed I was blinking a lot more than usual but it wasn't having any negative impact. In the summer I noticed the blinking getting worse and then I went to the optiician who said I had moderate dry eye disease. She recommended lubricating drops. Nothing was improving and I went to another optician who said I had Blepharitis. He recommended a warm eye pad and regular cleaning of my lids. This hasn't improved things either. I went to my GP who confirmed the blep and put me on a 4 week course of Deoxycycline. I've been on them 3 weeks and guess what, no improvment! It's affecting me quite negatively, have to wear my glasses all the time (previous wearer of lenses for 14 years with no problems). I'm not wearing eye makeup either incase it exacerbates my symtoms. I hate not being able to look groomed, sorry if that's shallow! I'm interested to read that it could be a candida overgrowth, I have suffered fungal infections before. I eat quite well, but suspect there might be a little to much sugar (alcohol etc). My eyelids looks a little red and slightly swollen, my eyes constantly look tired and a little bloodshot, this is worse during the week when I am working at a screen. Any advice at all? I am trying to eat more Omega 3 in my diet as well because I've read this might help. I suspect if it is candida that the antibiotic will be making me worse! Any feedback much appreciated xx
Hi Davina I have a mild form of the dreade bleph' which is worse in dry climates . The optician picked it up , blocked or partially blocked "oilglands " . My Gp sent me to a consultant who put me on an 8 week course of an antibiotic ( began with an l as in lev' something . he also asked me to use the wipes or the blth' drops on a cotton bud twice a day and to use Lacrilube in the eyes overnight . It hasn't gone , he said it may not .
Definately the microwaveable eye mask followed by the correct procedure of " massaging the upper and lower eyelids" separetly immediately afterwards helps you feel alot better . If you've someone else at home that you can rely on get them to do the eyelid cleaning and definately get them to apply the lacrilube before retiring to bed . if I'm going to have a short nap i'll use viscotears gel . If i need to see what i'm doing straight away i'll put up with the short relief from eye drops .
On occassion i get one blood shot eye smack dead center as in a vertical line . this is when things have got really dry .
In short i'd advise the special eyepad to everyone even if they don't have a problem , it's great . Don't miss out on the care single finger massage of the eyelids , Lacrilube at night and viscotears GEL at other times .
spend time outdoors and putting your head over a steaming bowl of hot water acn help.
How to get rid of bleph ' ----haven't a clue---but you can manage it .
Hi David, thanks for replying. I'm actually using the eyepad and lacrilube at night. I have used Viscotears but wasn't seeing any improvement. My GP has prescribed Tears Naturale, so will give these a go for a while. I am also using anti allergy drops. I might try the steam, how would this help though?
Hi Davina
Welcome to the club! You are telling the same story as me. Do your eyes ever run? I used antibiotics for 6 weeks. With no improvement I went back to the consultant and I eventually got a combination of hylo forte drops (like liquid velvet when I used them for the fist time) maxitrol drops for 10 days and maxitrol ointment once daily for a week . It was the first time everything cleared . I'm not cured but now I can control it also the microwaveable eye mask is a must along with cleaning with I bicarb of soda every day. That's what works for me . PleAs try any or all of the above . And keep the hylo forte drops regular even if you feel fine ! Good luck! And keep in touch !
The viscotears gel , rather than the drops, gives much shorter length "lubrication" to the dry eyes but does give more relief than drops that soon eveporate ( I find ) . I'd noticed that when in a hot steamy shower my eyes felt refreshed for quite a while afterwards so i short cutted the treatment put hot water from the kettle in a pyrex bowl , covered myself in with a towel over my head , and let the steam moisten my open eyes . Afterwards you can always do the eyelid stroking to gently squeeze any gooey natural oils forth . I could never get on with putting in the lacrilube myself , and admit to not always cleaning the eyelids twice a day . I could "turn the bottom eyelids out " and clean them but really struggled with the top ones .( Hence suggesting you get assistance if possible . I wished that during the 8 weeks of antibiotics i could have had some manual assistance from a third party . Others on the forum have been well regimented with their cleaning and have had good results .
Obviously don't go anywhere near a swimming pools water !
Best of luck and try to keep up with the twice daily cleaning .
Thanks for the advice it's good to know I'm not alone! Can I ask do you wear contacts? And are you symptom free? I've no problem with Lacrulube, you just pull down your eyelid and put a strip of it in. I use the eye pad but might give the steaming a go. I don't clean inside my eyelids just the lash margin, I imagine it would be quite difficult to do the top ones! I'm getting married next year so want to look and feel my best for the big day. I'll keep going and try and stay positve! Thanks
Hi Janmin, it's not a club I want to be in but thanks No, my eyes don't really run, occasionally I'll get a stinging sensation during the day when what I think may be oil from my lids going into my eye. My eyelids look a bit oily in the morning too. I've been doing eyepad religiously morning and eve but I'm just going to do it in the evening now. I was using Blephasol too but my GP has told me to just use sterile water. Using a course of anti allergy drops and Tears Naturale which I will stick with for a few weeks. Just want to feel and look well coming up to Christmas! Getting married next year too so really want my eyes to be healthy again! I'll update my progress xx
Hi divina , you need to fold over the eyelid as the gland openings are , as it were , just inside the eyelid and in contact with the eyeball at all times . No i've never worn contacts , just specs . i'm not symton free , but generally things are alot better . I'm sure that the central heating making the humidity lower doesn't help . my optician , who suffers also, was the one that wrote a letter to the doctor saying what she thought it was . She showed me how to " massage the eyelids properly" and suggested that when driving to try and avoid the air being directed up onto the inside of the windscreen as much as possible , chose another option whenever there isn't demisting to do . I'm sure i found 2videos2 on line showing how to massage properly and i can feel during doing so "moisture" of some discription being added to the eye implying that i must be doing something correctly . I don't know whether by bathroom cabinet was keeping the laci' too cold , as i couldn't get the stuff to " break off " into the eye ..lol . When i did manage to get it in one eye , I couldn't then see what i was doing to treat the other eye ! I take an antihistermine for an allegy have done so for about 15 yrs . It has been suggested that this and having years of antibiotics for skin problems as a teen and in early twenties could in fact contribute to the dry eye problem . i'd say that over the last 4 years or so the problem has arose . I'm 61 now so it's not uncommon for "seniors" to have a dry eye problem .i only sort help once i'd have the problem of my eyelids feeling as though they's stuck to my eyeballs over night . I was also asked if my eyes were definately closed during sleep . Haven't managed to find anyone to pop in a nd check..lol
My tear ducts work fine , but then they are for washing stuff away . look out for some vids , you definately need to "roll the eyelid over for access "
Hi again , no the stinging is because the very surfaces of the eyes are not being protected . The natural oils give a layer of protection . Luckily my eye surfaces haven't been damaged , i'm told .
I'm not sure about just sterile water , i was told that baby shampoo heavily diluted was safe to use as a cleaning agent . i'd rather fork out for something made specifically for purpose !Others say it works fine though .
I'd pay for whatever it took to be honest! Was using Blephasol but wasn't seeing any improvement. The doc said all the different things I could be using could be causing irritation. Plus, I spent over £50 on drops/ointments this month and I can't sustain that. I'll stick with water to see if it makes any difference, trial and error!
well i'd definately go for the diluted bay shampoo then . When i took my prescription into our local chemist their stockist said that one of the special cremes or drops wasn't due to have another batch done for while . The lady chemist then printed off what her chain of chemists had to say on the bleph' subject , about 5 pages , i'll try to find it , but anyway it definately supported the use of the baby shampoo solution . makes sense , doesn't sting your eyes if touches the eyeball . i'll get back to you if I can find the relevent sheets of paper .
Another bit of help if you're on the computer at home alot , If you use chrome evedently there's a lttle program that can give the screen a coloured " hue" to make it easier on the eye
Hi davina6
I have read the posts and i used to use the baby shampoo 3/4 times a day it did nothing for me.I have had it since 2003/4. but now i use wet ones the sensitive ones light blue packet (uk). I had red sore and itchy eyes i was told you can still wear make up i did not wear it for a few years as it used to make it worse.I did wear for special occasions and when i went out just not all the time.If you buy throwaway wands but do not double dip in mascara the one you are using i would throw it away and but new. If you want to know more look on this site for a friend of mine Lynda 79. I also use optrex eye drops for tired eyes. Since i have been using the wet ones i only clean my eyes 1/2 a day and very rarely have a flare up. So good luck and i hope you can get under control and feel better
jeanette
Hi David,
since you say the steam helps,have you not thoght of buying the blepasteam eye goggels,I am thinking of trying them bit it is an investment
on the other hand our eyes are so important so if they would work would be worth it.
Hi,I too would stick with Blepasol or blepaclean.
Hi Jeanette, I hate the thought of having this for years, that makes me thoroughly depressed. Surely this is my bodies way of telling me that something is wrong? I need to get to the bottom of it. Getting married next year and need to be looking and feeling my best. What is your friend's website called please? Also, would you say your symtoms are controlled ie no symtoms? I'm nevous about giving wet ones a go, aren't they quite harsh?
hi vanessa , luckily in my case things are bearable and mostly I'm only affected first thing in the morning when i wake up . i had no idea that someone had come up with such a device .I must get back into the twice daily cleaning regime and will probably ask my live in son to take on the roll as i'm sure that a third party will be able to do a much more thorough job than I'd do by myself . also i need to replace my "eyebag" as having been used so often it's lost it's effectiveness . My optician says that most people either miss out the eye lid " massage " directly after using the mask or simply don't do it properly . I must say that i must be doing a fairly good job as often my eyes feel as though they've just had " oil" droplets added from the massaging .
Dear Davina,
I have Candida and was able to kill the Blepharitis. A friend killed it first. I found another product (as that was no longer for sale with killing agent in it) that killed it for me.
If you have sensitive skin and are allergic to shampoos or detergents, handwipes, fabric softeners or even spermicidal jellies you should not use them.
If not, I used Wet Ones, antibacterial hand wipes. They come in a red or now yellow package. They have .3% Benzethonium Choride in them. It took me 3 1/2 months to kill it. I used then only on the eyelashes. First week I did it 4 times day and after a week and a half I went down to 3 times a day for about a month. After that, a piece of cake as only used them 2 times a day (morning and night).
These wipes kill staphylococcus and when I looked up Blepharitis it was a cause of it.
Granted, I looked up everything after I killed it. I had the terrible itching so was desperate.
I used the antibiotics (3 times) for the eyes. The only problem is that to kill it you need to attack the problem where it really resides (on the lashes and rims of the eyes).
I have had 5 doctors try to find it in my eyes. That includes the one who diagnosed the Bleparitis. They keep saying it will come back. Been well over a year and not back. My friend too has not had a problem since she killed it.
I still have dry eyes and Candida too.
Hope this information helps you as one person told me it is a $20.00 cure.
Lynda79
Hi Lynda79, hearing good things about Wet Ones, just a bit worried it might make my eyes worse and really want to get things under conrol for Christmas. I had another appointment with my optician yesterday who is convinced I have an allergy. He says the tear film is not that bad but he can see that I am blinking a lot, which is a symptom of allergy. My lids are slightly inflamed but my eyes are quite bloodshot and tired looking. He has told me to take an antihistamine and I'm already on anti allergy eye drops. Also using tears naturale and Lacrulube at night. I'm wracking my head for what it could be. I'm athmatic so it could be dust? I also have a feather duvet, but I've had this a number of years, can you just develop allergies to things if you've not been allergic before? I might have candida too as have had fungal infections before. Also, I'm always very groggy in the morning, takes me ages to wake up properly, perhaps I'm anaemic? Ahhh! One last thing, when cleaning your eyelids, do you clean the pink bit 'inside' your eye? I've just been cleaning the eyelid margin and lashes. Your feedback would be appreciated xx
Hi
I know what you mean about being worried about trying the wet ones.
I read that someone was useing the optrex eye wash which has the same blep killing preservitives,you could did q tip in the solution and just use on lash lines.
I dare not use any thing with preservitive at the moment.
had laser irridottomy ,and lence replasement surgery this year,due to having high eye presure and narrow Angels.
My Angels have now opened and my eye presure is down.
Eyes feel a bit sticky when I blink the left one hangs a bit at the inner corner
drives me mad so any help there would be great ?
i use warm compress and clean lids with Blepasol or blepaclean,use preservitive free eye drops for my dry eyes.
Hi
the blepasteam goggels are have been on the market a few years.
I read you have to be carful about the eye bags geting too hot since that could burn the area..the goggels stay at just the right temp and is moist.
I do not do the massage ..worried about ageing the skin due to dragging the skin.glad it is working for you .
please let me know what you think if you look into the goggels.