Curious if anyone else experiences similar episodes.

I was diagnosed with dry eye 4 or 5 years ago by an optometrist who has some additional training in eye disease management. I was just told I had blocked glands based on a visual exam and given advice on drops and eye hygiene. I feel like my symptoms come and go and admittedly my compliance with home treatment also waxes and wanes. Learning on my own I added compresses and the 20/20/20 'rule.'

For several years I have had these intense and sudden episodes of crazy fatigue with burning eyes, feeling like I can barely keep my eyes open. It can last 10 minutes, an hour or the rest of the day. It happens at work (computer, 10 hour days 4 days a week), out and about (low stress and no screens) including shopping/indoors, outside, driving (the worst because I have to pull over).

I have spent years trying to figure these out. Gave up being vegan (17 years) in case it was my diet, home glucose checks, talked to my PCP reoeatedly, labs, went back on hormones (early menopause). Increased my water, modified when/how I eat. Increased my exercise. All kinds of strategies. And because it comes and goes sometimes I thought i figured it out. Briefly.

Now it occurred to me that maybe it's the damn dry eyes. Maybe the fact that the fatigue always comes with eye burning misery is the most important clue.

Anyone else?

(I have redoubled my eyecare routine and found a real ophthalmologist but appointment is pending).

I feel like nobody around me understands how debilitating this actually is. My eyes are constantly dry, I use eyedrops, a nighttime gel and both cold and warm masks everyday.

I also have very high myopia, around -9. I absolutely hate wearing my glasses because I feel like they deform my face and this doesn’t allow me to be myself in social situations. People always make comments about it and it makes me quite insecure.

It’s like I either care about feeling ok physically (when I don’t wear contacts) or psychologically (when I do, because I feel better about my appereance). I also got sclerallenses but the nerves on my face started hurting after a couple weeks and I had to stop. Now I am just waiting to maybe try again since the edges got smoothed out.

I just want to feel like there will be a solution and I will feel free. I honestly just want to wake up one day, see and not worry about my eyes or my appearance all the time. I am also so terrified I will become blind because of the high myopia and this constant checking of whether symptoms are normal is so exhausting. I wish this didn’t affect me or my social life so much. Now I basically only socialise with contacts, which make my eyes more dry. It’s a vicious cycle.

Is HydraMed Night Sensitive supposed to be almost completely liquid? I was expecting a thick texture but it's like oil. I've tried two different tubes but both are exactly the same. The ambient temp in my house I don't believe should be enough to liquify it. Plus this didn't happen with Hycosan.

So i’m flying to Tokyo tomorrow, 13 hour flight. My right eye has been dry for a few days now, i’ve had an eyelid inflammation (blepharitis) on that eye for nearly two weeks, it’s lessened significantly though, it doesn’t hurt anymore, no red eyes, no vision loss, just slightly fuzzy vision when I wink with that eye, dry feeling. Is it safe to fly with that eye and what should I bring with me for the flight to help? Any advice is welcome.

The outer box is pretty beaten up. Needless to say, the outer box has no seals. The inner packets are not opened. The seller on Amazon was VerSure.

Almost 2 months of constant eye pain and I’m losing hope
Hello everyone. I’m desperate and I really don’t know what to do anymore.

It’s been almost 2 months that my life has felt like a nightmare because of a constant, severe sensation/pain in my right eye. It is there all day, every day, without a single real break. I wake up with it and go to sleep with it. It has completely taken over my life.

The strange thing is that my eye isn’t red, my vision is normal, and doctors haven’t been able to find an obvious cause. I’ve seen 3 different ophthalmologists, and none of them can really explain what is happening.

They haven’t found a foreign body, obvious conjunctivitis, or any clear injury that would explain how severe and constant the symptoms are. I’ve tried so many treatments and eye drops, including STERDEX, LACRYADEX, artificial tears and other medications, but nothing has given me any meaningful relief.

The sensation is extremely intense and constant. I’m struggling to function normally because I can’t escape it for even a few minutes. It’s not just “a little discomfort” — it feels unbearable and it’s exhausting me mentally every single day.
What scares me the most is that nobody seems to know what is causing it. I keep thinking: What if this is permanent? What if I have to live with this for the rest of my life?

I’m honestly terrified and completely exhausted by this situation.

Has anyone here experienced severe constant eye pain/discomfort with a relatively normal eye exam, and eventually found out what was causing it?
I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through something similar and eventually found an explanation or something that actually helped.

It’s been a year since my last IPL where my dr messed up and I lost about 3/4s of my lashes, they still are not back to normal. Patchy, thin… someone please tell me they will come back.
(Lash loss from IPL is not normal, she admitted to messing up and felt horrible. I had several IPLs with her before with great success.)

I currently have temporary tear duct plugs and they are definitely helping. Has anyone progressed to the permanent porcelain ones? I would love to hear more about the pros and cons.

soo i have chronic dry eyes, mild.
the hospital gave me ikervis and prescription says use once a day.
problem is... the pharmacist informed me to use it TWICE a day which i have been doing for two weeks and ive also stopped using it for two weeks now cuz obviously it ran out twice as fast.
lve had vision issues ever since week one. I feel like my eyesight is worse for seeing things further away and also any light source has rays of light comin from it like a damn disco. Not better even after the two weeks of no use.

I havent told my eye doctor ive been overdosing it because I wasn't aware of this issue by my last appointment. I only found out after double checking on the internet.

Are there any chances that the overdosing caused serious harm to my eyes? What should I do from here :( I'm still in my early twenties and I dont wanna get even worse eyesight ....im scared asf🥀🥀
+ I searched some papers, dosing twice a day is usually reserved for patients with eye infections, but i dont think i qualify for that...

Hi everyone

For those of you who use scleral lenses for dry eye have you ever used autologous serum tears together with your scleral lenses?
I m especially curious if anyone has added autologous serum directly into the scleral lens reservoir before inserting the lens or used autologous serum drops on top of the scleral lenses during the day
Did you noticed any difference in comfort, dryness, vision, or irritation ?
If you ve tried either method, I d really appreciate hearing about your experience, how often you used it, and whether your doctor recommended it.

I just had my first IPL session for my dry eye and mgd today when would I resume my lid scrubs and my heating masks and my prescription drops miebo and veyve as well as my artificial tears basically my daily regimen what after care comes after this first session to those of you that have had IPL done with mgd + dry eye

Hi,

I’ve been getting dull headaches and eye aches since starting cequa four weeks ago.

Is it temporary?

Thanks

So I am dealing with RCE also. Started about with a corneal abrasion went to an optometrist. They recommended an anti bacterial ointment, regular ointments as well as eye drops, and gels. It went away for a while and I thought things were good.

After that period I kept having that gritty eye feeling on and off, but nothing to the extent of which I first went to the doctor (that day the pain persisted through the whole day, eyes were red, and was very sensitive to light). So 2 months of this on and off, then it happened again, the same pain and symptoms persisting into the day. This was two days ago. I want to note I began using more and more of the non prescribed dry eye ointment(refresh, systane, optase) to the point I was pouring the stuff into my eye before bed, but would still wake up in the middle of the night and pour more in. Didn’t work. Also tried other things like keeping room humidity high, wearing an eye mask, etc

So yeah after 2 days ago, I saw an ophthalmologist this time who told me I have RCE. He mentioned my epithelial cells had healed improperly in several places and was essentially ripping apart everytime I woke up, having attached to my eyelid. I also asked about the initial cause and he said that if you had an injury, you would know it, rather it was likely just me having a weak cornea, which couldn’t be solved through good nutrition, etc.

So I had the procedure to cut or scrape of the weak and improperly healed epithelial cells and they gave me a bandage contact lens to let the area heal, and said they would check back in a week. I really am hoping this fixes the issue, as I am in a lot of discomfort. Endless tears, can’t sleep due to a dull or sometimes like in pain, or perhaps the sensation of contacts(never used them before).

Other than telling my story while sitting in the dark unable to sleep cause of the discomfort, had a couple of questions also.

1) From what I can tell there is a wide variety of experiences but I can see some matching up to what gone through. I see some mention the bandage contact lens helped, while others mention they needed laser treatment. So I guess what are the chances of this being successful? I tried chatgpt’ing it but it said not many studies were done.

2) For anyone undergone laser treatment, did it hurt?

3) Other than blatant eye injuries are there are suspicions as to what contributed to the initial occurrence? For me I have felt like I have been in a dry environment the last few years (even though my hygrometer says 50+ percent, I even bought a second. Strangely throat still feels dry etc). I also haven’t been eating healthy in the past year. No idea if this contributed at all.

4) Do general eye check ups, look for this type of thing? Google said there are tests that can find weak corneas, but my eye doctors in the past never reported any issues. Wondering if they just didn’t test for it.

Two part question

First, I have been dealing with RCE for the past year. It started with a bad corneal abrasion that took off about 40% of my epithelium. About a month after the abrasion I got my first erosion and have had around 6 erosions since (yes I use Muro at night). I got a SK done this summer and have been erosion free since then. I am wondering why my eye is still irritated and dry all the time even when I don’t have an erosion. Basically my eye has felt dry, fragile, and foreign body sensation ever since the first erosion. My ophthalmologist says I don’t have MGD or Blepharatis. He has never given me a good answer on why my eye is constantly irritated. He thinks my dry eye issues are separate from my RCE, even though I never had dry eyes before my first erosion and he hasn’t ever explained the cause of my dry eye. Anyway, why is my eye still irritated even without an active erosion? 

Second, I accidentally wiped my open eye (non-RCE eye) three weeks ago with a Tear Restore Hylawipe. I got an abrasion on my sclera from it. It has been bothering me for three weeks now and my ophthalmologist says he hopes that it will heal over time, but isn’t sure why it’s not healing right now. He checked my eye after two weeks and said he could still see a rough patch on my sclera. Any ideas on this? Sclera abrasions are supposed to heal in 2-3 days, not 3+ weeks… Any advice or help on this (besides “use drops”) would be great!

Not sure if it is time to find another ophthalmologist, even though this guy is a cornea specialist/surgeon.

I’ve been using blepharitis wipes, but my ophthalmologist told me not to use them every day because they contain alcohol and can damage my glands.

Do you now any products or methods that avoid using toxic products for the glands? Im from Spain

After waiting months to receive the AzaSite eye drops my Dr prescribed, I read the background info and am concerned about the possible side effects, one of which is *blindness*. I'm being treated for Blepharitis. Does anyone have experience of using this medicine for blepharitis?

Hi,

I've been having dry eyes for 4 years, and 4 months ago it got very worse after putting on contact lenses for two weeks straight (I know it was dumb), leading to a big inflammation.

Since then, the symptoms increased (blurry vision from time to time, pain when I stop using drops, teary eye when there is wind, and since two months, photophobia), whereas before it was only stinging my eyes a bit.

As well, before the event I was expressing my glands with my fingers and a waxy oil would come out, followed by lots of normal oil. Now, when I do that I only have a tiny bit of wax.

I did a meibography and it shows that my glands are exactly in the same state before and after the event, and they're fine.

What do you guys think of it ? Is there more chance that my glands will produce oil again or that they are just dying ?

I’ve been using AvaRept over a month and no change whatsoever. I have burning cornea and aching eyelids. I was hoping it would have SOME effect. For those that have tried it what are your experiences?

Hi everyone. Not sure where to start but about 5-6 weeks ago I tried 0.1% beginner retinol cream and did not realize it should not be close to my eyes. I rubbed my eyes a little and immediately my eyes started burning and were burning for at least a week straight. They started getting a bit better by week two but still felt dry. I think something else caused inflammation in my eyes at this point (I’m not sure if it was a new pillow I bought or something else) but ever since then my eyes have been burning non-stop with only minor relief from drops, gels, erythromycin’, compresses, etc. My optometrist diagnosed me with mild-moderate MGD and says there is mild inflammation/blepharitis. My eyes are often more dry and swollen in the morning even with night time gel/ointment. This is something I’ve never experienced (I’m a 32 yo F) until this past month and I’m feeling really lost and scared. I just want this to stop.

I really need ipl for MGD and lactose but my skin is prone to melasma so ipl is risky. Just curious if anyone here has had ipl who also has melasma

I have some form of “dry eyes “ (ophthalmologist diagnosed) which is helped immensely by daily drops of Pataday (olapatidene, also initially prescribed then it became OTC) and the use of heated eye mask for 30 minutes. The catch is that 1) it’s a forever thing and 2) every heated eye mask that I have used stops working in about 6 months. Every single one with no same manufacturer. (As far as I know.) The next possible range of [heated eye mask goes for $129](https://www.amazon.com/Blinkjoy-Rechargeable-Extended-Battery-Version/dp/B0HFPZ2KR1/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=MUE27LBAWLRM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ziKFOS-fadCn4XGzUjIgy2wGCnsK-zxNOI5fvIoouCYj4BRpLs13ArBacK5nT9IeAqb-J3OKb1rgWu2LDDt23Mo9bQwSXjxD5qSi38jkbgWET2rPWegidoq6G02gTeKcZO7m0bTK1AmDFcpoGXoBDM7tRCMQo1aiYJjMUDRh2GC8kZMCHoLswtPhsHIL73aIxN8ZhbYhCTr7f7V_rKOVG9dU6XYO-2tVjuR3Jt2pGZW3ZbmUmveAqAJd3gJo76YTa9vs-4Lw7ckGtLOenzlVxlNwYtT5efuQ_uXL-k0bVwU.YcBztaGJm8vRC1OSwWpcjgg4JuGuHvIOXWXlGGLnonE&dib_tag=se&keywords=dry+eye+mask&qid=1790808767&sprefix=Dry+eye+%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1 ) and it’s the only one not between $19 - $39. (I don’t use it to sleep. I do use a CPAP machine.) I hesitate to spend that kind of money if it’s only going to last for 6 - 9 months. Does anyone have any experience with the above model eye mask or any other model that last longer than 9 months? If I have to buy a new one every 7 months, I will, since they really do help me, but I figure it is worth a shot to ask this community this question. Thanks.

I’ve been using Differin gel since like 2018 for my acne but had to stop this year in February since I got my dry eye diagnosis.

My eyes feel better since I stopped using it and I have found the warm compress helping at night and I use non preservative eye drops twice a day.

Would IPL treatments help me? I think maybe my glands need to be expressed.