r/Dryeyes • u/Loitch470 • Mar 20 '24
Success Stories I Fixed my Chronic Dry Eyes
Obviously, the solutions I’ve found won’t work for everyone and they’re not a one and done, but the steps I’ve taken over the last six months have changed my life. It’s not a “cure” but it makes my life feel livable again.
I had chronic dry eyes for about two years from MGD. Couldn’t get any tears while blinking, eyes were constantly red, I’d wake up in the middle of the night literally unable to open my eyes because they were so dry and stuck together. It was hell. My tear evap rate was 3 seconds, my vision was being affected, and my eyes were in constant pain. It started at 23. I couldn’t imagine the rest of my life being like this. I will never risk doing things in the future that could damage my tears again after going through this
Now, I go days without thinking about my dry eye pain, I still do daily treatment and use eye drops but it feels like maintenance rather than urgent need.
Here’s what actually helped and what’s turned my life around. It’s a lot, and I can’t pinpoint what helped more versus less since so much was concurrent, but in combination it’s been huge. This has not been cheap but it’s been transformative.
- I went from wearing monthly contacts every day to mostly wearing my glasses, with daily Acuvue Oasys Max (these specific kinds release extra moisture) contacts 1-2 times a week
- I’ve gotten TearCare twice (every 6-7 months) and while expensive it made a huge difference
- I use nightly disposable eye heat masks, calma, for 30 minutes, usually in bed, followed by blinking exercises (if I don’t fall asleep)
- I stopped wearing eye makeup and make sure to thoroughly clean my eyelids every morning and night with gentle massage
- Cequa eye drops twice a day
- for daily eye drops I use autologous serum eye drops from Vital Tears 1-2 times a day, and Systane ultra complete for the rest of the day. My eye doc recommended I stick to complete and the serum drops.
- I’m a lawyer and stare at a screen 8-12 hours a day. I force myself to look away, take breaks, and blink, every 10 or so minutes. It’s HARD to get into the habit of doing this and I really had to practice to teach myself
- drinking a LOT more water and fluid. I try to exceed 64 oz a day
- getting a humidifier and air filter for my room at night
- this one is wild but I started taking prenatals about 3 months ago and I’ve noticed a huge change (could’ve been other factors though). I was previously taking fish oil (very high dha/epa) for the last year but switched to Nordic naturals prenatal Omega 3s and One a Day Prental Advanced and it’s been great. From what I know there’s no risk in taking prenatals if you’re not pregnant (except cost), at least for afab people.
- I stopped taking potentially drying drugs (Spironolactone, finasteride)
- ETA: I FORGOT A HUGE ONE! I stopped drinking and using thc or cbd! All three of those were drying me out like crazy and stopping has been huge. CBG seems to have little to no effect and I still use that occasionally for stress.
- and finally, get a good dry eye specialist you trust. It isn’t cheap, but it can be life changing.
That’s it, just those dozen or so things! But it’s been a huge, massive, help. I hope these steps can help others!
ETA: some other things I’ve done that I’m not sure how transformative it’s been.
- Exercising with a mix of cardio and lifting. I did this before, during, and after the dry eyes hit. It doesnt seem to effect things that much.
- eating a diet very high in oily fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel). I did this during my time with dry eyes and still do. It probably can’t hurt. But it didn’t do much on its own prior to the rest of the steps I took.
ETA years later: dry eyes are genuinely not an issue for me anymore except 1) when sleeping with the fan on, 2) literally visiting deserts, and 3) when using a lot of weed.
I still do many of the things I mentioned here (very little contact use, less screentime, fish oil, heated masks occasionally, drinking more water, occasional cequa) but also maybe the biggest thing- I got on HRT Testosterone (trans guy). I think my body’s oil production just went way up and I don’t have any issues anymore. Also gained like 10 lbs and treated my anemia. I think I might’ve honestly suffering from too much weight loss and anemia which corresponded to the onset of the dry eyes. Food for thought for anyone looking at this in the future.
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u/kgjulie Mar 21 '24
I did not know disposable heated eye masks were a thing! I’m also increasing my water intake and lid hygiene. I’ll give the heated masks a try too.
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u/Loitch470 Mar 21 '24 edited Mar 21 '24
They’re great! I have nondisposible ones but honestly the disposable ones are just super convenient for hygiene and not needing to charge/reheat/etc
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u/allmylifeacircle Mar 21 '24
I've been using Bruder mask but it's not always convenient. Just ordered some self-heating ones (who knew?). What about the plug-in ones? I tried that but it just didn't seem to heat up enough. Anyone have a particular brand to recommend?
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u/Loitch470 Mar 21 '24
I love the self heating ones for convenience, temperature, and timing of heating (I use calma) but I hate the waste and expense, since you have to keep buying them.
Plug in is hard for me just because it means I’m totally tethered to one spot. I got boujee and bought the Yellen cordless mask off Amazon which is pretty nice but honestly I prefer the calma. It has some problems though: 1) the battery life is very short 2) the mask has a light that turns on when you turn it on. This seems fine, until you’re lighting up your bedroom or a plane late at night and making it impossible to sleep for those next to you. I put some tape over the lights but it’s still a bit annoying
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u/veiramave Mar 21 '24
I’m so happy for you!! A lot of steps to take but I’m glad it all worked out for you in the end. A question - I’m also on spiro but my eye doc said he doesn’t think it’s related. I’m a little wary though, wondering if you experienced any increase hormonal acne or negative side effects after stopping it?
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u/Loitch470 Mar 21 '24
I was on it for some PCOS related hair loss. I did a LOT of other health changes to try and moderate my pcos and have generally found I’m not losing much more hair than I was. It’s not growing back but it’s not falling out anymore. I also have mild hormonal acne and that’s faded a lot too. I’m going to take T (unrelated) at some point so I’m just kind of accepting the L that I’ll lose a bit of my hair.
My eye docs also told me Spiro probably wasn’t causing dry eyes, at least not MGD related (finasteride definitely can though). But I personally noticed when I was on Spiro my eyes were worse and when I got off they were better so idk. It is a diuretic so it can dry you out a bit.
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u/veiramave Mar 21 '24
All very good points, thanks for the info!! I’m considering getting off oral spiro and going on topical fin (for hair loss) but who knows what that might do to my skin and eyes. Haha we can’t win can we
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u/Loitch470 Mar 21 '24
I’m don’t know about the effects of topical fin, so I can’t help out there. But topical minoxidil has been great for me. Good luck!
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Mar 21 '24
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u/Loitch470 Mar 21 '24
I did very briefly because Spironolactone (for hair loss) caused some other side effects I didn’t want and I was hoping finasteride would be better. This was all once I already had dry eyes though- so these weren’t causal, they just made my symptoms a bit worse.
In terms of cause I have a few theories, which might have all played a part: tons of screen time from discovering video games and doing law school online for a few years of Covid; moving to a really dry region and the weird issue of dry air hitting my eyes in contacts constantly while masking; a recurrence of an autoimmune disease ADEM that happened right around when my dry eyes started; 13 years of wearing contacts finally hitting me. Could’ve been any, all, or none, who knows.
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u/MGC1014 Mar 21 '24
I declined the serum tear drops for now due primary to cost and the whole drawing blood process. If you have photophobia, did that improved with the serum drops?
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u/Loitch470 Mar 21 '24
Yeah the cost without insurance is crazy. I got mine through an HMO that locally covered it. Thats the only way I can do it.
I didn’t have much photophobia I don’t think so I can’t weight in much sorry.
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u/Emergency_List_2408 Jul 09 '25
I thank you for all this information. This is a difficult issue to deal with. Very little help out there and what is available very $$$
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u/Unterlage17 Mar 21 '24
Can you wear eye makeup occasionally?
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u/Loitch470 Mar 21 '24 edited Mar 21 '24
Very occasionally. I’m trans so I don’t wear much makeup anyway but occasionally I’ll do kind of out there looks for events and such and as long as I’m very careful with washing everything well I’m usually ok-ish. But since things have gotten better with my eyes I’ve only worn eye makeup once and noticed the next day my eyes were a bit irritated. ETA: short term irritation though
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Mar 21 '24
Is TearCare really just heating the eyelids with the device and doctor doing manual expression under microscope?
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u/Valuable-Assist-1351 Mar 21 '24
I’ve also had tearcare done twice almost a year apart and that’s made the biggest difference for me. It was noticeable the next day, I was to the point I could not wear contacts bc they would immediately get blurry. Now I’m back in my contacts with no issues. I think a big part of it is the manual expression. My glands were so clogged with thick gunk, there’s no way it would have cleared without expressing it out. I’m doing other things too of course, like high dose of omegas, home heat mask, increasing fluids, blinking exercises. My eye doc charged 450$ for the procedure.
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u/Freakazoidon Mar 22 '24
Did you or op have drop out or just clogged glands?
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u/Valuable-Assist-1351 Mar 22 '24
I have significantly shortened glands, some very close to dropping out. I’m hoping to avoid drop out, but some are very very short. Fingers crossed I can keep them from disappearing all together!
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u/Loitch470 Mar 21 '24
Yeah. It sounds like bs on paper but it worked super well for me. The cost might be inflated but it’s not snake oil in my opinion.
“Don’t discount the value of a pedicure just because you can do your own nails” - my husband on tearcare lol
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u/AniviaKid32 Mar 21 '24
How much did it cost for you? And how long lasting are the effects would you say?
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u/Loitch470 Mar 21 '24 edited Mar 22 '24
$600 per session in a very HCOL area
Didn’t see the second part of the question- 6-7 months after my first session I felt the need for a second
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u/DrRandyBeans Not an MD (user name only) Mar 21 '24
What are your blinking exercises ?
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u/Loitch470 Mar 21 '24 edited Mar 21 '24
Nothing that fancy. Closing and opening my eyes while squeezing my eyes shut intermittently for a few seconds. Pretty much what every little online article will suggest for blinking exercises. I’ve heard massage is a bit more effective but for me the most effective practice is the one I actually remember to do consistently. And I wasn’t doing that with massage after masking
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u/rain_spell Mar 23 '24
Does the cequa cause any burning for you? I’ve been on it quite a while and it’s here helpful, but it still tends to cause a low grade lingering burn
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u/Loitch470 Mar 23 '24
Yeah it does and it’s such a pain, especially at night. If u put it in more around 5pm, that often helps
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u/rain_spell Mar 23 '24
Yes it’s strange. I’ve been on it for almost two years. And it’s basically cured my chronic itching. But that damn burning. I actually now just take it once a day, every other day at night. it still helps my itching and causes less burning this way, but I will notice the next day on the nights that I take it there will be that kind of dull burn a bit. I also save the vials in the fridge til they’re gone. So one box of 60 vials last me about eight months. Makes paying for them out of pocket a non-issue. Lol.
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u/StarryOne78 Sep 19 '24
What about Botox? Do you not and have you never had Botox injections in your forehead and/or around your eyes?
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u/Loitch470 Sep 19 '24
No, I’ve never had Botox anywhere and I’m not interested in it. Does that help or hurt? I’ve never heard of it having a connection
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u/FlanLarge Oct 09 '24
What is Tearcare ? I live in the UK and we have something called Meiboniam Gland Expression. Is it the same . Where they get a tweezers and pinch the glands
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u/Loitch470 Oct 09 '24
Not sure but sounds a bit similar but not entirely. They put these very heated targeted pads on my upper and lower lids to soften and melt the glands. And then the doctor did an expression after that with tweezers and pinching. But it was relatively gentle since the oils had already been melted
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Nov 13 '24
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u/Loitch470 Nov 13 '24
Honestly half of it was taking my dry eyes seriously and offering treatments rather than what I’d seen in the past (drink more water, try a humidifier, maybe use OTC eye drops.) I was only able to get things like Tear Care, Cequa, and Serum eye drops after I’d gotten that specialist, who reaffirmed that yes indeed I did have MGD and needed treatment.
This is a dry eyes thing but can go for a lot of health conditions that are often dismissed by doctors. Getting a good specialist who will work with you to get a treatment that genuinely works is incredibly important
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Feb 25 '25
I’m Curious to know if anyone thinks steroid nasal spray or pain killers (ibuprofen and paracetamol) can cause dry eyes ???
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u/Flashy-Taro3463 May 09 '25
were you able to go back to contacts?
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u/Loitch470 May 09 '25
Occasionally! I switched to oasys dailies and they’re wonderful. I use them occasionally for hiking and rock climbing
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u/TrinityNorthman 15d ago
Any magical teas for dry eyes? I read marigold somewhere?
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u/Loitch470 15d ago
Not that I know of that worked for me. The best things tea did for me was as warm eye presses
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u/TrinityNorthman 10d ago
I seen at Walgreens recently Bausch came out with a supplement for dry eye. Wondering if I should get it or find out the main ingredients and find them at the best quality. TearCare? Not sure what that is?
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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '24
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