So my eyes are feeling pretty horrible right now. I've had mild dry eye for about two years according to my eye doc before they started bothering me. When the mouth dryness started, I actually started experiencing discomfort from dry eye. They feel worse than they are presenting clinically according to the doc. The stain measurement was a 1 which is mild and doesn't meet Sjogrens criteria. They feel so gritty and awful though. Some days I'm putting in drops all day and other days I'm not because it's milder. I'm wearing my glasses all the time which stinks because it's sunny and I need sunglasses. Also not going to the pool very much with my kids because I'm blind as bat and contacts hurt my eyes right now more. So, is anyone wearing their contacts on mildly dry days? Does it upstart a flare? Is there a contact brand that helps that I might sable to wear just an hour or two at the pool or beach?
My doctor lets me wear Acuvue Dailies. But I can only wear them for a short time and some days my eyes are too dry to even wear them. Plus my tear ducts are cauterized closed so any tear I do produce stays on my eyes. Unfortunately , I still think wearing glasses is the safest for us sjoggies.
Liz D.
It was my contacts that showed my first evidence of extremely dry eyes.
They 'stuck' to my corneas, causing abrasions that were very very serious.
Fortunately they healed, but that was the end of wearing contacts, for me.
How I wish I could wear them now....I HATE GLASSES WITH A PASSION.
But I don't get to choose.
Best wishes to those who can wear them with dry eyes.
Hugs, Elaine
My eye doc said contacts are out of the question.
Hi Wal, I don't post much on here anymore, however, if I feel I can be of help to somebody on the forum then I will post a reply.
I too am truly blind as a bat and must wear my glasses constantly except when sleeping of course. My eyes are incredibly dry and I have been forewarned that contacts could cause permanent damage to my eyes, as they would stick to the corneas.
The way that I have dealt with eyeglasses and having to be out in the sun was to have my eyeglass prescription put into a pair of sunglasses. I bought a pair of Rayban sunglasses and the optometrist was able to add the same prescription to those that I have in my regular eyeglasses.
Long gone are the days when people would say to me; "have you ever tried contact lenses?" You would feel so much better and look so much cuter without those glasses."
I feel that it is truly how confident that I feel within myself, as well as having a healthy enough self esteem that makes me feel "pretty enough" wearing my eyeglasses and prescription sunglasses. I hope that I was able to be of some help to you. Take care.
I wore contacts for 30 years and in 2002 I noticed I could not
wear them longer than 2-3 hours and had trouble removing them b/c
they would be stuck to the surface of my eye. They became uncomfortable
my eyes always looked blood shot. So in about 2003 I gave them up
for good. Was not happy about it.
shelly
I wear scleral contacts and tolerate them pretty well. I can't wear soft lenses. I have had binocular vision problems for 2 years, and my glasses make that worse. But my eyes get inflamed and tired wearing sclerals and I wish I had the right glasses so I could take a break.
Because of my dry eyes my lenses get gunky pretty fast, and I have to take them out and clean them 3-4 times a day. But they don't harm my corneas and don't make my eyes drier, so that's good.
Calli
I wear contacts but it's getting harder and harder. I'm afraid eventually I'll have to wear glasses all the time and I don't like them. They're uncomfortable and I don't see as well with them. I'm going to talk to my eye dr. and ask if laser surgery would be a good idea. I think it's become less expensive but I'm not sure. Anyone know?
My opthalmologist had me try the daililies contact lenses in hopes it would help my dry eyes. That is what they are made for. Unfortunately it took half a bottle of eye drops per eyes to pry the lenses of my eyeballs! Not doing that again! Shame is that it did help make my eyes feel more comfortable!
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Sixty, I would consult with your doc if lasic is a good idea. I heard it can cause dry eye....
Thanks Wal. I will ask him for sure.
I haven't worn contact lenses in years, mostly because there wasn't a good one for my prescription and astigmatism, but that was all before my Sjogren's symptoms started.
While looking for information about something else, I just came across this article about contact lenses for dry eyes so figured I'd post. I haven't tried any of them, so can't speak from experience. http://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/lenses-dry-eyes.htm
Hi I figure this thread is a few days old...
Just want to add this - I have dry eyes, even with a punctual plug. I have success wearing RGP's for 30 years.
I insist in wearing them even with dry eye because My myopia is so high, -23 each eye, that wearing glasses is a chore, plus eyeglasses distort the image a little due to being so high, my eyes look tiny behind it, is ugly, and plus thick and heavy...
RGPs are much smaller then soft lenses, and they are hard. However, l they don't absorb water...they seem to repel water. Soft lenses are made of water, so they can also absorb water from the eye. At least RGP won't do that.
Most people won't try RGP because they take a long time to get adapted to..and in the beginning is like awful, because you naturaly feel of a foreign object and is going to hurt for two weeks, at least was my experience when I was a teenager and didn't have dry eye. Soft contacts are much easier to adapt to.
But is something to think about.