Eye's

[Tknapp717]

Hey everyone!

I have gotten plugs put in my eyes several times. But i can feel them and i get aggravated enough that i take them out with tweezers..... My eyes get really really dry I use the gel and the systane ultra but sometimes when i close and then open my eyes it feels like im taking a layer off of them with sand paper!! I can't stand my Opthomologist hes "words I wont say" Does anyone have any better long term suggestions I can try?!!? Thank you In advance for your help

TK

[itssue]

OMG, I can not imagine using tweezers to take out the plugs.  OUCH!!!!

I've had plugs and I could feel them at first, but after a few days everthing was okay.  My problems was they would not stay in regardless of what size were used.  So, I've had my left eye cauterized and will be having the right one done later in the month.

Do you use restasis???  That has helped me. 

Good Luck,
Sue

[bloodless]

Outside of plugs, it's restasis and eye drops. Change docs and keep asking about it. Sooner or later there will be new drugs.

[Cheryl]

Tk,
I also recommend Restasis and drops, along with the plugs or cauterization.  (My plugs kept coming out, too.  Like Sue, I have one of them cauterized now and will do the other one in the future.) 

If you have the duct cauterized, you won't "feel" anything there as you did with the plug.   You do need to know that it is permanent, but as I asked my eye doc, "Why would I ever want to reverse it?   The Sjogrens isn't going away."

Best wishes,
Cheryl

[season]

Have you tried the lacriserts?  It takes trial and error to get the hang of putting them in but they work well for me.

They are very small ( a grain of rice) when you insert them but after a few hours they swell and it adds a lot of moisture to your eyes.

when they swell, they can become troublesome. That is when I take them out and my eyes are still moisturized for several more hours.

I hope you find something that works for you because dry eyes can be a really bad nightmare.

[Patze]

The others have given you some great advice, but I'll also parrot the advice of changing opthamologists if you possibly can.  I good one can make a difference, I know (had to fire the last one, she was ah....interesting).

Take care of yourself now -

Patze

[Narablueeyes]

The others have given you some great advice, but I'll also parrot the advice of changing opthamologists if you possibly can.  I good one can make a difference, I know (had to fire the last one, she was ah....interesting).

Take care of yourself now -

Patze

I've never been to one in my life but since noticing this last year that my eyes are so durn dry AND reading this thread, I've got an appt Wednesday.  I'm losing my hearing, I don't want to compromise my eyesight too!

[Patze]

Hi Nara,

Good to hear that you'll be seeing an opthamologist, your peepers are way important! 

Don't forget to keep us updated, okay?


Patze

[Narablueeyes]

Hi Nara,

Good to hear that you'll be seeing an opthamologist, your peepers are way important! 

Don't forget to keep us updated, okay?


Patze

K.

[jasonsmith]

Have you tried the lacriserts?  It takes trial and error to get the hang of putting them in but they work well for me.

They are very small ( a grain of rice) when you insert them but after a few hours they swell and it adds a lot of moisture to your eyes.

when they swell, they can become troublesome. That is when I take them out and my eyes are still moisturized for several more hours.

I hope you find something that works for you because dry eyes can be a really bad nightmare.

I've read of people cutting them in half. Maybe you could try that?

[jasonsmith]

There are several different type of plugs. Maybe you can look into the different kinda of plugs. i.e. some plugs are visible, some plugs stay down inside the duct where you can't see them. Then there are different types and shapes of plugs.

[A66eyroad]

Hey everyone!

I have gotten plugs put in my eyes several times. But i can feel them and i get aggravated enough that i take them out with tweezers..... My eyes get really really dry I use the gel and the systane ultra but sometimes when i close and then open my eyes it feels like im taking a layer off of them with sand paper!! I can't stand my Opthomologist hes "words I wont say" Does anyone have any better long term suggestions I can try?!!? Thank you In advance for your help

TK

Holy cow!   

The second time I had plugs placed, I could feel them. But since I'd had it done once before and COULDN'T feel them the first time, I knew that this time the placement wasn't right. So when I went back he saw that he hadn't placed them in far enough and they were scratching my eye. He pushed them in a little farther and >bazinga!< all was well.

Reading your post makes me wonder if this doc did the same thing. You say he's placed them more than once? I might try another doctor....

[soycoffee]

I have Lacrisert, that I use for my right eye, because
a. it has been extremely dry for a long time due to a third cranial nerve injury, and
b. the same eye has also drooped, spilling even more tears, due to Bell's Palsy (7th cranial nerve) and
c. the same eye has punctal corneal occlusion -- I'm nearly blind in that eye, everything is a blur. Use your eye drops, folks. Get the right kind and USE them.

It does take a long time to get the hang of using them. I would go through three tries in the morning, and quit for the day. The insert would fall out of the applicator, stick to the applicator and not come off in my eye, or just work work its way out in the first hour after inserting. That didn't seem economical. Four times, just now, and the fourth fell out of my eye and rested just below it. I placed it properly using my finger. Waste is worse than risk?

I had been given a lot of different products by 3 doctors -- not Restasis, though.

It also has taken me several weeks to figure out a daily system using drops in my left eye, and either Lacriserts, or eye ointment +eye-closing eyepad +patch for my right eye. The first seems to be better for daytime, the second for night. I tried overnight Lacriserts last night, but woke up with a dry eye. The insertion had worked okay, but sometime during the night, -- because my right eye never quite closes -- all the tears from Lacriserts dried up. That doesn't happen during the day; the main problem is the two or three hour wait to see whether I actually inserted it correctly and it's producting tears.

[jasonsmith]

What type of plugs are best?

They have some that sit above or below the eye lid. Then there are different shapes.

[Meld256]

Jason,

These are punctual eye plugs, which are placed into the tear ducts.  You can read more about it at the site DryEyeZone; go to the "encyclopedia" section. 

There's a great description of how and why they are used.