I know I said my next instalment would be continue to be about eye drops but I have to share another dry eye experience. I visit some dry eye forums regularly and recently came across a lady (Mel) who also has dry eyes. When we exchanged stories I felt like I was the lucky one. I thought I would post Mel's story to give you an idea of the different ways dry eye can manifest. In case your wondering I have Mel's permission and Mel isn't her real name :).
Mel has dry eyes caused by meibomian gland blocked by a cyst leading to to recurrent corneal erosion. Below is her description of corneal erosion.
"Corneal erosion is like having someone drive a sharp screwdriver through your eyeball totally unexpectedly in the middle of the night! If you have had damage to the surface of your eye at some point in the past (e.g. a paper cut or, in my case, a cut from the sharp edge of a vicious houseplant leaf) it leaves a weakness in the structure of the cornea. Then when you get dry eye for whatever reason, overnight your eye dries out, your eyelid sticks to it, and when you involuntarily open your eye or move your eyeball in the middle of the night, the eyelid rips the surface of the cornea away from the layer below along the line of the old cut.
It's painful and scary. But I'm dealing with it well now. I put the Lumecare gel in last thing at night and then put on the Tranquileyes goggles, soaked in filtered water. They hold my eyes shut all night. In the morning I put the Lumecare drops into the corner of my eye before I open it and allow the drops to moisturise my eyeball before I open my eye. No pain. And I don't get any symptoms during the day so I'm very lucky. I did see a consultant about having the remains of my meibomian cyst removed which may unblock the gland but I haven't decided whether to risk the operation - I'm a real coward about scalpels and eyes."
A big thanks to Mel for sharing!
