The eye examination

So, on to the treatment. At my first visit to the hospital the medics conducted a thorough eye examination - it was very up close and personal - with the ophthalmologist only inches away from me!

They used a yellow dye to highlight the damaged areas and were so astounded that they called all the eye doctors in to have a look. I felt quite privileged and secretly pleased at the thought of having all these expert opinions :). They even photographed my eyes to use as teaching material.

After all the examination excitement I was told the somewhat dreaded news that indeed my eyes were producing very few natural tears and my corneas had become damaged. They wanted to use a two pronged approach for treatment- firstly to retain the tears I did have and secondly to keep my eyes lubricated using eye drops (which were called celluvisc) and an eye ointment for night time use (called lacrilube).

Use of the eye drops and ointment was simple (although not pleasant - I will cover my experience with these in later posts). Preserving the tears was a different matter, which involved two small, separate procedures - first blocking my tear ducts and then closing the tear ducts permanently!

More on these in my next post! thanks for reading and please visit again!

My journey from normal to dry eye...

My dry eyes are the reason I have decided to start this blog in the hope of helping others who may be suffering the same problems as I have with my eyes. I hope you find it informative and useful – and please do leave a comment or share your story with others.

What is dry eye? Eyes become dry when there are not enough natural tears to help keep them lubricated (tears are there all the time not just during episodes of crying). This lack of tears may be caused by either insufficient tear production or increased evaporation from the eyes. Whatever the reasons the effects are just as pleasant blurred vision, irritation, grittiness.

My dry eyes are caused by a condition called Sjogren's syndrome which is an autoimmune disease. It can have many manifestations with a main symptom of dryness - which I have both in my eyes and my mouth (how it affects my teeth needs deserves it's own blog :)).

My eyes first started to deteriorate when I was in my early twenties (I am now 32) - after about 3 years of wearing contact lenses. I don't think the contact lenses caused the dry eye but the continuous use probably magnified the effect Sjogren’s was beginning to have. By the age of 24 I stopped wearing lenses daily (reserving them for social use), and became a permanent wearer of glasses.

At this stage my eyes were feeling continuously gritty. Blasts of air from air conditioning etc. would make my eyes go red and sore. By early evenings my eyes would be semi shut - people would ask me why I was feeling so tired or sleepy. When I did wear contacts my eyes would be sticky and weeping after taking them out. My eyes stayed in this state for a few years. I did not know there was any treatment for them and nor was I aware of the extent of damage.

It was when I went for a routine sight test, aged 27, that the optician noticed both my eyes had corneal damage. I was naturally shocked and worried at this discovery and promptly attended a hospital eye clinic...

...So what happened next I hope your asking – well, I will explain in my next blog as things get a bit technical here – I have to conjure up an eye diagram to properly describe the treatment – wish me luck and please do revisit for my next instalment of my dry eye journey!