Dry, stinging, bloodshot eyes for 2-3 months

Hi David, thanks for replying. I'm actually using the eyepad and lacrilube at night. I have used Viscotears but wasn't seeing any improvement. My GP has prescribed Tears Naturale, so will give these a go for a while. I am also using anti allergy drops. I might try the steam, how would this help though?

The viscotears gel , rather than the drops, gives much shorter length "lubrication" to the dry eyes but does give more relief than drops that soon eveporate ( I find ) . I'd noticed that when in a hot steamy shower my eyes felt refreshed for quite a while afterwards so i short cutted the treatment put hot water from the kettle in a pyrex bowl , covered myself in with a towel over my head , and let the steam moisten my open eyes . Afterwards you can always do the eyelid stroking to gently squeeze any gooey natural oils forth . I could never get on with putting in the lacrilube myself , and admit to not always cleaning the eyelids twice a day . I could "turn the bottom eyelids out " and clean them but really struggled with the top ones .( Hence suggesting you get assistance if possible . I wished that during the 8 weeks of antibiotics i could have had some manual assistance from a third party . Others on the forum have been well regimented with their cleaning and have had good results .

Obviously don't go anywhere near a swimming pools water !

Best of luck and try to keep up with the twice daily cleaning .

Thanks for the advice it's good to know I'm not alone! Can I ask do you wear contacts? And are you symptom free? I've no problem with Lacrulube, you just pull down your eyelid and put a strip of it in. I use the eye pad but might give the steaming a go. I don't clean inside my eyelids just the lash margin, I imagine it would be quite difficult to do the top ones! I'm getting married next year so want to look and feel my best for the big day. I'll keep going and try and stay positve! Thanks

Hi divina , you need to fold over the eyelid as the gland openings are , as it were , just inside the eyelid and in contact with the eyeball at all times . No i've never worn contacts , just specs . i'm not symton free , but generally things are alot better . I'm sure that the central heating making the humidity lower doesn't help . my optician , who suffers also, was the one that wrote a letter to the doctor saying what she thought it was . She showed me how to " massage the eyelids properly" and suggested that when driving to try and avoid the air being directed up onto the inside of the windscreen as much as possible , chose another option whenever there isn't demisting to do . I'm sure i found 2videos2 on line showing how to massage properly and i can feel during doing so "moisture" of some discription being added to the eye implying that i must be doing something correctly . I don't know whether by bathroom cabinet was keeping the laci' too cold , as i couldn't get the stuff to " break off " into the eye ..lol . When i did manage to get it in one eye , I couldn't then see what i was doing to treat the other eye ! I take an antihistermine for an allegy have done so for about 15 yrs . It has been suggested that this and having years of antibiotics for skin problems as a teen and in early twenties could in fact contribute to the dry eye problem . i'd say that over the last 4 years or so the problem has arose . I'm 61 now so it's not uncommon for "seniors" to have a dry eye problem .i only sort help once i'd have the problem of my eyelids feeling as though they's stuck to my eyeballs over night . I was also asked if my eyes were definately closed during sleep . Haven't managed to find anyone to pop in a nd check..lol

My tear ducts work fine , but then they are for washing stuff away . look out for some vids , you definately need to "roll the eyelid over for access "

Hi David,

since you say the steam helps,have you not thoght of buying the blepasteam eye goggels,I am thinking of trying them bit it is an investment 

on the other hand our eyes are so important so if they would work would be worth it.

hi vanessa , luckily in my case things are bearable and mostly I'm only affected first thing in the morning when i wake up . i had no idea that someone had come up with such a device .I must get back into the twice daily cleaning regime and will probably ask my live in son to take on the roll as i'm sure that a third party will be able to do a much more thorough job than I'd do by myself . also i need to replace my "eyebag" as having been used so often it's lost it's effectiveness . My optician says that most people either miss out the eye lid " massage " directly after using the mask or simply don't do it properly . I must say that i must be doing a fairly good job as often my eyes feel as though they've just had " oil" droplets added from the massaging .

Hi

the blepasteam goggels are have been on the market a few years.

I read you have to be carful about the eye bags geting too hot since that could burn the area..the goggels stay at just the right temp and is moist.

I do not do the massage ..worried about ageing the skin due to dragging the skin.glad it is working for you .

please let me know what you think if you look into the goggels.

hi vanessa , the " massage " is a simple gentle "wipe" of each eyelid with the end of a finger tip , pressure to be enough but not forcefull . The idea being to squeeze the " more viscous" infected stuff from the glands to allow the ner " runnier " or less viscous natural oils to be allowed to reach the eyeballs . Personally I think that this is the most practical and important part of dealing with the dreaded Bleth' as in keep it on the move and allow good lubrication to come forth .

My Gp directed me to a consultant who said that in extreme and repetitive cases that surgery is an option .

My condition gets worse now that central heating is needed and of course dries the air even further . Also if i get water in my eyes whilst in the shower ( as in water that has been in your cold storage tank in the loft and then passed through your copper hot water tank . Yuk !!!!!!!! ) i feel as through I've had my eyeballs " degreased " and dried with an old tarpaulin . Rule of thumb being i suppose " if you wouldn't drink it or put it on an open wound , why put it in your eye ! "

Thanks David I will see if It helps,I am still wondering about the £200 blepersteam and now hearing you say now the heating is on that your eyes feel worse ...did you look into it?

i am taking EFA that also have DHA in them and that helps my eyes somewhat.

Hi vanessa , i did look at the goggles but thought that if I'm more vigilent in my approach , i'm sure I am going to kick this Bleph' once and for all and i mustn't believe that i've got to put up with it again . I had to chance to get rid of it but was a bit too lax in the cleaning routine ( only managing to clean the bottom lids properly ). Another sufferer has today added to the blog that she has rid herself of it so I must organise myself to STICK to a thorough routine to do likewise . I'm sure that their must be more info on the web that I've yet to read .

In practical terms one would think that firstly using the heated mask , gently squeezing the glands , cleaning the eyelid gland openings , rinsing the eyes in sterile water and then putting in drops afterwards would pathe the way for a healthier environment for the eyeballs to live in . Repeat this during the day as often as the eyelids can take and follow up with the Lacrilube at bed time .

Hi David

yes all true ...

but thinking this is a tonic condition and  is life long ..then cleaning lids and if them useing blepasteams (it sounds so easy) would mybe help and make life better..no one tired it????? 

Hi Janmin, it's not a club I want to be in but thanks No, my eyes don't really run, occasionally I'll get a stinging sensation during the day when what I think may be oil from my lids going into my eye. My eyelids look a bit oily in the morning too. I've been doing eyepad religiously morning and eve but I'm just going to do it in the evening now. I was using Blephasol too but my GP has told me to just use sterile water. Using a course of anti allergy drops and Tears Naturale which I will stick with for a few weeks. Just want to feel and look well coming up to Christmas! Getting married next year too so really want my eyes to be healthy again! I'll update my progress xx

Hi again , no the stinging is because the very surfaces of the eyes are not being protected . The natural oils give a layer of protection . Luckily my eye surfaces haven't been damaged , i'm told .

I'm not sure about just sterile water , i was told that baby shampoo heavily diluted was safe to use as a cleaning agent . i'd rather fork out for something made specifically for purpose !Others say it works fine though .

I'd pay for whatever it took to be honest! Was using Blephasol but wasn't seeing any improvement. The doc said all the different things I could be using could be causing irritation. Plus, I spent over £50 on drops/ointments this month and I can't sustain that. I'll stick with water to see if it makes any difference, trial and error!

Hi,I too would stick with Blepasol or blepaclean.

Hi Davina , evidently there is a treatment to unblock the Meibomain glands by applying heat from inside the eyelids and pressure from the ousides at the same time lipiflow

hi vanessa , was wondering if you'd considered going in for treatment ? I came across lipiflow and though I'd maybe try and see them . Woke today with the right eye near totally bloodshot , worse than yesterday .

Hi David 

pwhat treatment do you mean? So sorry your eye or eyes are bad.

hi , the lipiflow treatment where basically they have pieces of apparatus that squeeze the glands by a pulsating method whilst at the same time your eye glands are kept at a constant temperature . I tried to give you the info yesterday but was blocked from doing so by this site

in your search engine put lipiflow