the driest of eyes

[reducingfootprint]

i've blocked oil ducts in my eyes and very dry eyes, i currently have a heated eye mask i use daily, eye wipes twice a day and eye drops twice a day which, depsite being told to by my optician, hasnt done much! Cant stand leaving the house as the wind and cold hurts my eyes.
Any tips or advice?

Do you wear glasses when you go out?

@FrankensteinIsTheMonster yes, i cannot wear contact lenses due to my dry eyes

Do you wear contacts? I’ve offer this advice loads of times on here but what worked for me was the following

Slightly cooled boiled water with baby shampoo wash lashes and inner rim bit with cotton buds.

Heat pack for 10 mins and massage after

Evening primrose capsules every day

Drops didn’t help me much either.

That's my suggestion gone then — I know that wearing something in front of my eyes seems to create a nice moist little microclimate for them.

Sounds like you need more muscular eye drops.

Also, have a look over any medications you're taking to see if any of them are ones that can make dry eyes worse (like some antidepressants), and if so investigate alternatives.

@FrankensteinIsTheMonster on no medications so cant be that!
@DixiePeach thanks ill give that a go!

Can you get punctal eye plugs (lacrimal plugs) put in OP?

I have very dry eyes and use fish oil, starflower oil, hyaluronic acid i tablets and Hycosan extra eye drops.

ask pharmacist. you can buy artificial tears which some people need.

Have you considered why you have blocked ducts? E.g. a relative had similar issues from an autoimmune disease (rheumatoid arthritis).

There could be a reason for your dry eyes you aren't considering. Some auto immune diseases cause dry eyes, have a look at sjorgrens syndrome

Correct spelling!

www.nhs.uk/conditions/sjogrens-syndrome/

Hi OP it sounds like you're doing all the right things with your heat treatment and lid hygiene but your drops need to be in a lot more often than twice a day. Try six times, and make sure your drops have sodium hyaluronate 0.2 in the ingredients, Hycosan Extra / Hyloforte are an example.

Hycosan overnight ointment. My eyes got to the point I couldn’t open them in the mornings because they were completely dry, this has helped solve the problem over time so they don’t get to that point anymore.

I completely sympathise OP. My optician told me to put the Hycosan drops in all day- as often as possible rather than waiting until my eyes are really dry. It's a horrible thing.
I'm watching with interest. Going to try the oil of evening primrose as suggested above.

If drops don't help, look into punctal plugs and lipiflow @reducingfootprint

There's an ointment with vitamin A you can apply at night.

Heat packs make mine worse. As a normal routine I wipe them with warm water morning and night, and drops twice a day. I sometimes have to wipe them at night as well.

When they're really dry I put drops in multiple times a day, and wipe with cold water as often as needed.

Optician told me people don’t use eye drops often enough. My eyes are not badly dry but I have Hycosan plus and use them at least 4 times daily. Expensive and doctor won’t give them on prescription.