If you had VERY dry eyes what helped you resolve it?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

Feeling quite anxious about this, trying not to catastrophise but worried I'm going to end up with a corneal ulcer or something. I have been using artificial tears for about a year now, and yesterday was finally able to go to an optometrist who said my cornea is very irritated but gave me a sample of gel to try in addition to the eye drops.

Anyway, I need to try stuff and wondered what works for others? We eat quite a lot of salmon but am thinking of omega 3 supplements perhaps? And getting one of the heated eye masks?

Has anyone got any tips?

Punctal! Although they were done very quickly tbf

Dry eyes drops that were oily and I could use with contacts...from Options
Husband has just bought a sterile eye mask ..full of beads you warm ..try googling

My optician recommended Omega 7 - it seems to work really well, and is suitable for vegetarians which is good.

I use hylo-forte eye drops, viscotears gel and take flaxseed capsules.

My optician recommended the latter two and my GP prescribed the hylo-forte. It's about £17.50 OTC, fortunately I take so many meds I could open a pharmacy and have a pre-payment certificate which gives me 12 months of meds for the price of one month's!

I also find turning the brightness of screens down and taking regular screen breaks helps.

I haven't tried a warm compress but my eyes are terrible today so will give it a go!

Omega 7 capsules (usually based on sea buckthorn oil) have been known to support dry eyes. I'd stick to a high-quality one like the one from PharmaNord which you can get from Holland and Barratt or online. It's expensive at first but you can drop the dose down after the first month. Good for mucous membranes in general.

Had this problem for years, combination of blepharitis and blocked tear ducts - diagnosed by my optician (think you should see a different one).

Managed by:
False tears / eye lubricants at regular intervals throughout the day
Heated eye mask before bed
Careful removal of make up
Using freshly boiled water on a cotton pad as a hot compress and then massaging lower lid line to help dissolve blockages
Eye breaks from screens every 20m

The thing that really works though is adequate sleep. I was chronically sleep deprived before.

I went to the docs, 4 years ago now and was prescribed drops for use in the day and ointment to squirt in at night. I am hopeless at putting stuff in my eyes. Can't cope with contact lenses. Got back home, feeling very sorry for myself and old, and the phone rang. My older brother telling me he had cancer. Put my issues into perpective. Although it is a bit gungy, the ointment does the job, so is worth putting up with.

@AbsentmindedWoman

I am in front of a screen all day - the glasses I ordered yesterday have a blue light filter on, might that help? Or can you get something to stick on the computer that helps with that I wonder?

Did wonders for me, did blue light filtering glasses.

I used to suffer similarly to your symptoms and cause, too much screen use. The very first time I put them on, I felt my eyes relax. It felt like putting them in a bath of luke warm water is the only way I can describe it. I still sometimes relapse after I get idle and stop using them but they soon fix it again.

Keep them on when not in front of a screen too, the blue element of artificial light is irritating too and daylight.

From my own experience, I personally think that your eyes can become really sensitive to blue light from many different sources.

Also try taking a break every so often and use cupping.
Hold both hands like you're scooping water and hold gently over your eyes, trying to block out as much light as possible and hold position for a few minutes. I find it helpful to wash my hands in nice warm water first too.

Also, you can try taking a few moments away from a task that is causing you to focus intently on one spot. Pick a few things around the room or outside at a variety of distances. Trace around them with your vision, switch from one to another then back again.

It's surprising just how tense your eyes and eyelids can become. The vast majority of us take them for granted but there are muscles involved just like anywhere else on the body and it can contribute to dry eye in my experience, especially when you have overdone it on the computer or a craft activity.

Hycosan overnight ointment. I had dry eyes to the point I couldn’t open my eyelids in the morning. The ointment has helped to the point I only get very dry eyes once a month or so; so it has had long term effect :)

Hycoscan eye drops really help me. I use the red ones.

Has anyone else had Sjogrens suggested to them as the cause? I will find a link for more info.

Interesting @KeyboardWorriers I had a blood test just yesterday looking for autoimmune stuff :(

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

I suffer from dry mouth and skin as well. Mine is at a level I can cope with but there are other treatments if it becomes unbearable.

Optrex worked for my dry eyes

I had this, constantly feeling like I had a hair in one eye and a piece of grit in the other. When trying to get to sleep one night it was so bad I nearly got someone to take me to hospital.
Googling it, it seems that it's quite common in menopausal women. My gp gave me various drops and ointments but nothing worked very well.
After much trial and error, I found opening my eyes slowly in the morning helped (pp massaged her eyes before opening them in the morning, that helps).
When mine were particularly bad I'd soak cotton wool in hot water and put them on my eyelids first thing, that loosened up the tear ducts which were clogged with too thick tears.
For the last few years I've used Asda dry eye drops, about 2.50 a bottle, every night. I also smear vaseline over my closed eyelids at night, wiping it off with a face wipe in the morning. Cheap alternative, and touch wood it's worked for years. Good luck.

Graves disease is another possibility

I use hyco san drops during the day, & the gel (the greasy ointment) at night. I also got a gel eye mask, to use daily, prior to massaging them. I also try to sleep in different positions on different nights. I have a chronic pain condition that means that sometimes I can only sleep in a specific position for several nights, & am often bed bound at those times as well. I’ve noticed that if I sleep on my right side (for example) the outer corner of my left eye will get extremely irritated & swollen & bloodshot. Vice versa if I sleep on the other side too much. I always put extra drops /ointment in the worse eye when it does that.
Sometimes I also wear a silk eye mask to keep the moisture in as well, I don’t know if it helps physically but it feels nice & they seem a bit calmer in the morning, sometimes.

Xailin night ointment is fantastic - not very romantic but my DH squirts it into my eyes. Like vaseline but heaven. Tried a few types of day drops but find hycosan extra the best - easy
to use and effective. I have had punctal plugs - a bit of pressure when inserted but not painful and help. Hope you get sorted.

I have blepharitis which is the ducts becoming blocked and results in extremely dry eyes. I used to get a few infections due to this and ended up in the eye hospital with it.

If its anything like this, you need to use an oil based treatment not a water one as it just evaporates. I do a hot eye mask every single evening and then massage my eyelids and then clean the eyelids (the actual rim of the eyelids where my eyelashes are with a cotton bud). I bought an eye mask but you can just make your own (hot bean bag type thing) which I now do. At night last thing before I go to bed I use xailin night eye ointment which is like vaseline for your eyes, they go blurry afterwards but it means I can open my eyes in the morning without them feeling like they're burning.

Doing this routine made me feel better in about 3 days I think. Unfortunately you so need to keep it up though or it just reverts back

Anyone with dry eyes needs a blood test for thyroid issues.