Eyes much too dry for contact lenses - possible wheat intolerance/allergy - any experience?

[WendyWeber]

This is poor DS2, who is nearly 15 (he plays football and that's not a good idea in specs!)

DS1 was able to use daily disposables for training and matches from quite an early age, but DS2 has been having lens trials since he was about 10 and his eyes don't improve at all - if he wore lenses he would damage his corneas. Today he tried some new ones specifically for very dry eyes, and after barely an hour they had to be peeled off

We are going to have to buy him sports specs instead (£100-150+ ) but today the lens bloke said it could just possibly be a wheat allergy/intolerance thing and to see our GP - does anybody know anything about this?

TIA

I suffer from dry eyes but find my soft lenses ok to wear for short periods. Surely if his eyes were that dry - they would be really sore without frequent drops - or does he do this? Could he be allergic to the lenses - is that what optician means?? Is it worth getting a second opinion from an optician or even getting eyes checked out at an eye hospital?

No, that's the weird thing, pt - they're not sore or apparently dry normally, but when he wears soft lenses they absorb all the moisture on the surface and some cells on the cornea along with it.

Once he's finished growing and his eyes are more robust he will be able to wear gas permeables for short periods of time, but if he tried that now he could cause permanent damage. And it was the opthalmologist who discovered the problem in the first place, not the lens bloke...

I suppose he may be able to have them lasered when he's older but again, that can cause cornea problems too so maybe not.

I was googling earlier and found a link to a helpline at Moorfields, but it's broken (the link, not Moorfields ) - I'll see if I can find a phone number for them.

Thanks, pt

My sister was told imilr and that it oculd be due ot excess dairy.
She did keep trying and wore daily disposables for a while, and still ode son special occasions.
I have no idea what ceame of the dairy thing htouhg.

Yes definitely worth contacting Moorfields, they diagnosed my dry eyes. FWIW I wore gas permeables for years very successfully from about age 19 - have only recently changed to soft as there are now lenses available which are OK for my astigmatism and I do find they are more comfortable especially for occasional wear.

That's interesting, littlerach - will ask about dairy as well as wheat. He has absolutely no apparent allergies at all, but there is eczema/asthma in the family and DD2, who he is physically similar to, has had both.

I've found the number for Moorfields advice line so I'll ring them tomorrow

Make sure he has enough omega 3's in his diet. There is also the possibility of using Restasis (is that available in the UK?), punctal plugs and/or a different solution. I find that the peroxide based ones work really well for my patients. One of the new theories of dry eye is that it stems from an inflammation of the lacrimal gland and so patients benefit from a short round of steroid drops. Did he try the Acuvue Oasys? Not sure what rewetting drops are available there but I recommend one called Blink to patients here.

HTH

Also, I have not encountered a patient who was too young re:corneas for RGP lenses. I mean, obviously s/he has to be old enough to care properly for them but not sure what your ophthalmologist means by "robust" corneas. Of course, it could just be a different philosophy than we have here.

Sjogren's is a dry eye syndrome related to wheat/gluten intolerance. Whilst you can use various products to ease the symptoms, decreasing wheat might help.

I'd seen glancing references to Sjogren's while I was googling, nightcat - just looked at it specifically, but I don't think it fits as he has none of the other symptoms and his eyes aren't dry in the scratchy/painful sense at all. I wonder if that's what the lens bloke was thinking of though?

jabberwocky, could I give you the optician's phone number? DS1 doesn't eat fish at all, would omega 3 capsules be OK instead? I also wonder if he drinks enough water - would that make any difference?

IIRC the opthalmologist said when she looked at the cornea with the bright light thing (technical term!) that there were dry cells on the surface of the cornea - something like that anyway, I haven't been in with him for ages - that he didn't have a complete film over the surface as he should. He doesn't close his eyes completely when he's asleep and apparently that might also have something to do with it?

They don't look dry, and he has no problems with them at all - just this contact lens thing. I think she said the first time she looked, when he was 9 or 10, that he might have to wait until he's at least 18 when the risk of permanent damage would be reduced. (He tried a standard soft lens that time, and was poking and trying to rub his eyes within 5 minutes because it was so uncomfortable)

If not for the football I would just leave it but he really wants to play; in junior games referees mostly let him play in ordinary specs but he was refused permission once, and at this age I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let him wear them at all, and his sight isn't good enough to play without.

Bit of a bummer really

Did you ring the Moorfields advice line?

I wouldn't try to cut anything out of your DSs diet without trying to find the underlying cause.

My DH has coeliac disease, which is an intolerance to gluten. He went to the optician a couple of years ago because he wanted contact lenses and was told they would have to check his suitability. They had a look and told him that his eyes were too dry for contact lenses. The optician certainly didn't mention gluten intolerance as being the cause, he just said that not everyone could wear contact lenses. I do suspect Sjorgens in DH's case (and I know it is linked to CD) but trying to get him to visit our GP is very difficult - he just squirts eye drops in to alleviate the symptoms.

No, I haven't done yet, chopchop - it takes me a long time to get my brain in gear in the morning

Would your DH be able to have laser surgery instead of contact lenses? And does he need to use anything to relieve his dry eyes? There's a product now that you squirt on your closed eyelids (???) which is supposed to be good, one of my DDs (who wears gas permeables) has it.

Oh, I've just done some more googling and you definitely can't have lasik with dry eyes - is your DH OK with wearing glasses usually though?

Wendy, he uses Clarymist eye spray which I think does help. I didn't know you couldn't have laser treatment with dry eyes. It is something which he has thought about. One of our friends had it done a couple of years ago and highly recommended it. His eyesight has deteriorated a lot over recent years and I know he would prefer not to wear glasses, but, as I say it, can be difficult to get him to see the GP, optician etc. so I tend not to mention it much as I am seen to be nagging I may do a bit of googling myself and see if I can present him with a range of options.

Good luck with DS2, it must be very difficult for him if it interferes with his sport etc. Update please when your arse brain is in gear and you have phoned Moorfields.

has he tried gas permeable lenses which don't absorb water?

OK, arse in gear now and have rung - not a lot of use...

I got a foreign woman, who said immediately that she discourages all her friends from ever wearing contact lenses because if you get an infection your eye will be scarred for life. (As a family we've accumulated at least 50 years of lens wear without that happening so my fruit-loop antennae were quivering)

I mentioned laser and she said oh yes, that's a much better idea, do that instead! So I said but I thought laser wasn't good if you have dry eye and she back-tracked (but gave me the number of the private clinic that does it )

Then I mentioned wheat allergy/intolerance and she said she's never heard of that and reeled off the standard list of things that can cause it like heat, cold, dust etc - I said but none of those apply to him and she said well some people are just born like it.

Yes indeed. Thank you so much.

I think we'll try jabberwocky's omega 3, plus I'll get him to drink more, and also to concentrate on blinking a lot especially in front of the computer - but I suspect he's going to have to resign himself to a speccy lifetime!

Oh, hi, bundle!

There's more risk of infection with the long-term lenses I think; and also, I have just discovered from my extensive research (in the last half hour) the tear film is actually part of how gas permeables work, as it fills up the space between the lens and the eye and helps keep them in place etc, so maybe an insufficient one would stop them fitting properly.

It's all very clever and interesting in fact but no help for him at this stage. I'm pretty sure the opthalmologist did suggest early on that once he has finished growing, and his eyes have finished changing, he can have gas permeables, but she would be most anxious about infection and scarring if he got them too early.

Yes, omega 3 supplements would be fine if he doesn't eat a lot of fish. Also, if he doesn't close his lids completely at night (lagophthalmus) then he should use a thick, viscous drop or lubricating ointment before bedtime.

IMO, if he can heal the current epithelial prob's then he might be able to wear contacts just for the actual game and practice times.

Thanks, jabberwocky - he has had an omega 3/6/9 capsule this evening, and I will tell him he needs to treat his lagophthalmus with a viscous eyedrop

(I can imagine him going "wha...????")

Actually I also told him he needs to blink more, esp while using the computer; and he said you don't need to blink consciously, it's automatic - oh sorry, silly me.

(I will nag him!)

Ha! Tell him that studies have shown that the blink rate drops from an average of 6 times a minute to as little as 2 when using the computer