Eye doctor

General
1

I was fairly recently diagnosed with Sjogren's, secondary to psoriatic arthritis. However, I've been dealing with dry eyes since the birth of my daughter 11 years ago, and dry mouth even earlier. They just got way worse last fall.

I've been using Restasis for over 6 months with little change. I wound up getting first my lower tear ducts plugged a month ago, and then returned back and got the top ones plugged too. I was really glad that I scheduled a followup visit.

For the past 2 weeks, since they've all been plugged, my eyes have been watery, but still feel dry and stingy. When I went in today, the doctor asked me if I was continuing to use lubricant eye drops, and I said no. In my mind, this wasn't necessary. Weren't my eyes watering too much?

So he explained to me that the quality of the tears was poor, and that using the eye drops would help with the tear quality. He told me to use the drops 4 times a day, and gave me a whole bunch of different samples to try out, if need be. Let me tell you, my eyes are much more comfortable now.

We also talked about the next step, and he mentioned possibly trying out eye drops that are hormone based, androgen. Anybody hear of this?

2

Stoney,

I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but when your too dry you tend to have more fluids. However, the fluid isn't the right kind and doesn't moisturize properly. With your eyes that makes them watery. With other parts of the body it tends to create inflammation.

My eyes haven't gotten as bad as your's yet. I use Thera Tears 4 times a day. Which is really irritating but it beats the pain, itchy, and irritation. I think I'm headed to Restasis thought. I'm glad your eyes are feeling better. I don't know anything about hormone based eye drops. If you end up using them, let me know how they work for you.

Josh