UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

I'm sorry about this but I am feeling a bit low this morning. With too much time on my hands I did some research on this dry eye thing.

Can it be cured or am I facing a double life sentence (KC and dry eye). I need to know.

Sorry for the downer.

AJ

AJ

I am sorry you are feeling low today, and I am sure that all of us fully understand what you feel as you contemplate a future marked by both keratoconus and dry eye.

I think you may be right in your assessment of both conditions; it is entirely possible that neither can be 'cured', but both can be managed.

I think Gareth said elsewhere that it took him some time to find a way of managing his dry eye, but that when a regime had been found he was able to settle down to it and get on with his life. You tell us very little about yourself, but it is clear from your posts that you are both intelligent and well educated (neither of these necessarily implies the other), and that you have a strong instinct to support others.

There are many ways of looking at any situation; you may describe the challenges of living with two sight-threatening eye conditions as a double life sentence, or you may look at the same situation as a series of obstacles to be faced and overcome each day. Actually, I think that the truth is that no one lives a life free of challenges and that no one enters a day that will not produce obstacles that have to be navigated.

Give the Clinitas regime a chance to see if it will improve your eyes. Graeme has indicated that he gets good results with it in some of his patients, and I am hopeful that others here will benefit from it along with you. But, if Clinitas is not for you, do not give up; there are other preparations already on the market, and I am sure that others will follow.

AJ, never feel that you have to apologize here for feeling low: each of us knows what it is to enter dark times and move through dark places. We are here for each other, and we are here for you.

Take care.

Andrew

Andrew is quite right I did try several drops for dry eyes but first I did push it with my optomotrist and consultant at the hospital so that we understood what the cause was and what the appropriate treatment would be.

Normally I don't suffer dry eye, but once there is a lens on a damaged cornea then the symptoms occur so for me dry eye is an artefact of lens wear rather than the KC. The lens solutions irritate my eye as do the lenses so prior to putting lenses in my eye they get a throrough wash with preservative free saline designed for sensitive eyes. Then I place the eye drops of Systane to the lens and put it in my eye. It's no more hassle than putting lenses ni normally and I do the same with the soft lenses. The K3 lenses I am using now have aleviated the situation still further plus making sure I am properly hydrated too.

Two very minor life style changes have made a real big impact in giving me a better quality of life despite the KC.

Discuss is with your optoms and consultant to see what is best for you.

Hi

Let me know what your issues are and what you have done so far to alleviate things and I'll see if I have any further suggestions. Dry eye can be made worse by allergies for example, so sorting those out can sometimes help!

Lynn

Hallo - and a big virtual hug, not to mention piece of chocolate cake - or whatever your taste in cheer-up eating.
Sorry tohear you've been feeling down - but please don't worry about sounding down here. Most of us get it from time to time, and cheering each other up is what the forum is for.
Dry eyes - well, dry eye problems tend to go with contact lenses and lenses go with KC.....
I remember well out aircon problems a few years ago - everyone with contact lenses was complaining and no-one else could see what the problem was. The building in question was shared by the IT and personnel departments and I started seeing lots of the personnel clerks at work in glasses for hte first time ever!
I think most of us can get dry eye problems from time to time - with the wrong aircon, or climate or central heating or.....
SOme people find eye drops sort it out.
SOme people find diet changes can help a lot - whether just drinking a lot more water and juice and less coffee and coke. SOme people have found a great improvement in their eyes from reducing dairy products in their diet. Or from not sitting round in smokey pubs consuming beer and peanuts.....
BTW, do you get dry or dehydrated elsewhere? - eg dry skin, dry mouth, dehydration headaches? - or is it just eyes? If you do, then certainly drinking more water/juice/etc should help all of them. But there are various conditions that can leave you getting dehydrated easily, so you could do worse than mention it to your GP.
Best of wishes getting a magement strategy sorted out.
ROsmeary

Thanks guys. Thanx Andrew for not blowing smoke in my face. My family always say stuff like 'I'm sure it will be okay' when really I am afraid tbat it won't.

Where to begin? I seem to be sensitive to the preservatives in eye drops. I don't suffer from dryness anywhere else. I have started to use clinitas ultra. My optom gave me a little bottle. I wear rgp lenses. When my lenses are out I really ca t see much.

Sorry that's all garbled. Thanx again guys.

AJ

private104 wrote:Where to begin? I seem to be sensitive to the preservatives in eye drops. I don't suffer from dryness anywhere else. I have started to use clinitas ultra. My optom gave me a little bottle. I wear rgp lenses. When my lenses are out I really ca t see much.

AJ

AJ! Good to see you again. thank you for the information, Lynn will be along and will be able to suggest things, but it seems like you are making progress.

1 Your sensitivity (allergy?) to eye-drop preservatives seems to be pretty common. I have that sort of allergy too, as do many others here. You can manage this allergy by using preservative-free eye drops. Common topic medications and some artificial tears are available in 'minims' (little single dose vials). Make sure that your GP knows of your allergy so that any prescription will specify that you should be given the minims and not bottles with preservatives in. Make sure also, every time you are in hospital, especially if you are having any sort of eye surgery, that you make it clear that you have this allergy.

2 I have just started to use clinitas as well. You can find a whole range of clinitas products for sale over the www at
http://www.dry-eyes.co.uk/acatalog/Clinitas.html
It is too soon for me to be able to tell if clinitas is the answer to my problems, and I guess it may be too soon for you, too. Keep trying and keep us posted on how things are going.

3 I think it was Rosemary who asked about dryness. Some people with KC also suffer from things like eczema or have dry patches of skin.

4 I also like RGP lenses, and know how fortunate I am to be able to wear mine for up to six hours a day. What sort of wear time do you get? Has your optometrist ever suggested another sort of lens or different material? Lynn is at the forefront of the development of new lens technologies and she is a mine of information about lenses, their advantages and potential disadvantages. At one time I had a scleral (my all time favourite lens).

You will have seen elsewhere on the forum that fitting lenses to eyes with KC is a tricky business. I think it is fair to say that each of us is unique in the way our cones develop, the lenses that suit our eyes and the duration of wear that we can tolerate.

5 Before my grafts I was pretty much blind without my lenses, and when I was no longer able to tolerate a lens of any sort, I was registered as blind. After having had two grafts I am now able to see very well indeed (glasses for one eye and a lens for the other), I can drive and am able to do everything that I want, except loose weight, but that is another matter altogether.

All the best.

Andrew