You probably remember a time before you had any Dry Eye symptoms. Looking at anything for as long as you wanted wasn’t a problem. There was no pain or burning . You could read or work for hours without watery eyes or other discomfort. Driving was once a breeze. Just get in the car and go.
You didn’t give a thought to your eyes back then, unless you wore glasses or contacts. But they weren’t nearly as much of a bother as what you’re going through now.
Now, it’s like being on a Dry Eye roller coaster that never ends. Some days are OK (the “good eye days”). Others are bad or worse. Plus, there’s an endless array of treatments.
Endless Treatments
Warm compresses. A variety of drops. Ointments. Contact or scleral lenses. Lid cleansers and demodex killers. Maybe surgery. Procedures to open your meibomian glands. Endless appointments with your doctors (the good ones). Brief encounters with some doctors (the bad ones). Prescriptions galore. Countless tiny plastic bottles adorn your bathroom. Your diet changes: no sugar, no dairy, no caffeine, more water. A lot more water. Prescription pills and supplements. And who knows what else.
Plus there’s the endless variety of possible diseases. Some, everyone’s heard of, like Dry Eye, styes, bacterial infections.
Others…not so much.
Meibomian gland dysfunction? Demodex mites? Lagophthalmos? Blepharitis? Lid wiper epitheliopathy? Conjunctivochalasis?
For these you might even need a dictionary just to help with pronunciation. (Even our website’s digital voice has a hard time pronouncing some of these correctly, like conjunctivochalasis. It doesn’t recognize that the “ch” is pronounced “k,” not “ch.” Click on the Listen button at the top of the page. You’ll see what we mean).
Getting off the Dry Eye Roller Coaster
All of this can be incredibly overwhelming, especially if you learn you have several of these conditions happening at the same time, in your tiny little eyes. You might even wonder if that much can go wrong with the heart at the same time? With the liver? With the blood?
It can feel as overwhelming as a cancer diagnosis, although we’ve heard that some (of the bad) doctors say, “At least you don’t have cancer.”
Well, at least your doctor was able to diagnose all of these conditions. Now you can start doing something about them, whatever that may be, even if it takes a long time.
It’s a sign that finally your Dry Eye roller coaster ride is slowing down, and maybe even coming to an end.
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