1 year after Restasis

[nitrodrops]

After increasing from 2 times to 4 times of Restasis usage for 1 year, i felt that Restasis doesn't seem to be working as effective as previously anymore.

I dont see the stinging pain, and i feel dryness after 2 hrs...........

Anyone experienced the same thing?

[Chemia]

After 2.5 years of restasis, the restasis continued to burn and ache my eyes. Restasis also made my eyes red and never improved my tear film and did nothing for meibomian glands. Majority of doctors I saw did agree it was a relatively worthless drug and did nothing for me. I am so done with it and it has been 2 weeks since I used them and my eyes no longer burn and at least they are not as red. Also the achy feeling is reduced. I think I was constantly straining my eyes from the pain and discomfort the restasis caused.

[hirentherock]

i had used restasis before a few years for less than 20days.It was burning me like anything those days..so stopped it very much early.
I found some impprovement in tear production after a year ot 2...(as they say it shows effect after 6/12 months of use).
Then i started again Cycloimmune 0.05% cyclosporine drops.It still burns me a little so i made way for it by using it just before i sleep.
It was not showing any significant effect.i was using it for more than 3 months.

Then just before 2 weeks im shifted to Cycloimmune 0.1% formulation(prev i used 0.05%).continued using it only at night before i sleep.
I found significant relief the follwing day from day1!!!
And till now im using it every night and i can feel my eyes are wet now.

Its been only 2 weeks on it though.I assume its the 0.1% formulation which is making the impact.(2 weeks time is not sufficient to come to a concrete conclusion)

If anyone observed the same with them?do post here. those who have used both 0.05 and 0.1% formulations

[bunnyrabbit123]

I've been on restasis for 8 mos. now.I also have plugs in my upper ducts and cautery of the lowers. I now have some (watery)tear film where last winter at this time, I had nothing and was doing otc drops and cold compresses ( my doctor at the time firmly believed warm caused more inflammation) constantly. As far as I'm concerned, the amount of improvement is nothing remarkable. I'm still doing cold compresses and otc tears almost every day. My eyes are achey and it's done nothing for the clogged mebomian glands. I think this is a highly overrated med. Yesterday I was given an Rx for Freshkote. I haven't tried this yet and I'm thinking the next thing is to try IPL. My glands continue to be pretty much blocked.

[Bart]

The first time I used Restasis I had difficulties tolerating the eyedrops, so I gave up after two months or so. Approx. 10 months ago I decided to give Restatis another shot, and this time around I almost no problems tolerating the drug. I'm very pleased with progression I've made in these past months. After many years of suffering from MGD (caused by contact lenses, computer work and dust mite allergy), my gland are now blocked less often, and oftentimes I'm able to express some meibum.

[SunshineinCalgary]

I am a new user

Can you tell me where to get Restasis 0.1 % formulation? It's not available in Canada. I was using Restasis 0.05% drop with BOTH upper and lower plugs and there was definitely improvement in about 12 - 13 weeks. My doctor then removed the upper plugs for me but I was still using Restasis in the last 3 months, my dry eye condition gets worse and now I'm thinking EITHER to insert the upper plugs again, or to take a higher concentration 0.1% fomulation?

Second question: Has anyone used Restasis with plugs on? It worked for me. It was ONLY when I remove the plugs that the condition gets worse. Seems like the plugs increased the overall effectiveness of Restasis!

[patientpatrick]

I am a new user

Can you tell me where to get Restasis 0.1 % formulation? It's not available in Canada. I was using Restasis 0.05% drop with BOTH upper and lower plugs and there was definitely improvement in about 12 - 13 weeks. My doctor then removed the upper plugs for me but I was still using Restasis in the last 3 months, my dry eye condition gets worse and now I'm thinking EITHER to insert the upper plugs again, or to take a higher concentration 0.1% fomulation?

Second question: Has anyone used Restasis with plugs on? It worked for me. It was ONLY when I remove the plugs that the condition gets worse. Seems like the plugs increased the overall effectiveness of Restasis!

Hey Sunshine,

how are you doing these days? any luck with additional plugs or a higher concentration of Restasis? I've been on it for just over 9 weeks and haven't noticed huge improvement, in fact on any given day I would say i feel a little better or a little worse. I also had 4 temp plugs put in and noticed maybe a 25-30% improvement (I was hoping for some epiphora but never got it) I asked one of my MDs if increasing frequency of 0.05% Restasis from 2 times a day to 4 would make a difference and she said no, although people on the forum have stated that it does make a difference. Point being options seem like they are dwindling but I'm still doing some trial and error, perhaps different plugs perhaps more restasis... I'm not sure what to do and I'm hoping that certain things worked well for you and others out there.

[SAAG]

re: Restasis 4 times daily vs. 2 times daily dosing

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2924632/

It's a small study, and I haven't read the full write-up, so there may be all kinds of flaws in their methodology etc... but, it's better than nothing...

In any case, it at least makes a person wonder if it might be worth trying 4 times daily if the twice daily regimen has not led to sufficient improvement.