My Mom is a LASIK sufferer.

[MlleCoconut]

Hello everyone!
I've been a silent observer in the last weeks, and this forum is where I tried to find some comfort for my mother who suffers from the effects of LASIK surgery. I apologize for my English as it is not my mother tongue.

My mother has never been lucky. She suffered from a rare disease called "disease of the pudendal nerve" which took years to be diagnosed. She finally had a surgery that really improved her condition (70% improvement). To celebrate it all, my mother decided to have LASIK on January 18, 2011.

A terrible mistake, because it created significant consequences that affect herquality of life: she can no longer go out, read, cook, etc..She has the constant feeling of having hair in her eyes, plus a burning sensation. All this gives her terrible headaches. In short, my mother no longer has any quality of life. She is in a very depressed mood and even think about assisted suicide in Switzerland.

I do not know why I am writing this. I need to talk to people who understand my situation. I did extensive research to find solutions to my mother, but nothing seems to work for her. Here is our current treatment:
1. Restasis (she has been on it for 6 months this week)
2. Doxyxycline ( a month now)
3. It is the warm compresses and massages in addition to clean her eyelids.
4. She had 2 glands discharges (with a month break between them). She will have another one in 3 weeks.
5. She had multiple types of drops, steroid creams, etc. She takes Omega-3 supplements, Flax oil, etc.

The doctor thinks she might need to go toToronto to receive a vibration treatment (maybe it's the lipiflow but I'm not sure?).

We also ordered humid chamber goggles from France (BLEPHASTEAM ®), but the effect won't be until 3 weeks.

My mother was very frustrated because she suffers from rosacea, and according to her research, the doctor should have given her doxycycline before the surgery as a prevention treatment. And he did not.

Do you think my mother can find a quality of life? Should she be hopeful of a brighter future? I'm afraid there is no more solutions ...

Thank you for reading me.

Rachel

[robster]

The symptoms sound a lot like MGD which while technically not caused by LASIK a person can go from having the symptoms of MGD(blocked glands) but no physical discomfort to having a lot of physical discomfort after LASIK. This is due to the initial aqueous shortage after LASIK leading to inflammation which causes the meibomian glands to become even more clogged than before. By the treatment's your mum is having this sounds the most likely cause of her discomfort.

Nerve damage also plays a large part as well and unfortunately the only thing that really helps the nerves recover is time. I'm 9 months post-LASIK and my glands are just as blocked now as they were on my 1 month follow up appointment but I have noticed quite a big improvement in my symptoms and this I can only put down to nerve regeneration. Nerve regeneration can continue over the course of many years(up to 5 I believe) so tell your mum to hang in there and hopefully things will improve.

I wish I had some miracle cure to give your mum but I don't as by the sound of things if she does have blocked glands she is doing a lot more than most people do(myself included) to address the problem. If as is likely nerve damage is playing a role than there is a scan they can do to see the nerve clusters but I can't remember the name of it.

Hope things improve for your mum.

[MlleCoconut]

Thank you so much Robster for your message

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi Rachel and welcome. Your English is great.

It sounds like you've been an excellent advocate for your mother.

Do you think my mother can find a quality of life? Should she be hopeful of a brighter future?

ABSOLUTELY YES to both. I cannot tell you how many people I have known over the years who were extremely depressed, perhaps suicidal, at 1.5 years after LASIK but who are now living normal, fully, happy lives (with or without some long term side effects of the surgery). It sounds like your mother is at one of the worst stages of it, where so much time after surgery has passed that you think there's no chance of further healing. But it doesn't really work like that. I can think of an awful lot of people who had most of their improvement at least 2 years after surgery.

I did extensive research to find solutions to my mother, but nothing seems to work for her. Here is our current treatment:
1. Restasis (she has been on it for 6 months this week)
2. Doxyxycline ( a month now)
3. It is the warm compresses and massages in addition to clean her eyelids.
4. She had 2 glands discharges (with a month break between them). She will have another one in 3 weeks.
5. She had multiple types of drops, steroid creams, etc. She takes Omega-3 supplements, Flax oil, etc.

It's my opinion that for some LASIK patients things just plain never seem to get better in that first year (sometimes two years) no matter what treatments they use - the body just seems to have its own timeline. Unfortunately many people over-medicate during that stage and feel even worse from all the things they're putting in their eyes so this is something we have to be careful about too.

Can you share anything about your mother's diagnosis, for example, from the treatments she has done it seems she must have severe MGD, but what is the state of her aqueous tear production (from the lacrimal glands).

What, if anything, seems to make her feel better? Has she tried cold compresses? Taking naps? Any kind of simple moisture goggle?

Give her a hug from me. Thing are going to get better - it will not stay like this forever.

[MlleCoconut]

Hi Rebecca!
Thank you so much for your answer. You had made my day. I was feeling discouraged and you give me hope again I have given a hug to my mom for you and told her your words.

She has indeed been diagnosed with MGD with ocular rosacea.

As for the questions you asked me:
My mother had a score of 5 at the Schirmer's test. However, this was done in the morning, and she thinks she would have scored lower if it had be done in the afternoon, where she feels the worse.

The treatments that help her are:
1. Restasis burns at first but then, it helps for approximately 30 minutes
2. LacriLube ointment before going to bed: in the morning, she feels ok for 4 hours, but she sees a bit like she looks through Vaseline.

As soon as she cleans her eyes (Cilnet), the pain starts again though.

She did not try cold compresses, because she is afraid it will close her glands again. She does not take naps, because she has insomnia, and therefore, naps will keep her from sleeping at night. As for the simple moisture goggle, she only has the Blaphasteam for the moment.


Thank you for your help,
Rachel

[nitrodrops]

Hi, please give BioTears (capsules) a try. i personally found improvement with daily consumption.

[MlleCoconut]

Thank you Nitrodrops. I will tell my mom about your suggestion

Should it replace the Omega-3, Flax oil and other supplements?

[nitrodrops]

hi, I m not a nutritionist to give advice on this. you can read about bio tears on their website, do google pls