u/Master-Event-1643

Currently on generic restasis 0.05% for 1.5 months, and my eyes are becoming drier and drier.

It’s so dry lately that i feel literal sandpaper texture, and yesterday night my eyes burned despite closing my eyes, couldn’t sleep the entire night.

Anybody with such bad dry eyes? Literal 0 tear production. If so how do you guys handle it? I use duratears ointment and it isn’t helping at all.

Also will my eyes get better? Or am i stuck permanently like this…

I’m currently 1.5 months in, started using evolve cyclosporine 0.05% which is generic restasis. And for the first 4 weeks i gradually felt better, lower inflammation, improvement in flareups and whiter eyes overall. (Week 1 schirmer’s 5 and 8mm) I also had frequent reflex tearing on instillation of cyclosporine.

Moving on to week 5 i redid schirmer’s and it fell drastically from 5mm & 8mm to 0 and 2mm. I noticed my eyes becoming stickier but i thought that was mucus layer returning. I also didn’t have reflex tearing anymore on instillation of cyclosporine. My ophthalmologist suspects i may have sjorgens, and i am currently awaiting blood test results.

Now week 6 my eyes are bone dry, and have flareups as bad as week 1. It’s so dry that i experience prickling foreign body sensation when i blink. Today i just had a burning episode that was pretty bad and wouldn’t go away even when i close and rest my eyes. But the odd thing is i can put in cyclosporine and there is no longer any burning. But my eyes are gradually becoming slightly redder. Is this how sjorgens is?

For people who have sjorgens, is this normal? But isn’t generic restasis the treatment for sjorgens, so how is it getting worse?

Do any of you have similar experiences?

What should i do, stop generic restasis?

Anybody in sg suffering from this condition? Im interested to know how you are faring? What kind of job do you do? How do you get by in Singapore?

I suspect i might have it and need some advice.

Im currently around 5 weeks into cyclosporine, and inflammation is much calmer. However this morning i went back to see my ophthalmologist, and my schirmer’s test fell from 5mm and 8mm to 0 and 2mm.

This is bad. What could cause this? We have arranged for a panel of autoimmune tests such as Sjorgen, HLA B27 and others. But my eye doc is leaning low on it as i don’t fit the demographic.

Could this be caused by STIs? My last exposure was on Jan 2025, and a few days after i did have a bad case of pink eye and blurring. But that was resolved by fluorometholone (soft steroid), followed by 8 months of 0 symptoms. Then in January tearing red eyes. Which i used olopatadine, and i overexposed on BAK. But i have since stopped so my eyes should recover but schirmers have only gotten worse…

I have tested for HIV and was negative in march 2026. I have also tested 2 weeks (mid feb 2025) after exposure comprehensively and all was negative.

So i am genuinely confused how my eyes are getting worse under treatment, if it isn’t autoimmune or STIs or anything.

I’ve been using cyclosporine for the past 12 days, and i have consistently been noticing microscopic improvements, day by day lower inflammation, lower foreign body sensation etc…

Tonight however, the inflammation suddenly spiked up, back to day 2/3. It feels worrying but is this supposed to happen? Thought cyclosporine was a progressive thing.

I have really bad dry eyes, lacrimal glands are not pumping tears due to nerve damage from BAK exposure for 5 months.

I’m really scared, because i don’t know if my corneal nerves can heal. I experience constant burning pain of 5-6/10 on and off, some days i don’t experience any pain, just dry eyes.

Please i need some hope.

Im losing hope, and i hope this doesn’t get removed

Around early Jan, i woke up with itchy teary red eyes. I went to see a doctor mid january and was told to use Olopatadine and Rinz Saline Solution (Both contains Benzalkonium Chloride 0.01%). Used for 1.5 weeks, and late Jan i tried quitting, and it came back

I continued using olopatadine and redness, itching and tearing went away. Mid february i tried quitting again. But this time no itching or tearing, but dryness. Eyes were vascularised and couldnt sleep 2-3 days in. I also slowly tapered dosage from twice a day to once every 2/3 days

So i continued. Then early march, i visited another ophthalmologist and they were unable to find any issues. Said it was allergic conjunctivitis because redness went away with olopatadine. And so i continued usage. Around this time i could sense that olopatadine wasnt as effective as there were some nights i couldnt sleep as well with olopatadine.

Around mid april, i stopped using olopatadine for 6 days. And instead used rinz saline solution more than 4 times a day as my eyes were so dry. Ended up overexposing from preservatives and got toxic medicamentosa. I visited another ophthalmologist and was told i had allergic conjunctivitis again…

So i continued olopatadine for another 2 weeks. But eyes didn’t really improve. Then i stopped for 2 weeks and am currently on cyclosporine.

TLDR: i overexposed my eyes with preservatives, from a simple case of tear reflex to chronic dry eyes. Did i permanently damage my eyes? Will i forever live with foreign body sensation? I currently have difficulty sleeping as foreign body sensation is so strong. And when i stare at screens for long periods, my eyes burn.

Im currently on cyclosporine, my eyes are improving (longer aircon and screen tolerance) but the foreign body sensation is still not going away.

In january 2026, i developed itchy teary red eyes that was affecting my sleep, would wake up multiple times, due to how teary and itchy it was. Went to see general practitioner and was prescribed olopatadine (antihistamines). They worked great, instantly reduced symptoms and continued using them till mid february. When i tried stopping, i realised my eyes were really dry and had to continue usage. I continued using till mid april, while gradually tapering usage from twice a day to once a day to once every 2-3 days. Tried stopping again and had severe dry eyes and difficulty falling asleep.

I went to see an eye specialist recently and was told i have allergic conjunctivitis, with papillae developing in my upper eyelid. Which is probably causing inflammation to my meibomian glands, disrupting oil production. And true enough, i do constantly feel as if something is stuck in my upper eyelids on both my eyes. Was told to continue olopatadine for another 4 months, while adding on warm compresses and eyelid cleansing as part of my routine.

I hopped back on olopatadine and i could finally fall asleep again just had to deal with dry eyes throughout the day. Now on the 8th night of hopping back on, i had difficulty sleeping again despite using olopatadine, could not enter deep sleep state. Seems like my symptoms flared up again, and my body has developed a resistance to olopatadine from 5 months of usage.

What should i do? I’ve never had allergies before and the lack of deep sleep state is putting my mind at constant chaos and anxiety, really low motivation, bad mood, fatigue. Im worried that it is the olopatadine that is causing papillae to develop instead of allergies as i read that long term use of preservatives (BAK) can irritate ocular surface or cause papillae to develop. Is this what is happening or is the papillae due to allergies? I cannot sleep.

Should i get allergy testing? Should i get my mattress deep cleaned to reduce dust mites? Should i change my mattress? Should i go get a 2nd opinion from another doctor. Im losing hope, 5 months of dealing with eye issues has placed a severe mental strain on my mental health and the lack of deep sleep is the last straw.

The only relevant eye related issue i had in my entire life was in february of last year, when i had quite a severe case of viral conjunctivitis causing blurring of vision, i ended up using steroid eyedrops which cleared it. Had no symptoms whatsoever for the rest if the year up until january 2026 when i suffered from this. Anybody suffering from a similar situation, i really need advise, or just hope. I do not see any light at the end.

The funny thing is during the day, my eye gets better and symptoms only worsen at night when im about to sleep. I did notice symptoms worsening when i travelled overseas and slept at a hotel. So this pretty much confirms that i likely developed dust mites or dust allergy.

Hi, has anybody used antihistamines (olopatadine) for long term usage? I developed allergic conjunctivitis around early jan and have been on and off till mid april (early stage used 2 drops a day, but when i noticed there was no itch, switched to 1 drop a day and slowly tapered to 1 drop every 2/3 days).

So i thought my allergies had cleared, and i tried quitting it, but the moment i stopped, 2 days later my eyes were extremely dry. Thought i developed MGD from antihistamine use or use of adapalene, but turns out i had papillae under my eyelid which blocked my meibomian glands.

And after quitting, i couldn’t sleep for the past 6-7 days, really bad anxiety and dry eyes, and likely due to antihistamine withdrawal…

I consulted my local eye specialist and was told to continue antihistamine usage for another 4 months along wtih teatree oil cleanser and warm compress twice daily.

But this defeats the purpose of me trying to quit antihistamine. Im worried long term usage of olopatadine can have really negative effects on my eye and mental health, etc…

Has anybody used olopatadine for a year? If so, how was your experience? Did you manage to quit the olopatadine? How long did it take to adjust from insomnia etc…