Advice For Second Opinion Dry Eye Consult After Quickly Failed First Treatment and Severe Symptoms
This is a long post so there will be a TLDR at the bottom.
In March I went in for my annual optometrist appointment to update my contact and lens prescriptions. Around that time I had been experiencing mild to moderate dry eye with burning sensations for a couple of weeks. I mentioned that during my appointment and my doctor recommended the disposable self heating eye masks followed by gently massaging the lash line.
Before the appointment I had already been using a foaming eyelid cleanser with a gentle silicone brush and eyelid cleansing wipes for on the go for a few months and then I had just got an electric rechargeable heating eye mask.
The cleansers were just to keep lash line clean especially for throughout the day because I have very oily skin and it causes my moisturizer to slide around and ends up in my eyes and makes them burn.
Days after the first episode of noticeable burning pain from dry eye I went from rarely using eyedrops to using them multiple times a day. That provided no relief so I did some research about ways to help symptoms and discovered self heating eye masks and decided to buy an electric one that’s rechargeable. I started using that at night before bed since it automatically shuts off. I noticed that it soothed my symptoms when in use but it didn’t prevent my discomfort. Also, I wasn’t informed about massaging your eyes after heated compresses so I was missing that step.
Since that was no help, I decided to reduce my use of contacts and that allowed me more time before the onset of burning pain came on each day. Then I quit wearing mascara and that allowed more pain free time each day as well. After a few days of longer periods without burning pain, I ended up back at square 1 where I was only fine for 4-6 hours until the burning pain started.
Last week I went to an ophthalmologist appointment and was prescribed Restasis. My doctor did not mention any cause for the dry eye or burning pain and did not give any sort of diagnosis. I was just told it would improve my symptoms in about 6 months and that it’s normal for it to cause burning right after applying.
I genuinely could not tolerate the burning the Restasis caused as it lasted for hours after application and made it so painful to even close my eyes to sleep at night.
I feel like Restasis was blindly prescribed to me, as I even mentioned to my doctor that my symptoms were increasing in frequency and severity pretty rapidly. I think other doctors would’ve considered options that would improve symptoms much quicker than in a 6 month timeline.
My optometrist gave me another referral to a different ophthalmologist for a second opinion and I would like some advice on what to ask about or things to mention at that appointment as my symptoms are significantly impacting my quality of life and I really need to get them managed.
If anyone could provide questions to ask, things to mention that most people don’t think of, or even ANY kind of helpful products or tips for relieving symptoms, I would greatly appreciate it!!
TLDR: Dry eye with burning pain going on for a few months and I’ve tried all of the otc options from eye drops, to heated eye mask, and eye cleansers. Stopped wearing contacts and mascara. Prescribed Restasis after dry eye consult with no explanation or proper diagnosis given. I could not tolerate Restasis as it caused severe burning lasting hours and made it hard to sleep at night. Looking for advice for my next appointment with another ophthalmologist as a second opinion.