Blepharitis--are contact lenses possible?

[Hollyberry]

I was recently diagnosed with blepharitis but seem to be responding well to the recommended treatment.
I used contact lenses for about 20 years (maybe longer) then had my eyesight corrected by laser surgery. However my eysight has really deteriorated (age!)
Would my eyes ever be "well" enough to wear contacts again? Or does blepharitis put a stop to this possibility?
Any advice welcome.

[Melissa W]

Hi HollyBerry,

You can absolutely wear contact lenses if you control your blepharitis. Do lid scrubs once in the AM and once before bed. I like the pre-packaged ones best like Theralid and Ocusoft. Choose daily disposable contact lenses as you are getting a clean fresh lens every day that way. And never sleep in your contact lenses. Also, choose eye makeup that does not cause any reaction to your lids and lashes.

Best wishes,
Melissa

[Hollyberry]

Thank for that--given me a bit of hope today. My eyes are much better than they were just a couple of weeks ago, so with all the meds and advice/information here I am much more hopeful tan I was.
Thanks again
Hollyberry

[Yvette]

Hi Hollyberry,

I read your post and though not really related to the blepharitis, did you have Lasik? If so, what did you think of the procedure and outcome?

I've worn contacts for 20+ years but wasn't sure if I could do Lasik because my eyes are probably more drier than normal folks. I haven't been diagnosed with any eye diseases or irritation, however.

Glad your eye treatment is working.

Take care.

Yvette

[Melissa W]

Hi Yvette,

LASIK is contraindicated for people who have rosacea as it causes exacerbation of dry eye symptoms. I would not recommend it.

Best wishes,
Melissa

[Hollyberry]

Mine was done in 1999 and 2000 (one eye at a time in those days!) and I had the PRK (or it could be PKR?) It worked perfectly for one eye, but because I had a lot of astigmatism in th right eye it didn't work so well. I must say that my eyes always semed a bit out of balance afterwards and close up work was much more difficult.
Everyone's eyes are different, so if you do want to pursue one of the lasering methods, resaearch it very carefully and thoroughly and take all advice regarding rosecea from those that know.
Good Luck.

[Sarahsomerset]

I was recently diagnosed with blepharitis but seem to be responding well to the recommended treatment.
I used contact lenses for about 20 years (maybe longer) then had my eyesight corrected by laser surgery. However my eysight has really deteriorated (age!)
Would my eyes ever be "well" enough to wear contacts again? Or does blepharitis put a stop to this possibility?
Any advice welcome.


I have worn contact lenses and had rosacea for about 20 years but developed blepharitis in one eye in the last few years as my rosacea has got worse. When I take oxytetracyline the rosacea and blepharitis all clears up ( I have to take steroid eye ointment if it gets really bad) but as soon as I stop it all comes back with a vengeance (first the skin then the eye) and the eye is bloodshot all the time especially if I wear lenses. I have more or less given up with the lenses now as it seems to exacerbate the problem but would not necessarily be true for everyone. Have you been prescribed oxytet?

I am in a position now where I am needing to antibiotics all the time to look normal but no medical people seem to be able to say whether it is ok to take them all them time. I have just been give some finacea gel but have not gone to pick up the prescription as it sounds like another strong cream that will sting like hell and make me even redder!

Anyone have any views on longterm oxytetracycline? Good luck with the lenses (mine are acuvue dailies, they carry the least germs probably.

[LavenderVA]

Sarahsomerset - Do you want to try Oracea if you are concerned about long term dose of oxytetracycline? Is bloodshot eye the sympotom of blepharitis? My eye doctor said bloodshot eye is caused by eye irritation. I am a little bit confused here. But warm compresses and frequent eye drop seem help.

Hollyberry - I used to wear CL(Frenquency 55 biweekly disposable) on a daily basis but since I developed ocular rosacea(MGD+ blepharitis), my eye doctor suggested not to wear CL because of dry eye(she did not mention that CL would deteriorate symptom but we know there is an added risk of infection). So I only wear CL 4-6 hours a week for some social occasion now. Interesting is that sometimes my eyes felt better after wearing the CLs for 2 hours and seems that they are like a protector to prevent the debris from getting onto the eye surface(this is totally my speculation). However it is not consistent and sometimes I got more bloodshot on eyes when I took off CLs.

My other observation is when I was trying to tapper off the erythromycin from 2 pills to 1 pill, my eyes started to feel less dry. So my other speculation is that the oral antibiotic might make the eyes drier. However the derm said there is no this kind side effect of erythromycin found in the clinical trial. Then it is a coincidence - the weather changes to less dry or Restasis started to kick in? Unknown.

Just to share my experience.

Crystal

[Sarahsomerset]

Thanks for you reply Crystal. You asked whether the bloodshot eye was actually blepharitis. It goes bloodshot when my blepharitis is bad, because the the eye surface gets too dry because of the blocked ducts around the eyelids. Sometimes it has got so bad it is an infection as well causing the redness (I think because they give me antibiotic drops and steroid ointment.) When they look at my eyelids through the microscope they always say it's blepharitis and that I should keep the eyelids really clean. I do try to do this but I often feel like I am irritating them even more by touching them all the time to clean them with the compresses etc! It's quite weird that I seem to be only susceptible in one eye as well. When I am on the oxytet my eyes are perfect of course!!

As for the oracea, I think that is doxycline which is the same family as Oxytet, I have tried it but found the oxytet more effective. I have yet to try my finacea cream which might cure my skin if not my eye.... Thanks for your advice anyway.grin:

[LavenderVA]

Sarahsomerset – thanks for explaining your case on bloodshot eyes. I guess different people would have different cause on it. My eye doctor looked into my eyes through the microscope, said that I do not have dry spots anymore nor inflammation on eye surface which is a great news. It was just excess oil sticky on the eyelids because of the gland dysfunction.

Great to hear that Oxytet works better for you than Oracea. Good luck on finacea!

Crystal