What is your diagnosis (or diagnoses if you have more than one)?
Meibomian Gland Disfunction (MGD), blepharitis and nocturnal lagophthalmos
How long have you had it?
Probably had it for many years, but worsened and diagnosed about 18 months ago, 6 months after my lasik surgery.
What do you wish more people understood about dry eye (or eye pain if that's your main issue) and how it affects people's lives?
I wish eye doctors knew more about dry eye, how to treat it and how surgeries worsen existing dry eye conditions. I live in a country where dry eye treatment resources are non-existent, just like knowledge about them. My eye doctor recommended only tape and gel, which didn't work for me because of pressure related eye pain.
What has helped you the most?
I use eye drops, fish oil pills, eyelid cleaning kits, heat mask, moisture chamber glasses and goggles and lubricant eye gel for sleeping at night.
Everything mentioned above contributes to better quality of life, but by far, the most helpful one has been the moisture chamber goggles. Solving the nighttime dry eye problem greatly improved my dry eye symptoms during the day, reducing my need for drops and gel during the day and reducing most eye pain and discomfort.
I use ziena moisture chamber glasses for the few times my eyes do get dry and drops won't help (and when I want to save money. The type of drops I need are expensive) or when I know beforehand I'll be reading or staring at a screen for a while. Other than tape and drops/gel, all other dry eye products I found by researching online once my dry eye became unbearable. However, I have to import everything, which is not cheap, but definitely worth it for the comfort and quality of life improvement.
Are there any dry eye resources you'd like to recommend?
It didn't take me too long to find the correct resources once I started looking for them. I read a few scientific papers, looking for valid and successful methods of improving dry eye symptoms.
I knew moisture chamber goggles helped, but only knew which ones were the correct ones after trying a few and stumbling upon the dry eye shop, which contained condensed, centralized information on different dry eye products. I then used the products available in the dry eye shop to branch out and look for more products from trustworthy and proven vendors. I still haven't encountered any other great sources of dry eye information or products, but will share if I do