eliza1967

Initially Good Experiences, then Ptosis Last Year, This Year BAD Dry Eyes

I had tear gland damage from botox injections. The injury occurred 3 years ago. In my case, so far it has been permanent.

b2tru2life, are you applying moist heat to your eyes whenever possible? even a ceramic cup with hot water in it--place the outside of the cup against your eyes, it will help them feel better, even if only temporarily. I think it helps the eyelid glands secret oil, which is good for your eyeballs, too. As to whether or not this injury will ever heal on its own, I am not so optimistic about that, but I pray for courage daily and try to find the good in life. Much love to you, keep your faith in life up.

Eliza

It's coming up to two years since I got the botox shots that went awry. I am currently using Restasis (the single vial form) and, because it isn't covered by insurance, I store the opened vial in the fridge in a clean sandwich bag and use it for about 5 doses as opposed to one. I'm a single mom with 4 children who is also unemployed, so this is how I have been able to continue treatment with this medication. I have been able to get my regular eyedrops--Refresh Tears and Systane Ultra covered by medical insurance that is free in Canada if you are low-income; I am so thankful...prior to this I was spending close to a week's grocery's amount on these. I find that in the winter when the weather is drier my eyes are much drier; during the spring and summer my symptoms abated somewhat, but when you have to turn on the central heating system it can really take its toll on dry eyes.

I have been looking into getting moisture-chamber glasses custom-made. I'll update you all on this when I am able to afford them.

I have been seeing a dry-eye specialist--two appointments so far. I had the Schirmer eye moisture test and I registered in at 4.5 out of 10. While it was a relief to finally have this acknowledged, the medical world is still quite hesitant to make any connection with botox! Crazy, since I had the test which would determine whether or not my dry eyes are related to autoimmune issues and those tests turned up negative. Anyway, I have found hot, wet compresses to continue to be a vital part of my continued eye-care, and, as well, trying to keep good health--an upper respiratory cold really aggravates things.

I think that what is the worst is having to put my eye drops in while out in public. I have recently started going out with a wonderful man and he has been very accepting of this, but I still feel a bit self-conscious when I have to do this around him.
I can relate to b2tru2life when she talks about previously tearing up very easy. I, too, am quite emotional to the point where in my pre-Botox damage days my eyes would fill with tears whenever I felt a twinge of empathy...now I have to bring along my eye drops to a tear-jerker movie...The rare time when the event demanding an emotional response is quite serious and my eyes DO fill with tears, at the back of my mind I am aware that in the midst of this event which has elicited my response, my mind is appreciating the lubrication in spite of my sympathetic reaction to someone else's sorrow.

Well, I wish you all what I wish for myself--moist eyeballs!

Take care all,

Eliza

I had botox injected above my eye almost two years ago which created a ptotic droop. If I massage above the brow it sort of lifts up, oddly enough. The botox damage never did fully heal, though. The doctors who say it will go away in three months are either lying, are ignorant, or stupid, or all three.

It's been almost 13 months since I had the botox that set off the awful dry eye. I stopped taking the B12 a long time ago because I started getting heart palpitations (not sure if there was a connection, but I was taking really high dosages so I thought I'd best taper off regardless...). Anyway, I've been using hot moist compresses in conjunction with baby-shampoo scrubs. Plus taking rastasis. My moisture level is 4/5 with 5 being normal. It has improved since this time last year, a bit. So you can imagine what it was like then. I'm hoping things will be normal by next year, cross my thumbs:)