Long-Term Eyedrop Users

Hi all,

Swim is new to the forums here, but swim has been medicating for awhile now. About a year ago swim cold-turkied vasoconstrictor eyedrops (something that seems to be raved about in forums like this) due to some unwanted side effects as well as some personal knowledge gained. Swim used the drops on and off for about five years, but eventually became entangled in a vicious web. Near the end of the five years, swim would smoke from the time swim woke up and before/during work, constantly using the drops to relieve redness. A few years earlier Swim was smoking very much and not using drops, unwittingly noticing the redness of eyes was not so bad.
Anyways, here is swim, a year after quitting those evil chemicals. Swim is left with moderate dry eyes that becomes far worse when smoking, enjoying a pint or even after a certain hour of the day. Also, cosmetically, swim has visible, engorged red veins in the whites of his eyes that seem permanent. They do not go away when abstaining from meds for even up to a week/month. Needless to say the redness becomes much worse after medicating, but has been decreased over the past year.
Swim is very frustrated by never having white eyes and more so about the constant dryness/irritation. If only Swim had done research and not made naive decisions, swim could blaze all day and go unnoticed by the lot. Swim attached a photo of engorged conjunctival veins on an okay day (swim also has dilated, tortuous, scleral veins that come up from the bottom and down from the top of the eye). Is there anyone else out there who has used a vasoconstrictor drop regularly for years only to realize the damage being done and quit? If so, how long ago did you quit the poison and how arewim is very frustrated by never having white eyes and more so about the constant dryness/irritation. Swim has pics of the veins if anyone is interested.


Thanks for taking the time to read and swim sincerely appreciated any input/responses!

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad others have quit or are considering it; I try to spread the message as often as necessary so others do not end up where I am at.


Also I forgot to add that since I am a daily toker and cannabis is a natural vasodilator I remain optimistic that the THC could help reverse some of the cosmetic damage at least. My eyes do tend to get more dry when I medicate but it has only been I year since I quit the drops and the damage presumably occurred over a longer period of time.

 

It's my eye, just having fun posting swim.


As for references, they are abundant. Here are a few and many more can be had from dry eye websites and the like:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/175250-side-effe...
http://www.healthcaremagic.com/premiumquestions/St...

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Eye-Care/Overuse-of-e...

http://tabish.me/health/is-frequent-use-of-eye-dro...

http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showthread.php?8136...

Hindsight is always 50/50. At this point I have done my research and am not worried, the situation is what it is. That being said I suppose my intent here is finding someone in a similar situation (daily cannabis user who overused vasoconstrictors and has since quit). In my second post I mentioned that my hopes are cannabis being the vasodilator that it is will hopefully reverse the damage done from vasoconstrictors. I recently found out about an experimental repurposing of a drug called dipyridamole that is being used in eyedrops for pterygium. This process works similar to how I would expect cannabis to, except the method of administration is straight onto the eyeball and the medicine is very experimental/expensive.

 

Did you have dilated veins that would not go away, do you still have them now?

 

My rebound redness was very grotesque and lasted like 2 months. The veins that are pictured above swell up (same as when I smoke or drink) and the white part of the eyeball was like blood red. The picture is of a normal mid-day, although my eyes do get more red at night. It sucks now because people I know who never used eyedrops can smoke/drink and their eye stay perfectly white. Not complaining, but this is something I think about every day. While I am still young, I am sure many of you can relate to choices made that changed your life forever. This is one for me. People often give crazy looks or make awkward gestures when they look in my eyes. Anywho I am just rambling now, cheers!

 

I mean, I suppose you can make fun of me...I guess I am just a superficial person.

I said it had been blood red when my eyes went through rebound hyperemia, a well-document (yet somewhat obscured) side-effect of vasoconstrictor tachyflaxis. My eyes are fine, if you read my posts I am just wondering if anyone in the same situation has seen a more full recovery or if this is it. A doctor cannot help me and besides I'm not going to pay for one.

Sure. I did not mention that one of the other bad things about daily eye drop use in the preservative BAK which disrupts the tear film and can cause corneal erosion. I now use preservative free single use natural tear vials along with the omega 3 TheraTears supplement. I only use the eyedrops when my eyes get really dry which usually means I've been drinking.