I was diagnosed with this about a year ago or so. I was very relieved, because it’s been causing me trouble for a long time, and I couldn’t seem to find an eye doc who knew what my problem was. I’ve been using Muro 128, but it’s a pain to use and it’s expensive. I am not particularly interested in using it for the rest of my life.
So, Dopers…anyone else have this problem? What do you do about it?
Somewhere around 1989, I got a rusty sliver of metal in my left eye. It was blown in by a harsh wind, and when I blinked, the movement of my eyelid forced it into the cornea.
It cut through layers 1 and 2, and rested against layer 3. ( Out of 5 ). The eye dr. informed me that he would have to use a burr and remove the rusty bit, along with a tiny smidgen of the surrounding cornea. No idea going in if the resulting scar tissue would impair my vision in any way or not.
The next day I, the professional cameraman who lives by his eyes, sat down, rested his chin in “that amazing bizarre eye dr. device thingy”, and was told to SIT VERY STILL AND NOT BLINK. Yes, sir. I watched him burr the bit out.
No vision loss, but the damage destroyed the integrity of my cornea. Ever since then, until perhaps a year or two ago, I’ve had R.C.O. He gave me similar goopy stuff to drizzle in, so that the cornea was protected and lubricated.
Apparently there is a lovely vacuum that exists within the layers of the cornea, and doing that kind of damage wrecked it. I believed him at the time, but now with the advent of Lasik surgery, I dunno about the vaccum part.
I do know that in serious dry air or air conditioned air, if I were not careful in opening my eyes in the morning I’d re-rupture. And oh god does that hurt.
If Muro 128 is pricey, ask another eye dr. to recomment a suitable cheap replacement. Really, all I needed was these tiny tubes of what was essentially highly sterilized petrolium jelly. ( Vaseline ). Not under that name, but that was what was IN it.
IANAD, so please talk to your eye dr. before switching. For years, those little blue and white tubes cost me…what, about $ 5.00 per and lasted months.
Eventually I think the cornea does replace some damaged cells, because although it is now muscle memory that makes me wake up with the left eye held shut, I have not felt much more than a tiny tug- and only on a VERY dry morning with either heat or a.c. pumping- in quite a few years.
Best of luck, email me if you wish for more detailed conversation.
Cartooniverse
Do you know how you developed the corneal erosion? Was it from a scratch that didn’t heal?
I had one once many years ago, and it is so painful. The only thing that I’d add to
the great advice from Cartooniverse was that the Doctor told me that sometimes when you sleep your eye doesn’t close completely and the portion of your eye exposed to the air dries out creating a vacuum, and when you open your eye to can re-damage your cornea. He suggested in addition to what Cartoonniverse said to sleep with an eye mask or even lightly patch your eye when you go to sleep.
Good luck with this because I don’t think there is anything more painful. Maybe see some kind of a corneal specialist?
Thank you both so much for your advice. Mine is caused by Map-Dot-Fingerprint Dystrophy (something about the corneal cells not adhering well, and it’s probably some kind of genetic issue), so I get it in both eyes intermittantly. It just started happening one morning when I was maybe in my mid-twenties or so (10-15 years ago). I was starting to get better and better about using muscle memory, as Cartooniverse mentions, to wake up without opening my eyes quickly. This was working fairly well, when one time I had a HUGE erosion in the middle of the night…I don’t even think I was anywhere close to waking up…I was probably in REM sleep. And man oh man did that wake me up fast. The next day, I had trouble seeing out of that eye (which had never happened before), so I became concerned enough to track down an eye doc who could help me with it.
So, that’s my story. As I said, I’d like to get off the Muro…the expense isn’t really the main thing…it’s more that I really just hate to think of having to put that goop in my eyes every day for the rest of my life! I am going to try the muscle memory thing again, and I think I will also try a sleep mask. I would much rather try to manage it that way, I think. If that doesn’t work, though, maybe I will ask my doc if I can switch to petroleum jelly…I would think any lubricant would work, if the idea is to keep the eyelid from sticking to the eyeball. (As I said, the expense isn’t the main thing, but a tube of Vaseline is only a buck or so, and easier to find, as well.)
Again, thank you so much for your advice on this…you are right. Caridwen, it is unbelievably painful, and it’s really hard to express HOW painful to someone who has not experienced it.
Ahhh. Let me reiterate: for one thing, IANAD, so please consult your Md. For another thing- I said it is more or less sterile Vaseline. It’s not your garden variety pot of Vaseline that one gets over the counter for a coupla bucks for perhaps a pint.
It’s a small metallic tube that rolls down like a toothpaste tube, and is very specifically made for this problem. It may be that what you are already using is the appropriate stuff, or it MAY be that you can switch to a less costly but just as pure and safe material.
Let us know what your Md says !
Cartooniverse
I had this in one eye, I just forgot that is what my doctor called it. It was extremely painful. I always had the hardest time opening my eye in the morning. The doctor told me that at some point, I scratced my eyeball, and it never really healed. It would get stick to my eyelid, pulling the scratch open again.
I used that Muro stuff and I hated it. My eye felt so greasy and nasty. Eventually my eye got better but sometimes it still does get irritated.
No, I realize that you can’t just take a swipe of Vaseline out of the jar with your finger and just stick it in your eye! But I think that stuff is still easier to find in a regular drug store than the Muro…I have perused the eye-care section at Walgreens pretty closely because of this problem! Of course, I will talk to my doc about all suggestions before changing my course of action, don’t worry.
Thanks again, and I will let you know my progress.
I know, I really hate it too. My problem is that since my eye was not injured, but in fact I have some sort of intrinsic flaw in my corneas, I will probably have to manage it for the rest of my life. I am just irritated at the thought of having to deal with this every night FOREVER. Yuck.
And you are right…the pain is dreadful!
I had that for a while after the infamous Fish-Hook-In-The-Eye incident. I haven’t had it in a while, but low humidity is my enemy.
Oy vey. :eek: I’m not going to ask for details because I am SURE I don’t want to hear them, but I am not at all surprised that you had RCE from that. Yikes.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7016747#post7016747
Post #24 if you dare.
I went for it…I’m not the squeamish type. 
It sounds like a horror movie, and I truly can’t believe that the worst that came of it is RCE. You are lucky! Dang.
I know! The doctor said the odds were 1 in 100 I’d get my sight back. Go figure!
That explains the small tattoo on your right upper forearm that reads
1 %er
I’m a bad ass alright! http://www.brownsteins.net/Ulpan/Images/ShirleyTemple.jpg
I’ve had it for years, sometimes in one eye, sometimes in the other. Apparently my corneas are just like that. The first eye doc I went to gave me a salt water solution that would “cauterize” the erosion. These drops hurt like nothing else I’ve ever experienced - a blinding flash of pain so intense I would sometimes drop to the floor. An instant later, I would be fine, no more pain at all, corneal erosion apparently gone.
A couple years later my brother became an eye doctor. When I told him what I was using (I still had the original bottle,) he was horrified and prescribed the aforementioned vaseline type goop. He told me I needed to put it in every single night, regardless of whether I was experiencing erosion or not. Since the erosion usually only flared up one day a year, I was actually much happier with the salt water solution - an instant of pain, no matter how intense, was a lot better to me than a year of goopy eyes. I asked him if there was any actual damage caused by the salt water solution, and he reluctantly told me no - it’s a perfectly acceptable way to deal with corneal erosion like mine, it’s just needlessly painful. So I still use it.
The conditions described in this thread sound worse than mine though, so I’ll withhold mentioning the name of the stuff I use (it’s over the counter,) and just say ask your doctor. If there’s any chance this stuff could damage your lens, stay away from it. You do not f— around with your eyes.
