Recurrent Corneal Erosion

[kaasirpent]

dietbubba asked earlier how many times the whole ripping of the cornea thing has happened.

In February, 1999 (I checked my personal Journal), I woke up one morning and it felt like I had an eyelash the size of a sequoia in my eye. I flushed water through it, squirted copious amounts of Murine and Visine in there—nothing did any good. Eventually, as the day wore on, it got better, so I didn't think anything of it.

Until it happened the second time. Then I went to my optometrist. He put that icky yellow dye in my eyes and, after looking at my eyes for what seemed like a long time, told me that I had torn the cornea of my right eye. I asked, "How?"

He told me that I have extremely dry eyes. So dry that he recommended that I have the ducts that drain tears out of my eyes into my nose plugged so that the tears would stay in my eyes. But that's another story. Anyway, because my eyes are so dry, during the night, while I'm sleeping, my eyes get "gummy." This gumminess turns into a cement that adheres the inner surface of my eyelid to the outer surface of my eye (i.e., the cornea). The alarm goes off. I open my eyes reflexively. The uppermost layer of skin of the small portion of the cornea that is cemented to the eyelid...comes off.

He further explained that this doesn't just happen. He said that I could go my entire life with dry eyes and never tear my cornea, because the cornea is usually attached to the eye pretty tightly. However, if you get a small cut or tear on the cornea, it can cause a section of it to become loose.

You know how when you have a paper cut on your finger, after you take a shower, the skin to either side of the paper cut is kind of standing apart from the skin beneath it? Exactly the same kind of thing.

He did, in fact, ask me if I had gotten a papercut on my eye. (I don't know how this would happen, either. I don't want to know.) Alternatively, I might have accidentally damaged the cornea while rubbing my eye by either scratching it with a fingernail or rubbing too hard at my eye while an eyelash was on top of my cornea.

So he gave me some ointment called Muro 128 that I basically have been putting in my eyes before bed, now, for almost 4 years. Except that Muro 128 is expensive (> $20 for a .125-oz tube), so I also use Bauch & Lomb, Lacrilube, and other brands that are much less expensive (< $10 for a .125-oz tube), but don't work as well.

You might want to skip this part if you're squeamish. :)

As for how it feels? Well, imagine if you will breaking your fingernail off above the quick. You know that burn as the air hits that suddenly exposed area of subdermal cells? Or...how about when you have a hangnail and you put your hand in your pocket without thinking and the edge of your pocket just happens to hit that little flap of skin and peels it back, exposing raw flesh underneath? Or how about when you have a scab over a fresh sore and something happens that tears that scab off before it's ready to come off?

Now, imagine that pain in your eye. When your eye is open, the air burns. When you close your eye, it feels like the inner surface of your eyelid is sandpaper.

When I tear my cornea, I know it instantly. I get up and grope my way into the bathroom, tears streaming out from that eye. I manage to find the ointment and maybe get some into my eye, but because the tears are coming fast and furious, I usually have to put some in, let the tears wash it out, put some more, let the tears wash it out...ad nauseum. Until the tears aren't strong enough to wash it away. Then I have to grope my way back to the bed and get at least another hour (preferably two) of sleep. Meanwhile, blinking or any movement of my eyelid feels like someone dragging 60-grit sandpaper over my eye. Try going to sleep faced with that.

For the rest of that day, the eye feels like your eyes do on a cold day when the wind blows right into your face. I'm sensitive to light to an amazing degree, including having to wear dark glasses inside my office. It's a wonder I've not been selected for random drug testing. :) When I look at a light source (headlights, stars, lights on telephone poles, taillights, hard drive lights, etc.), I see a halo around each one that is roughly the shape of the exposed area on my cornea.I can't just take a nap anytime I want to or, if I stay out too late visiting friends, I can't just crash at their place. Every time I sleep has to be very premeditated.

By the second morning, I can't tell anything happened.

It's something I've learned to live with.

The worst part of it all, though, is that I can't just take a nap anytime I want to or, if I stay out too late visiting friends, I can't just crash at their place. Every time I sleep has to be very premeditated. If I don't have the ointment, it's best to just stay awake or make myself wake up every hour or so. If I fall asleep reading in bed, there's Hell to pay the next day.

So...that's the whole, sordid story in far too much detail. But people had asked, and now I have somewhere to point to when they do. And I'll probably copy this over to my web site, too. :)

[Update 4/25/2011] I wrote a much later follow-up post to this one when I had some better information from my ophthalmologist in Atlanta. Please feel free to continue reading here. (From 10/4/2007.)

Comments

[stemware.livejournal.com]

ouch.

[isabel-rapunzel.livejournal.com]

oh, god...:: scrunches up nose:: the agony. I'm really sorry. :: hugs::

[ladywhy.livejournal.com]

ACK! I knew I shouldn't have read past the You-might-want-to-skip-this-part part. ~shudder~

I had a thought that I'm sure you've heard of, thought of and/or tried. But, just in case here goes... One time Dennis shot Katie in the eye with a nail. Yes, I know. Long story. Anyway, her pain was just as you described and the doctor gave her a 'contact bandaid' to wear while it healed. Pain instantly gone. Could you possibly wear 'contact bandaids' to bed to keep the cornea from tearing? Or wear them when you get a tear?

Feel free to disregard at will. I hate people that state obvious solutions like they know what they're talking about too. :-)