Yesterday I went to the doctor's office and got punctal plugs put into my tear ducts. These are tiny collagen plugs that fit into the bottom tear duct in the eye, and are used to help heal extreme dry eye. I'm hoping that they will help me. Often my eyes are red and dry and I have to use drops several times a day. I can feel the plugs, but like wearing glasses, once you get used to it, you forget about it. It is a little like having an eyelash turned backwards or something...not painful at all, just...there. The Dr. said there are no bad side effects and no chance of infection. The plugs are so tiny he said I could probably not see them even with a magnifying glass. I guess the only bad thing is that they sometimes come out on their own and you have to get them reinserted.
They haven't started helping yet, my eyes are still red this morning, but I should be better soon, and I'll continue to use my trusty bottle of eye moisturizer drops. (Visine is bad...not supposed to use that, although it is tempting when ones eyes look like they were up all night.) The proceedure was a little...hairy. First he put in a drop of anesthesia and then I had to stay very still with my chin resting on the plate of the unit used for eye exams while he put was looked like a sharp tweezer very near my eye. I stayed very calm and concentrated hard on a spot on the ceiling. It didn't take long, but he had to find the plugs that would fit my eye, I guess they come in different sizes. He didn't say much and I got the impression that this is pretty routine for him. He said it is not that new, and that it has been done foryears, especially for people who have lazer eye surgery which tends to make the eyes dry. Afterward I told him that I was fighting very hard the urge to run away.
I treated myself to a yummy yogurt cup with granola and a cup of fresh fruit at Au Bon Pain and went back to my office to rest up.
Last night I had an event to go to for work that lasted until 8:30 p.m., so I'm ready for a big cup of coffee and hopefully a quiet day at the office.
Have a good day.
