Dry eyes

[chimma]

I was wondering if someone can help me.  I am 25 years old and have had dry red eyes since I was very young.  I recenlty went to an eye doctor and he told me that I have bacteria living in my oil glands in my eyes and that it is feeding off the oil my eyes are supposed to produce.  He said that the oil that ends up covering my eyes is just irritating them.  He put me on this medication called doxycycline hyclate 100mg.  He said over a couple of months that the medicine should kill off the bacteria and my eyes will start producing good oil again.  I have been taking the medication for a little over 2 months and haven't seen any improvement.  I looked up the side effects of this drug and one of them was chest pain.  In the last couple of weeks I have started having very bad chest pains and chest tightness and now I am thinking it is because of this medicaton.  Can someone please respond and tell me what I should do and tell me if this drug is the right thing for me to be taking?

[FurballsMom]

There are a lot of things that can cause dry eyes.  It is hard to say which one it is, because there are so many.  Dry indoor air, allergies, and autoimmune issues all come to mind.  Even being on the computer for too long can, because of the way the eyes have to adjust to be able to focus on the screen.

[mklarson]

The eye's tears are composed of three layers: oil, water and mucous. The outermost oily layer is produced by the meibomian glands which line the edge of the eyelids. The watery portion of the tear film is produced by the lacrimal gland. This gland lies underneath the outer orbital rim bone, just below the eyebrow. The mucous layer comes from microscopic goblet cells in the conjunctiva.  
There may have been an infection, but I have no way to know for sure without culture results. If it has not changed in two months makes me wonder if this is more of a mucous/water/oil ratio problem than an oil one. another thought is that a different medicine needed to be used such as a quinolone class of treatment. You may have a malfunctioning gland (see first paragraph) that is responsible for the ratio being off. Lastly, you have been exposed to something for years that you are allergic to causing the irritation.  
I know that is a lot of info. But hopefully it gives you a place to start and start checking off the list.