Punctum plugs worked but couldn't wear them

[McTigerlily]

I had the dissolvable punctum plugs put in after having to change contacts for astigmatism (which isn't so bad that I can get contacts for astigmatism, so I am wearing aspheric lenses) and the contacts that worked the best were not a good material, so my eyes were continuously dry. I mean, contacts sticking to my eye and couldn't see, kind-of-dry.

My eye doctor (after trying 8 different kinds of contacts-me not paying for ANY of the samples), and giving me different lubricating drops to use, she finally said we could try plugging up my bottom tear ducts to see if that relieved some of the dry eye. Had NEVER heard of such a thing.

IT WORKED. It was great...the dissolvable ones were such a success (except that they kept coming out), so I waited my two weeks and I went with the Herricks (sp?) punctum plugs in all four tear ducts, but OH MY GOSH. TOO much plugging, for one. Too much tearing. That wasn't the biggest problem, though. I had to get the bottom ones removed within 24 hours because they were irritating my eyes so much. The flanges (tops that look like little nail heads) of the punctum plug were at an angle and kept coming up a little and scratching my eyes. It looked like someone had tried to scratch my eyes out.

Now the top on (left one especially) is scratching on my eye so bad that I have had blood vessels burst.

Thank goodness my opthamologist (sp? again) met me on Saturday before I left for the lake to remove the bottom ones and she said she needs to remove the top ones today (Sunday) if we can meet up or Monday at the latest.

She said we can try SmartPlugs next, but of course, I've heard horror stories about those getting stuck inside your puncta and having to be flushed out or surgically removed because they don't have the flange to keep them in place...is that true?

What do you guys think of this? Have you had similar experiences? I have NEVER seen so well with these contacts or ANY contacts when I had the dissolvable plugs in and before the 'permanent' ones began causing too much pain. The drops do NOTHING.

[McTigerlily]

I am hoping that they do better than the other ones. The I had to get the upper ones removed yesterday, too. Thank goodness she was sweet enough to meet me on a SUNDAY. But now I'm on antibiotics because a vessel did hemorrhage and I have some ulcerations where the upper ones were slowly wearing on my eye. Apparently, I am allergic to silicone, so the SmartPlugs are acrylic. I hope those work. And I think I just need the bottom ones plugged, but not for a few weeks, at least. Everything has to heal before I'm putting anything else in my eye. Including my new contacts that I LOVE. I'm wearing glasses that I've had for at least 6 years. Ugh.

Thank you for the encouragement, though!

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

I use Smart plugs all the time.  Very few problems.

Dr. O.