Weaning off of Tobradex

[Whitesmith]

Hi doctor,
About a year and a half ago an opthalmologist ended my 10 year span of using naphazoline hydrocholoride which had been prescribed by my gen physician. He put me on flax seed oil, allegra, restasis, sterilid and qtips, moisturizing eyedrops and tobradex. At one point he did tell me to slow down on the tobradex but I couldn't handle having such bloodshot eyes so he's allowed me to continue usage for the past year and a half while monitoring my IOP levels. I decided to try to wean myself off of tobradex again, but despite my bloodshot eyes he said that he didn't think I was experiencing rebound symptoms from the steroids. Lately he's started me on polysporin at night which has been excellent for my eyelid inflammation, but my eyes are still very bloodshot. My questions are 1) do you think I might be experiencing some steroid rebound in my bloodshot eyes so I should therefore "tough it out" for a period of time (I did try this a while back before I started the polysporin but I gave up after a month of redness), and 2) is there any healthy way beyond reducing inflammation to significantly reduce redness? Thanks

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

This question is answered by a Forum MD on the Patient to Patient Forum today.

[Whitesmith]

I used 200 milligrams a day of doxycycline for about five years to treat acne but finally stopped a couple of weeks ago, my opthm wants me to continue  to use it but I've quit because of side effects, particularly the severe dryness throughout my body. I haven't noticed any improvement in my eyes since quitting but it's only been a couple weeks