not enough Aqueous layer in tears

[nipitiri]

I have been visiting the eye care doctor a lot in last 6 months, because nothing (all kind of antibiotic drops) seems to take away the whitish discharge and visibly red blood vessels  on my eye-whites. Also, sometimes my eyes are sore even when using mild artificial tears.

Today I was told that there is more than enough lipids and mucous, but aqueous layer is almost missing in my tears, and therefore the eyes are irritated. I can see the oily layer in my outer eye corners myself. They also said that there is no visible sign of bacteriological infection and the lids are ok, so I should continue with artificial tears and that is it.

However, I was wondering, could it be caused by candida, and if so, what is the treatment ( I believe its much longer than 1 capsule of fluoconazole)? Or could it be caused by lack of vitamin B12? They tested it and  my result was 125 and the normal range is 207-800. So I have been taking the vitamin supplement fot 2 weeks now, but no changes are seen.

I just can't figure out the cause of my sore pinkish eyes, and I don't know how to increase the aqueous layer, or what should I do? Thanks!

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

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[frwbeach]

  Just keep after your doc- he knows the many options -  Restasis didnt work for me but I do know those that it has helped as well.  What works best for me is getting off to a good start and keeping it that way ( Docs advice ) every morning I rinse with "Advanced Eye Relief" and follow with celluvisc ( tryed over a dozen options ) throuout day I maintain with Systane  Ultra ( works well just doesnt last as long as Celluvisc but doesn't distort vision as much ) . Some docs may dismiss dry eye as trivial  because they see such devastating / serious eye issues that garner much of their attention.  Cornea specialists seem to have the best approach and maybe thats because I had one tell me that prolonged dry eye and irratation can cause cornea damage . In any caes their are plenty of options to help- Fish oil - Restasis - many many more and dozens of drops to try .  DO NOT ACCEPT CONSTANT BURNING AND IRRATATION  .

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

Tears dysfunction syndrome is caused by deficiences of any or all of the three componetns of tears: water like, protein, lipid.

For aqueous deficincy you can try artificial tears like hypotears and standard dry eye treatment or if nothing works restasis.

It is unlikely you have ocular candidiasis.

JCH MD