I am so glad to have found this support group. Most people I know have never heard about RCE, let alone can imagine the pain of it.

I first developed RCE about 7 years ago or so. I have several contributing factors: glaucoma, map dot fingerprint dystrophy (I think the doc also calls it basement membrane dystrophy), dry eye syndrome, and a current infection causing added swelling.

I often get the torturous, severe erosions that feel like someone is stabbed me in the eye with a toothpick. I don't recall ever having gone more than three months without that kind of severe erosion. I also get the smaller erosions that just feel like I have a few grains of sand in my eye, but I can deal with that without whining.

In early September I went through a bad bout of attacks nightly for about ten days. Before that I had been using just the Muro 128 ointment at night and Systane artificial tears during the day. The doc suggested I add back the Muro 128 drops four times a day and if I wake up during the night to use the bathroom, to reapply the ointment to hold me over until I wake up in the morning. I continued with some minor erosions and a few stabbing pain erosions for about two weeks, then was free of attacks for about ten days. Then I had stabbing attacks four days in a row. One of those severe erosions got infected and I awoke on a Sunday morning in excruciating pain and couldn't even stand light in the house with the shades drawn and wearing sunglasses. For the first few days I could see only light, then I gradually began to see huge letters on the eye chart. My vision is just about returned to normal--just a line or so away on the chart and perhaps when the contact lens bandage is removed I'll be able to read as well as before the last erosion and infection.

My opthalmologist is wonderful. Because I have so many other eye problems, I elected not to go to an emergency room, but called her answering service at 10AM on Sunday, Sept. 9th and she told me to meet her at her office at noon. The erosion was bad, as was the infection.

She put on a contact lens bandage, which I'm still wearing, and prescribed Hydrocodone for the pain, which may have slightly taken the edge off the pain, but the pain remained severe for a few days.

I was putting in Zymar antibiotic every hour for the first five days, then every two hours for about two weeks, and currently four times a day.
I was at first prescribed Acular for the swelling but that didn't work, so now I'm on Lotemax corticosteroid. The infection isn't healing because of the swelling, and the swelling has so many contributing factors because of other chronic eye problems. The Lotemax is working. I'm now being weaned off the steroid at one drop per day. And as of yesterday it's still infected, but at least the infection is under control and not spreading.

My whole day is pre-occupied with medicating my eyes. It's really annoying, but beats the heck out of being blind or having more painful erosions. I'm on eight different meds--three for the infected eye and five in the "good eye."

My meds are currently:

Infected eye:
--Zymar antibiotic four times a day
--Muro 128 drops four times a day
--Refresh Plus Tears as needed-- as frequently as hourly.

"Good" eye:
--Muro 128 drops four times a day
--Restasis for dry eye syndrome twice a day
--Systane drops artificial tears as needed--but I seem to need them only three times a day or so.
--Xalatan for glaucoma at bedtime. (Contra-indicated right now in the infected eye.)
--Muro 128 ointment at bedtime and every time I awaken for a bathroom trip, which is about 2-3 times a night.

I'm going to ask the doc if she thinks Genteal Gel may be worth a try and talk to her about B vitamin supplements which someone suggested to me, and ask her about increasing my omega 3 fish oil supplement which I currently take to help lower my triglycerides.

If I continue having these severe, painful erosions I may ask the doc about PTK. She is also a surgeon, so I'd want her to do it.

Evie, wishing you much success with your PTK on October 11. :)

I am also new to the forum...have been clear of erosions now for almost 4 months after several months of hell. Here's my brief story... I somehow injured my eye while sleeping in April and a spent several months with worsening eye erosions. Tried artificial tears of varying degrees, Muro drops and ointment, room humidifier, etc. all with little or no effect...or so I thought...every few days I would wake up with another erosion and my focus would be shot for a day or two until it healed, only to happen again a few days later....I figured the Muro was not working, so I decided to stop using the ointment at night and the next morning awoke with an extremely painful tear on my cornea that sent me to the ER. What I learned is that the mix of things I was doing was somewhat helpful for me...Muro drops during the day, ointment at night and cool mist room humidifier next to the bed. I also had a small plug put into one of my tear ducts, because the damaged eye was dry. This was a simple painless procedure (took about 10 seconds and plugs come out just as quickly) and helped to lubricate the eye.

However, I suffered a severe erosion again, while I was out of town again a few weeks later, after I went most of the day without using my Muro drops....I went to the ER and the eye doctor put in a bandage contact lens. When I got home and saw my eye doctor, I told him I was planning to go on a family vacation to Las Vegas (DRY Climate) and Hawaii the following week...the bandage contact lens felt pretty good and I asked if I could keep it in, as I began to think that it protected my eye while I slept. He gave me a combination of Acular drops to treat pain and inflamation and an antibiotic drop, and told me that I could leave the lens in until I returned from vacation. He also said to use the Muro drops religiously. I have never worn contact lenses, but I found that after a day or two, I didn't feel the bandage lens at all and my eye came into focus with it, so it felt as if it was not there.

I had no problem for the 10 days I was away and I kept the lens in for total of 14 days with NO erosions. This was a major change of events for me, as I had been having them every couple of days. At that point, I wanted to keep the bandage lens in forever. When I returned from my vacation, my eye doctor removed the lens and the next morning I had a very slight erosion, however, I continued to use the Muro drops 3-4 times a day and ointment every night. I have been erosion free now for 4 months. I am convinced that the use of the lens for two weeks game my epithelium the jump start it needed to adhere to the eye. I also met with an eye specialist who suffered from recurring erosion himself a few years ago. He said one of the problems was that my expectations were not set up correctly. He said that it could take 6 to 9 months for the eye to heal correctly and he told me to continue the Muro routine (3-4 drops per day/ ointment at night) for at least six months. I have about two months left before I can begin tapering off the Muro.... Also, I still have the plug in the tear duct of the affected eye. My non-affected eye is often drier and I am considering placing a plug in that eye's tear duct...you cant see these plugs, unless you look very closely for them, but they are a pretty simple, cheap way to treat dry eye, without resorting to systemic drugs. I still also use artificial tears when I feel extra dry.

I wish you luck in treating your erosions...I know at times it seems like your helpless, but there are things that seem to work.... I was ready to undergo the lasik procedure, but the bandage lens and Muro routine did the trick for me...


[QUOTE=annammas62;3312143]dear friends,
I am new to this forum.I injured my cornea with my own finger nail 4 years ago.It healed without any problems in less than 48 hours as I was told by the ophthalmologist.I thought that was the end of it.Problems started one week later.I don't have to describe.You know all about it.Recurrent corneal erosions continued at varying intervals.I started using refresh liquigel at night and after waking up every time.I was free of symptoms for about one and a half years and i thought i was healed completely and stopped using the drops.Again it was ok for few more months. but i had 2 episodes recently when i had to sleep at an unfamiliar place.
I have found that to prevent erosions,some tricks are really more helpful.1.After putting the drops in the eye,I have learned to keep my eye tightly closed(not too tightly though) and keep it like that till I fall asleep.
2.On waking up ,do not open the eyes. Immediately start washing the eye with water gently.Repeatedly apply water to the eyes.After sometime we find the eye opening easily.After that it is ok.If i go back to sleep I put the drops again. I hope it helps someone.Prayers for all of you. Bye.