Having trouble stopping tobradex or fluorometholone. Can someone help.

I am having trouble stopping tobradex or fluoromethalone. Tobradex was
originally prescribed for inflammation after an incident of my
recurrent corneal erosion that was not going away. My doctor tried to
wean me off and also switched me from tobradex to fluorometholone. I
am down to 1 drop every two days but I can't seem to go much longer.
After two days without it my eye bothers me almost to the point that I
feel like it can cause another erosion. Can someone help me understand
what is going on with my eye and how can I get off of this medecine
now that it has done it's job. Thanks so much...

 

1) You are likely using TWO ophthalmic drugs that are BOTH preserved
with benzalkonium chloride (BAK)--a preservative KNOWN to be toxic to
corneas. I would recommend that you stop using them until you talk
with your eye doctor. You may need a few weeks recovery time FROM the
BAK;

2) You may want to consider a trial of the over-the-counter drug Muro
128 -- the OINTMENT -- for a week or two.

http://www.drugs.com/cdi/muro-128-solution.html

I'm not a doctor, so you may want to run these comments by YOUR
doctor.

Good luck!

 

Gee, for not a doctor, you're pretty quick yourself to dispense advice.

 

actually, his advise is pretty reasonable. Muro 128 is a common
treatment for this problem. BAK is rough on the cornea and could
possibly exacerbate corneal erosions.

whats more interesting to me is that you are using steroid
preparations for corneal erosions to begin with. corneal erosions are
caused by slow, incomplete healing of the epithelium so that it is
inadvertently pulled away from the cornea by adherence to the lids
before it is well "stuck-down". steroids slow the healing process so
would seem to be contraindicated if this were the real problem. could
it be that you have a punctate keratitis that is slow to heal, or
punctate erosions that are slow to heal? did your episode with
corneal erosions begin with a corneal injury that is not completely
healing or did it begin with a red, irritated eye not caused by
traumatic injury?

sometimes red irritated eyes are caused by inflammatory conditions
that DO respond well to steroids and then recur when you try to
withdraw them. i suspect that is your situation. whether it is that,
or recurrent corneal erosions, it really just a terminology issue.

I have a few suggestions if the problem is true recurrent corneal
erosion. first try using heavy lubrication. that amounts to using
thick artificial tears often throughout the day and then using a gel
or ointment based lubricant at night before going to sleep. using
salt-water based lubricants in the day and an ointment at night
(=Muro128) can be very effective. i would have to include that you
discontinue steroid use-- again, it slows healing and is working
against you IF you really have recurrent erosions. secondly, if this
problem persists, using a bandage contact lens allows the epithelium
to form across the eye and become firmly attached while protecting it
from the shearing effect of lids moving over it. after about a week I
would remove the contact and then continue with heavy lubrication. if
that doesn't work then it is possible to slightly puncture the
epithelium down into the stroma in a grid configuration thereby
inducing a small amount of controlled scarring the binds the
epithelium quite well.

firstly, check whether you really have recurrent corneal erosions or
punctate epithelial erosions/keratitis that is difficult to wean from
steroid treatment.

 

and for a guy who doesn't like retorts that don't address the
underlying argument, you're pretty quick to throw one out yourself.

Darling Davie: you have a problem with either my disclaimer or my
particular advice?

 

One who is so quick to castigate others for giving possibly dangerous
medical advice shouldn't be recommending that someone stop using a
prescribed medication before discussing it with the doctor. Your
disclaimer was fine, it was the advice that seem hypocritical...

 

seem hypocritical

Damn it, he's already figured me out...

Hopefully my girlfriend Brainy will help me out of this (rather
sticky) situation.

*Fingers crossed*

 

seem hypocritical

Damn it, he's already figured me out...

Better belch out another "wittty" ad-hominem slashing -- about all
that I'm capable of it seems.

 

seem hypocritical

Damn it, this one could be dangerous. Better belch out another "witty"
ad-hominem attack - or as a backup plan, one of my camp chum-buds
could suck up to me in a variety of ways. Anything is better than yet
another exposing of yet another of my hypocrisies - surely!!?

 

seem hypocritical

Damn It - This one could be dangerous. Better belch out another
"witty" ad-hominem attack - and hopefully one of my chum-buds will
suck up to me (in a variety of ways). Anything is better than yet
another exposing of yet another of my hypocrisies - surely!!?

 

Aw, Dave.

Care to explain the risks that I posed, and the basis for your
assertion that I've posed them?
,
The OP IS under doctor's care. He's being monitored. I recommended
that he talk with his doctor about this.

The information that I gave is both scientifically AND medically
supported. I happen to know a great deal about BAK--likely more than
the vast majority of eye doctors, sadly.

Having YOU hump MY posts is going to be lovely fun.

 

And again ... for our little British cretin friend ...

Go back through my years of posts and find me one example of advice
that I gave that led to harm.

When I have no knowledge, I don't give advice.

When I do give advice, I always disclaim so that people know that they
should appropriately weight MY advice and discuss MY ideas WITH their
doctor.

The two of you have developed quite the little cottage industry, eh?

 

'Oo - ME? A hypocrite? NEVER.

 

Maybe you should go back to your 12 year old brother ... in whatever
horrid sense that may imply.

 

I take muro nightly that is a treatment for my recurring erosion.
Normally my erosions heal after one day of eye rest but about 4 months
ago it was not healing. It was very inflammed and that is why my
doctor had to prescribe the eye drops.

It was a corneal errosion that was not healing that got very
inflammed.

My issue right now is that I can't get off of the drops. My eyes
seemed to have developed some kind of dependency on them. That was the
reason for my initial post.

Thanks!!

 

maybe you can ask you eye doc about a "bandage" contact lens for
overnight wear (oasys, night&day).
they can sometimes be helpful in treating erosion, along with other
therapy (lubrication).