My eyes have been feeling so much better, until this past week. My eyes started to feel dry again. It turns out women’s hormones can greatly affect the eyes and cause dry eye, or re-occurrence of dry eye, especially if you have had Lasik.
If you type in “dry eyes”, “Lasik”, and “monthly cycle” into a search engine you will get several links that mention other women with the same issue and links that discuss women’s hormones and dry eye in general.
On one particular forum, at DryEyeZone, I came across a post that mentioned this study: Dry eyes and estrogen levels.
During a study done in Bologna, Italy, researchers discovered that the “ocular surface [of the eye] is confirmed to be an estrogen-dependent unit.” The study confirmed this:
“Subjective symptoms, tear production and stability, surface dryness and inflammation were significantly related to hormonal fluctuations in the menstrual cycle. In particular, the impairment of these functions appeared to be related to the estrogen peak occurring during the follicular phase, especially in patients with dry eye.”
Now, I did not have dry eye before Lasik, so this is news to me. I know my eyes are still healing, as the doctor said it could take up to three months for the water ducts to heal. However, it would be nice if Lasik doctors were up front on issues such as this. They must be aware of it.
At Women to Women, there is a post that discusses how dry eye can occur with menopause and peri-menopause. They state there are two main reasons women get dry eyes during hormonal changes.
“There are two reasons that dry eyes develop: (1) not enough oil production by the meibomian glands (in the inner eyelids) or (2) excessive evaporation of the tears.”
I do take Fish Oil, but I guess I’ll need to look into a product that is more encompassing. If I find something I will post it. If you know of a product that works, I’d love to hear about it under Comments!
Oh what you are not told when you go to have Lasik done. *sigh* Thankfully, the symptoms should calm down after the cycle is over. All I can hope is that as my eyes heal more the dry eye during the cycle will also fade away.
Daily Observations
- Dry eyes as if I just had Lasik.
- Using eye drops at the pace I did during first few weeks after Lasik.
- Sun and indoor light bothersome due to dry eyes.
- Current Lasik total cost: Visits + Products = $4161.00
Post-Lasik: Day 30 (One Month After Follow-Up Visit w/ Doctor Q and A)