snelsen
I would explore steroid eye drops very carefully. Generally, the time period of use is limited to two weeks. My son is a physician,and he is very reluctant and judicious about prescribing them. There are some very serious side effects from prolonged use. Increased ocular pressure and cataracts, to name the most concerning ones. (and they also work very well, which makes it a slippery slope for those of us who have red, bulging, irritated and uncomfortable eyes.)
Here’a short discussion to consider:
Elliot Myrowitz, M.D., Assistant Professor of Optometry, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medical School
Question:
‘What are steroid eyedrops, how do they work and what are the risks/benefits of using them?”
Answer:” The steroid eye drops are interesting because we talked about inflammation being one of the components in dry eye syndrome. The gold standard in how they control inflammation in the eye are steroid eye drops. So you would think that we would use those quite a bit.
However, there are side effects from steroid eye drops and so they have to be used very carefully and on a short term basis. They do a great job of removing the inflammation and for short term help dry eye quite a bit. But it’s really weeks and months at the most. If you go longer, the side effects include causing the pressure of the eye to go up, which can cause glaucoma damage. And it has a cumulative effect so over a period of months it can even cause cataracts. So your eye doctors may use this but only for a short period of time to get things under control and then find a treatment plan that stabilizes things and manages it long term.”
Shirley
With TED, very unfortunately, there is a lot about TED in the active phase,that is just “riding it out.” You will hear the usual palliative things,and there is not much else to do. Preservative free eye drops, sun glasses, visor if there is sun glare. I found hot wash clothes more soothing than cold. Anything cold hurt my eyes. Hot/warm wash clothes gave temporary relief for 2-5 minutes, and at that stage, I’d take anything.
I have found that people don’t notice my eyes as much when I wear glasses especially glasses that seem interesting and distinctive. (and that are large enough to accomodate my prisms and other corrections.) I hate TED.