Father Craig
I had lasik over three months ago. For the first week I could hardly get my eyes open and spent most of the time in bed. Then a friend (an OD) told me about punctal plugs. I went in to see my eye surgeon and he told me that they were a bad idea as they might come out and hurt my eye and further that his company didn't do general opthamology, just refractive surgery.

After several weeks of frustration and pain (headache, foreign body sensation) I had an OD put them in at some expense. They were temporary and disolved. A week later, I went in to the same company that did my surgery and complained. They put in more temporary plugs and said I was suffering from dry eyes.

After one month I went back and confonted my eye surgeon about the month of life I had lost. He put in permanent plugs as I was leaving on summer vacation. My trip driving from 4000 km from home to there was pure hell. I had to stop and see doctors three times and rest extra days at several stops because of severe raw sore eyes and eye strain type headaches. I could also not drive at night.

I am using TheraTears with some success, but each day about five o'clock, my left eye (which is still quite tender to the touch) dries out completely, then wells up with "reflex tears" which run down my face for ten or fifteen minutes, then becomes raw and sore and must be packed with ointment and closed for the night.

I see that on my pre-op screening, my tear break up time was 10+ seconds, which meant a normal tear film. My three month post -op screening (the last time they would see me) showed a t.b.u.t. of -2 seconds. Something about the surgery has not only effected the amount of tears I produce (I score less than one on the shearmer test), but the tear film quality (the amount of time a tear stays on the eye before breaking up) has changed dramatically.

Three months of this disability is making me very depressed. I can't go outside because of the breeze, to a store because of the air conditioning, can't read or use my computer for any length of time, and have become a prisoner of my basement where it is cool and damp.

My eye surgeon and his company won't even return my faxs or telephone calls now requesting help, and I don't know where to turn. My personal and professional life is being shattered.