North Carolina
Hendersonville
“Using a testosterone compound saved my vision”
I started experiencing gritty feeling dry eyes in the late 1980’s. My ophthalmologist said I was starting to develop sores on my eyes from the friction, and he prescribed allergy eyedrops. The gritty, dry feeling continued to get worse over time causing my eyedrop usage to increase from multiple times a day to multiple times an hour. My ophthalmologist then prescribed eyedrops for dry eyes. Those drops did not provide any additional relief.
By the late 1990s I would have to flood my eyes with water in the morning to allow me to open them.
I found reading and doing computer work very difficult. I was constantly squinting, rubbing my eyes, and using eyedrops. It very negatively impacted my quality of life, made working difficult, and day-to-day activities miserable.
By 2004, I was using eyedrops every 15 minutes and would get up multiple times during the night due to the intense burning sensation in my eyes. My eyes were so dry that my eyelids were sticking to my eyeballs. I had to flood my eyes with water so I could open them enough to get eyedrops in. I would do this three or four times a night because the burning would wake me up.
I was finally able to get into the Duke Eye Clinic in early 2005. I worked with their dry eye specialist, Dr. William Rafferty, the head of the center. We started with traditional treatments; Restasis, eye gels and Tear duct plugs. None of those treatments provided any relief.
At that time he was doing work with a few other ophthalmologist researching dry eye and possible treatments utilizing hormone therapy. He did a complete hormone study on me, and determined my testosterone levels were very low and out of proportion to my other hormones. He prescribed a 1 mg/1ML testosterone cream to be applied topically on my body (not in my eyes) at a rate of 1/2ml per day.
Within three days of starting this treatment my eyedrop usage dropped to twice a day. I no longer had to flood my eyes to open them in the morning. The feeling of grittiness was gone.
I have been using this testosterone cream for 17 years and it is as effective today as it was in 2005. For me, this was a miracle treatment. My quality of life improved exponentially, since I was no longer miserable putting up with burning, gritty eyes and getting up multiple times a night to use drops.
I have no idea what I would do if I could no longer get my testosterone compound. I am sure I would develop ulcers on my eyes and lose my vision.
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