I Didn’t Know Just How Uncomfortable My Eyes Were Until I Used These Drops

Every optometrist/opthamologist visit I get told I have dry eyes and I should use eye drops. I never feel like I have dry eyes, so I always ignore this advice. That is, until my rheumatologist brought it up.

Dry eyes are a symptom of rheumatoid arthritis, which I have, and I take a drug (Plaquenil) that requires me to get a retinal exam every year, and this is all to explain that my rheumatologist pays attention to my eyes. She brought up that the opthamologist said I have dry eyes at my latest check, and I explained that they always say that but my eyes feel totally normal and I don’t care enough to use eye drops. She said something like “Oh that’s interesting and odd, well maybe try some drops but if it’s not an issue don’t worry about it.”

Why was THIS the thing that got me to buy a bottle of Systane Ultra Lubricant Eye Drops??? Not the literal years of eye docs telling me to use them, but my rheumatologist being like, “Eh, do or don’t,” My brain is a mystery to me. Anyway, I got a bottle of drops and tried them and

Holy shit

IS THIS WHAT EYES ARE SUPPOSED TO FEEL LIKE?!

So apparently I have constant symptoms of dry eye but I just didn’t notice things could or should be any different. And now that I know how my eyes could feel, so much makes sense. Like, get this: I have astigmatism, so my contacts are weighted and need to sort of rock back and forth so the weight stays on the bottom. Sometimes it just.. doesn’t rock, and then my vision is blurry. Because my eyes are so dry the contacts CAN’T MOVE.

I bought a teeny tiny bottle of Systane Ultra Lubricant Eye Drops and kept it in my kitchen, and I’d give myself a few drops throughout the day. It made SUCH a huge difference, I now have multiple little bottles stashed around my house and in various bags. The bottle is so tiny and inexpensive, you can have actually comfortable eyes whenever, wherever.