$400 eye drops!!??

What the heck is IN them for that price?  Liquid GOLD?

What the heck?

WITH my insurance, the price to me was $50.00!  I had total sticker shock when I went to pick them up.  I don't think I blinked for two minutes.  I was in total disbelief.

The worst part is my eye doctor examined me yesterday and couldn't find much wrong with the eye I've been complaining about that has pain and blurry vision.  She prescribed an eye drop to help with dry eyes and she said I've got mild clogging of an oil gland that's causing that filmy feeling.

But otherwise, my eyes themselves look healthy.

So......

I asked the pharmacist what the price is without insurance.  $400.00+!!  For eye drops?  Really?  I mean,...really?

Really?

M.

PS:  Excuse me while I go back and pick my jaw up off the floor at the counter of the pharmacy.....

Merrida my eyes been doing the same thing?? I woke up and it felt kind of sore, a little puffy and was blurry like I had a film over it. Strange as it makes no sense. It finally went away and a month later did it again? Eye Dr says he doesn't see anything wrong, well something is?

Didn't give me no $400 eye drop so let me know how that works out for you Lol

You could probably get a prosthetic eye for less then the drop.

Whoa! Do the drops come with free glasses, a box of contacts and a person who will read for you when your eyes get sore?

What a blessing insurance is!

My sister-in-law has several serious eye conditions (RP and glaucoma) and her drops run about $600 a month! I had a small cyst removed on the inside of my upper eye lid and the doctor prescribed drops and an ointment, and both cost me $280 (and that was with insurance)!

My mom had terrible problems with dry eyes and her eye dr had her buy this stuff called Artificial Tears and they were packaged individually. I was told that I have dry eyes by my eye dr. I told him I would try some of my mom's stuff & if it worked I would buy some. It works good. Some mornings my eyes will feel like there is a film over them. I also get horrible ulcers in the upper & lower lids when my crohns is flaring.

I had heard some of those drops can get pricey....Susie

Maybe before getting a refill on the script try something like Artificial Tears, my mom's eye dr approved those for her. She did not have script card so she told the dr she needed something OT.

Susie

Merrida, when I picked up the two scripts my eye doctor prescribed, I too couldn't believe how tiny the eye drop bottle and tube of ointment were...enough to last 7 days plus a little extra on the drops because, like you, I wound up "wearing" some under my eyes and down my cheek!

It is rather disgusting to see how much prescription meds, especially stuff for the eyes, costs! I knew I was in trouble when I went to the CVS, handed the person my 2 prescriptions, and she said to me "has anyone discussed the cost of these with you." I looked at her (inwardly groaning) and said "be gentle with me, please." She smiled and told me that the darn things would cost. But, they worked and they helped my eye heal so, in the end, that's what matters (at least that's what I kept telling myself each time I held that tiny bottle or tube in my fingers!).

Chart how does Visine damage the eyes? The reason I am asking is my brother had to have a lens implant, he had been blind in the eye since he was a small boy. The dr was aware he used Visine & never told him to stop. Would love to know about this....Susie

Hi Merrida:

Yep, prescription eye drops are big time expensive. I too, suffer from severe dry eyes and I'm on Restasis like Char is. I also use Refresh Celluvisc to help with my dry eyes. I also put in a prescribed ointment at bedtime. I develop ulcers on my cornea and they cause severe pain and misery. Having these medications help prevent them.

I also suffer with the clogged oil ducts on the lids. I was told that the best thing to do was to put warm compresses on the eyes for 10 minutes and then lightly massage the eye lid from the inside corner of the eye to the outer edge of the eye. When you do that it pushes the oil out of the clogged gland. My eye Dr told me this is a condition that I would never get rid of and this would be something I would have to do the rest of my life.

If you can not get the glands to unclog, the Dr can massage them and push out the oil too. I do it myself as it's not worth me driving 20 miles one way, and sitting in the Dr's office for who knows how long every week. I hope if you decide to give this a try it helps you a lot.

I'm sorry to hear that you have an ulcer up under your eyelid. I'm certain that's got to be so very painful I hope you're able to get rid of it soon. I forgot to mention that even tho your eye has an oily film on it, it can be very dry. My eyes water and tear so badly that they run all the time. It's been explained to me that my eyeball is so dry that the tears will not adhere to the eye. Instead they just run out like I'm crying all the time.

I hope your eyes begin to feel better really and I hope that you won't be needing anymore $400+ eye drops. Hang in there and good luck with them.

Hugs,
Barbara

I haven't had success with the night time ointment.  I use/d it extremely sparingly (it's a steroid) but just couldn't get past a few nights' use.

A previous doc, a year ago, prescribed an eye drop, (chromium sodium something or other,...I cannot read the label), and it felt great and worked great.

Now up here in NH as I'm getting into new doctors,...my new doc said that "chromium" eye drop is "okay" but far from her first choice....not even in the top three.

I used it for the first time yesterday (I forgot the day before) and I found it made my vision blurrier (even throughout the day, not just at the time of application).  And today, I haven't even used it yet, and my right eye won't stop tearing up.  It looks like I'm crying from half my face!

So,....dry eye?  I don't get it.

She told me the same thing about warm compresses (which I do anyway, I always did, as if it was instinct), and the gentle pressure keeping my lid closed feels good.  As soon as I start to blink the pain grows and grows.

She told me to massage my eyelids with Baby Shampoo every day for a full 60 seconds and rinse thoroughly.  I also started that yesterday as well.

With all this tearing, I feel reluctant to keep using those drops,...but I know I have to, at least to know I've given them a fair trial.  Like other things, it may get worse before it gets better.

M.

Oh, I'm not mixing these together!  I'm sorry if it sounded that way!

One year ago, my eye doctor prescribed those chromium drops and they worked great.  I've long since run out.

In May, a different doctor saw me and prescribed the steroid ointment at night, but I could only use it for a short while.  I did not like the effects.  I stopped that entirely.

On Tuesday I saw my new eye doctor, up here in NH where we just moved to.  At the time of my visit with her, I had not been using anything in my eyes since those few days of steroid ointment in May.

Starting yesterday, I began these new eye drops, (the incredibly expensive ones!) that my new doctor prescribed.  Those are the only drops, the only medication at all, that I'm putting in my eye.

Does that make sense?  Sorry if my post sounded confusing!

M.

This is actually exactly what I told the doctor I wanted to do!  Exactly!

To me, subjectively, I can feel this combination "seed" growing under the eye lid (that changes size and density) and this oil slick feeling....this creates a friction on my cornea, and I find myself always manually using my finger to lift my lid off of my eye ball.  (Can't really say that's too practical).

So it occurred to me, if I wore contacts, they would create a barrier between the irritation and my eye, and by giving my eye a break, maybe things would calm down!

I'm going to try this again....because that makes so much sense.  She didn't agree to it because at that time of my visit, she couldn't detect the bumps I was complaining of.  Aarghh.  (Even though 2 eye doctors previously have noted them).

Good idea!  Thank you!  I'll let you know how it goes.  That sounds a lot simpler.  I miss my chromium eye drops.  These new (outlandishly expensive) drops seem to just make my vision worse.  The chromium ones provided immediate pain relief and improved my vision.

Well bugger that, eh?

M.

Wow, I had never heard that about Visine! I've been using it for years and have never had a problem - actually almost everyone in my family uses it. I wonder if it's that some people are just more prone to problems with it than others, for some reason.