Red 34:
I have been on and off on Restasis for about a year now. I tried OTC Refresh, etc.. drops but my eyes still felt uncomfortable. Some slight sensitivity to light developed, some floaters developed and it really bothered me. I went to 4 different opthamologists who all examined me and said the eyes are completely healthy just dry. The OTC drops helped but they haven't felt like they used. The good news is that they are in good shape. I believe the Refresh drops are exactly the composition of Restasis without the cyclosporine element. That's why it's a prescription. It has a slight immunosuppresive element. The way it works is you have to put two drops in your eyes one in the am and one in the pm. It can sting a little and clouds your vision with a little whiteness but it all goes away in minutes. Also you have to use it religiously for months or it won't work. That's where I was bad, I have only been good for the last 5 months and I believe it has helped. You have to understand I was really uncomfortable for a while. What bothered me the most was not knowing why all things were happening to me. I have come to find out that my UC was really out of whack from an immunological standpoint. For example my wbc was way up there, scary up there where the hem/onc docs wanted to put keep me on serious chemo drugs. Once Imuran kicked in my counts normalized but I noticed my eyes started bothereing once my counts really hit the high mark, wbc around 40k.
Overall I have gotten somewhat used to dry eyes. I am happy I am not going to lose my vision as my eye doctor told me. Some of my eye docs have told me they use it too and it can happen to anyone, UC or no UC. Just changing with my UC I guess. In the end I have had a positive experience with Restasis but I still carry a OTC Systane dropper bottle on me at all times for a little cool refresh here and there.
Hope this helps, if you have any other questions feel free. I am glad to be here.