Is Lacrisert Good for Dry Eye?
March 11, 2009
A Lacrisert rep came to the office today. He stated that the Lacrisert gets great results- much more dry eye relief than taking drops four or five times a day. And many of my patients complain bitterly of taking drops so often, and many of them simply don’t respond to Retsasis. I am not sure if my patients will like the idea of inserting this thing into their conjunctival fornix, but I am willing to try. I wonder what others have found?
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76 Responses to “Is Lacrisert Good for Dry Eye?”
I just started using Lacrisert August 28, 2013. Today is September 4, 2013. So far. Lacrisert has really helped. The problem I have with Lacrisert is that after about 4 hours, I feel the blob of goo in my eyes. One 2.5 mg pellet is way too large for one eye since it swells so large that it migrates out of the socket where I have to remove them. I cut them in half with a very sharp craft tool blade I bought. Even that blob swells & I can only get 4-5 hours of wear before I feel it rubbing against my eyeball. I’m still learning the best way to insert Lacriset since I think the problem may be that I’m not able to insert Lacrisert deeply enough into the pocket. I’ll try the pinching skin technique described because just pulling down on my lower lid doesn’t allow it to get deeply placed into the pocket. So, today was the first day that I DID NOT USE Lacriset in the morning. I could tell a big difference not using it. My eyes were so dry, burning & eyelid dragging across my eyeball with each blink. I usually have been placing 1/2 Lacrisert each eye around 8:00 AM, by noon, I have to remove the goo blob, insert the another 1/2 dose. I wasn’t able to get the Lacrisert in today until 4:00 PM. It’s 6:00 PM now & my eyes feel so much better. ASK YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT LACRISERT, it is the only thing that has given me relief. Even if only 4 hours maximum relief at a time, it has made the biggest difference. WAY TOO EXPENSIVE especially since Lacrisert has been around over 20+ years! I wish Lacriset was made in 1/2 size doses. I feel that with practice, Lacrisert will help me get my life back. I think all of us with any positive results should write to the Lacrisert company to update size dosages & ask why it costs so much! I’ll write after a few more weeks to see if learning better insertion allows Lacriset to stay put in my eyes & give me more than 4 hours relief before I have to remove them due to discomfort. I really need more advice on different insertion tips. P.S. My pharmacy had to special order Lacrisert.
Been using lacrisert for 2 years along with rastasis. I find I only need lacrisert while sleeping – enough to make my dry eye non existant as long as I use rastasis twice a day. This is an expensive drug that I am throwing away every morning. because they feel so sticky. So – how do you CUT them in half or can the drug manufacturer cut the dosage in half – which makes more sense – but, of course, they will not make as much money. Please, anyone who is cutting theirs in half successfully, please clue us in because I don’t seem to be the only one who does not need it for 24 hours. It is a great product. Thank you.
I was optimistic about this product but find that I can’t get to drop from the applicator. I wrote to Valeant Customer Service but they offered no help at all. I would advise everyone to not waste money on this product.
Hello, could you tell me if it is possible to buy Lacriserts in the UK or Spain?
If so, how much do they cost?
Many thanks,
Brian
I don’t know why doctors don’t at least mention if not recommend Lacrisert for dry eye patients. I discovered it myself through blogs like this after months of expensive trials of other therapies that did not work. Some made my eyes worse. Lacrisert works for me and has allowed my eyes to heal and allowed me to work full days and cope.
I’ve been using Lacriserts for 5 weeks. I have and still use punctal plugs, Restasis 2x/day, ointment at night, Azacite at night. After putting in my first Lacrisert there was an immediate relief of the pain. It takes time to figure out what works best for you and there are good suggestions on this list. Complaints of blurriness and foreign body sensation seem to depend on the environment and how well they are positioned (I have a habit of rubbing my eyes and popping them loose). At the end of the day they seem to break up and I clear the foreign body feeling by using a few drops of liquid tears. I travel a lot and work in different environments. Occasionally my nose runs and I have excess moisture, which my doctor says are signs that they work. Some days are drier and I add the occasional liquid tears but never every hour like I used to have to do.
I wanted to share this experience. I have been using Lacrisert for about 2 months with no problems. About a week ago I inserted a lacrisert about 8:00 p.m. before taking a friend to the airport. On the way home from the airport, I was getting a great deal of pain in my eye. There was no place to readily pull over so I kept going until I got home. When I looked in the mirror my eye was blood shot covering the complete outside white area of my eye. I could not find the lacriset that I had inserted just an hour earlier. It ended up in the outside corner of my upper eyelid . It was a little difficult getting it out. The doctor said he had never heard of that happening. Just giving you a heads up. It took a week for my eye to calm down.
lacrisert is for dry eye, not rhinitis. sounds like he needs an antihistamine
All the users of Lacrisert seem to suffer from extremely dry eyes or no tears. It’s been suggested that my husband try this product except his problem is constant watery eyes and nose. Does anyone know if Lacrisert will help getting rid of this constant nasel drip and watery eyes? His diagnosis or condition is rhinitis. Any suggestions would be appreciated. He uses drops and gels three times a day but still goes through 2 – 3 hankercheifs a day.
Thanks for any help.
I had lasik surgery when I was 50 years old and it has been one of the worst decisions I have ever made. Within 6 weeks my eyes were unbearably dry, irritated,scratchy, red, and very unattractive. It actually changed my whole life style. I could no longer be around any type of air circulation. Which includes but not limited to fans ,automobiles, malls, stores, outside,inside, and just any and everything or place that the air circulates. I literally have to shield my eyes with either my hands or glasses. Of course that drove my family and friends crazy b/c they could not understand the severity of my complaint. My Ophthalmologist worked diligently with me for 7 years. Prescribing everything he could think of. I was one step from having my blood analyzed to make an eye serum. I was researching options to dry eye continually until I ran across the site for Lacrisert. I researched further and brought the option to my Doctor. He said he had used them in the past with little success. He said too many seemed allergic to the inserts and they are extremely expensive. I asked if I could maybe give them a try b/c I had nothing to lose. He orderd me some samples to see if they would work. I tried and they seemed to help. They did however make my eyes red so I decided to put the inserts in at night, b/c nighttime is when I also have problems.
I started out using 1/2 capsule in each eye. I have since moved on to a whole one in each eye nightly. They have worked out so wonderfully for me that I contest that I will never be without Lacriserts. They have become a god send for me. I still use eye drops occasionally throughout the day but nothing like I was. I am also able to withstand ‘more air circulation’ than before and the redness is nothing like it was. I thank Lacrisert for this invention and only hope is continues to improve…. I am however very disappointed in the cost!!! Without help from my insurance I could NEVER be able to afford these. So I am begging Lacrisert to research and make the inserts more affordable to more patients. But I will defiantly be an advocate for the product. thanks…….
Removing Lacrisert is very easy! Just rub the ‘bags’ under your eyes and they easily pop out. On that note, youmust be careful whnever rubbing your eveys that the they do not pop out. You most likely would not even feel it.
not familiar with accutane causing severe dry eye. i think you should other things ruled out, depending on your age and other symptoms. do you have dry mouth? any arthritis? thyroid symptoms? do you take antihistamines/birth control? i was not aware lacrisert is coming off market- i suggest you contact the company.
Hi. I just got prescribed this last week. I have had dry eyes ever since taking Accutane. I never had a problem in fact was very lubed in my eyes prior. I curse it daily. Now I have red, dry, ugly eyes:( ANYWAY…I’m very concerned. I went to fill my script for this medicine after trying the trial box for a couple of days. I hate putting them in and have a hard time getting them to drop off of the applicator. I feel like my eye might be being scratched in the process, but worse yet, they told me this is being TAKEN OFF THE MARKET! I finally find something that helps after restasis and plugs that did nothing, and no pharmacy had the, for me to fill. I had to travel a county away to get their last box. That is it. I have 60, well 58, and then what? Are you telling me it’s been around for 25+ years..I come around and now this product is no longer? WHAT IS LEFT? I’m a young mother with twin toddlers, and 2 other children. I would rather die then live in this hell forever. I have other problems to. Does anybody else know what is going on with the Lacriset company? I can find nothing online, but in NY here this is what I was told, though my doc. was clueless.
I have only been using Lacrisert for two days. It appears to help my right eye but not my left. My left eye remains bone dry. Therefore, I have to continue using eye drops as much as I have been prior to using the Lacrisert. I called the customer service number, but they were no help to me whatsoever. Any advice, help, suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
I have been using Lacrisert for several years now, and it is really the only product that helps me through te day without red, painful eyes. Unfortunately, the product can not be delivered to any Dutch pharmacy anymore. I have a huge problem now, as there is no alternative product available.
I have been using Lacrisert for several years now. At first it was very difficult to insert the pellets into my eyes. My eyes are very small and the lower pockets are not very deep. That said, if you follow the directions exactly it makes it easier to insert the pellets. After the pellet is inserted the trick is to LOOK DOWN while keeping your lower lid pulled away from the eye. Then release the lower lid while still looking down. This should drop the pellet into the lower lid for you.
I stumbled across Lacrisert on the Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation website yesterday. Sjogren’s is an autoimmune disease, and two of the hallmark symptoms are dry eyes and mouth. I have had punctal occlusions since 2000 when I had Lasik surgery performed as my eyes became very dry. They were very helpful for several years, but in the meantime I’ve finally been diagnosed with Sjogren’s. I also tried Restatis after Lasik but the drops burned my eyes.
Lacrisert is a product mentioned on the Sjogren’s website as a treatment for dry eyes. I happened to take my daughter for her annual eye check up today, and spoke with her doctor about this product. He had heard but didn’t know much about it. He promised to call me on Monday after doing some research this weekend. We’ll see where this goes. I believe I would get more relief from Lacrisert than having the punctal occlusions inserted, although I understand you can have four, not just two, inserted. If those worked, it would be much less of a hassle, except that it is difficult to tell if/when they fall out.
Thanks for all your comments as it is very helpful as I do my research.
LDF
Lacrisert is much more effective than I had expected. I have been using Lacrisert for one week as a sample from my optometrist. Because my right eye is much dryer than my left, I have been using it only in the right for comparison. I would have judged it a resounding success if it had simply given me the comfort of my good eye. The right eye now feels better than the left. Thanks to all for practical comments about how to manage using Lacrisert. Now that I know how much a script will cost, I will stick to the right eye only and see whether I can get by with half an insert. It’s too bad that the drug company is so backwards about marketing a very effective product. If they sold more, profits would go up and the price could come down so they could sell even more. They could hire the people who comment on this board as sales reps.
Lacrisert has also become a lifesaver for me. I am at a computer all day and do find by mid-day I get quite a headache from the blurred vision. But, I still prefer that over dry burning eyes. I have a triple whammy.. I had LASIK 9 years ago, was on accutane in my early 30’s , and now in mid-40’s appear to have developed Sjogren’s syndrome. Restasis and plugs didn’t seem to help although I continue with them. I get frequent blepharitis from the dryness. I have at times become so despondent over this condition I have wondered if life is worth living. My tear break up time at last check was 1.5 seconds (normal is 8 seconds). I don’t know what I would do without Lacrisert. It seems they would be very difficult to cut in half but I’m going to try! I wonder if a razor blade wouldn’t work better than a scissors? They don’t seem to do anything for me at night. To me it seems the act of blinking is what keeps them activated I seem to wake up with the same amount of dryness whether I use them or not. However , I only get about 6 hours out of them most days and then they get dry or sticky so sometimes have to use another pair the later part of the day. I am so thankful for this product.
After trying every eye drop on the market and Restasis for over a year with no relief i have been using lacrisert for the last 2 weeks with no issues. So far so good. It took me two days to really figure out how to put these into my eyes without them popping out. The trick is to Pull the lower lid “away” (towards the front of your face) by pinching the skin under your eye and pulling the skin forward thereby creating a deep pocket. When i followed the instruction in the lacrisert box, they say to pull down the skin and create a pocket, but this didnt work since the pocket wasnt deep enough. Now they go in super quick! The other trick is to put an OTC eye drop in your eye AFTER the lacrisert has been inserted. I find the extra liquid from the drop places the lacrisert in the right position, and takes away that foreign object feeling some may get.
I agree with the older posts…. doctors do not even offer this as a treatment to their patients which is a shame!!!!. I went to many eye doctors in manhattan and none offered lacrisert as a treatment for my dry eye. My last doctor put in punctal plugs which came out a few weeks after being inserted, and then gave me Restasis which didnt work. I only found out about lacrisert after reading about it on a dry eye website. Then i asked my doctor about it. She told me that her other patients who have tried it dont like it because of the foreign body feeling which is why she didn’t mention it to me. I was annoyed. Nonetheless, she wrote me a prescription for it, and told me to call her to let her know how its going. I plan on calling her in a few weeks to tell her she was wrong… and that she should offer this to anyone who comes in with dry eye problems!!
Its sad that my eye doctor didnt even have a sample of lacrisert in her office to give me or show me how to use!!! I figured it out myself.
The company who owns lacrisert REALLY NEEDS TO ADVERTISE THIS PRODUCT MORE!! I have since told my friends with dry eye about this product and none have heard of it. Dont they want to stay in business??? I don’t get it?
