Resources
Patients
Support Groups
Join our OSD support community on WhatsApp!
Canaidan Ocular Surface Disease Support Community - Connect with other OSD patients in your community. This is a space for emotional support, local doctor recommendations, and organizing in-person support group meetups.
Click the link above to request to join. You must have the WhatsApp application installed on your phone first.
Facebook Groups
Neuropathic Corneal Pain and Corneal Neuralgia Patients - Facebook Group: Global
Caring for Corneas: Corneal Neuralgia and Dry Eye Disease in Canada - Facebook Group: Canada - *NEW*
Dry Eye Syndrome Support Community - Facebook Group: Global
DryEyeTalk - Patients Only - Facebook Group: Global
Dry Eye, Blepharitis, MGD, Corneal Neuralgia - Facebook Group: Global
Information
Beyond Dry Eye - Facebook page
Mental Health Support
People with ocular surface diseases frequently suffer from severe depression and anxiety1. Taking care of your mental health is an important part of coping with and healing from any chronic disease.
Meditation and mindfulness are recommended as adjunct therapies in treating eye pain and comorbid depression and anxiety3. Therapy is also an effective treatment for depression and anxiety resulting from chronic pain, and can improve the physical sensations of pain2. Click here to find a therapist.
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call the 24-hour Canada Suicide Prevention Service at 1-833-456-4566 (24/7). For residents of Québec, call 1 866 APPELLE (1.866.277.3553).
Medical Care for OSDs
If you have been unable to find a doctor willing or able to treat your ocular surface disease (suspected or diagnosed), we can help. Join one of the support groups listed above, and ask for doctor recommendations in your area. If you do not have Facebook or do not know how to join the group, please email us at contact@caringforcorneas.ca and we will be happy to ask the corneal neuropathic pain community on your behalf.
Doctors
Information
Neuropathic Corneal Pain: Approaches for Management. - Open access peer-reviewed journal article by Dr. Dieckmann, Dr. Goyal, and Dr. Hamrah.
List of peer-reviewed journal articles on Neuropathic Corneal Pain - Google Scholar
Add your name to our list of NCP doctors!
Caring for Corneas is creating a list of eye care providers across Canada who are knowledgeable about neuropathic corneal pain so that patients can more easily find a doctor who is able to treat them. If you are an ophthalmologist and would like your name to be added to this list, please contact us.
REFERENCES
1 Crane, A. M., Levitt, R. C., Felix, E. R., et al. (2017). Patients with more severe symptoms of neuropathic ocular pain report more frequent and severe chronic overlapping pain conditions and psychiatric disease. Br J Ophthalmol, 101(2), 227-231
2 Majeed., M. H., Ali, A. A., Sudak, D. M. (2019). Psychotherapeutic interventions for chronic pain: Evidence, rationale, and advantages. Int J Psychiatry Med, 54(2), 140-149.
3 Dieckmann, G., Goyal, S., Hamrah, P. (2017). Neuropathic Corneal Pain: Approaches for Management. Ophthalmology, 124(11), S34-S47