L

I am a 39 year old living in North Bay. I am married with two small children. I had LASIK eye surgery in 2017. Shortly after the procedure my eyes were in extreme burning pain; it was agony. Fortunately, that subsided and I was left with extremely dry eyes. Everything I was told and read said that dry eyes were normal and would improve. My optometrist only recommended lubricating drops.

My eyes continued to deteriorate while I was waiting for them to improve. I didn't know about meibomian gland dysfunction, and that my glands were deteriorating. I had no idea what cornea neuralgia was, or that my eye dryness could go from bad to extreme and constant pain, day and night. When I was finally able to get some answers, mainly through an online support group, I was able to try to help myself.

The past two years of my life have been by far the hardest I have been through. The anxiety of thinking this constant pain would never get better, or could get worse, made me contemplate how I could live my life, and be here for my children and husband. The anxiety impacted my health in several other ways; I very quickly lost 20lbs, and had my eye pain not slowly started to improve I think I would have continued to fade away. I had earned a Masters degree, and had worked at my current job for 12 years when, in tears, I had to tell my boss that I could no longer work; my eyes were constantly burning and looking at a screen made them significantly worse.

I have also been unable to drive beyond my small city. I am unable to do most things because leaving my home causes me more pain. I spend the majority of my days laying down, keeping my eyes closed to try to get relief. The quality of life I enjoyed prior to this is over. I just try to do the best I can for my kids and my husband - I just live for them now. I try to cook for them, to spend time with them, to show up to their sports, to read with them, but it's all very hard. I try to believe that my condition is slowly getting better and I can hopefully get back to how I was, or close to that. 

Since OHIP does not cover Cornea Neuralgia or Meibomian Gland Dysfunction treatments, I have spent over $17,500 on doctor's visits, scans, eye drops, prescription autologous serum (blood) drops, treatments and procedures (including: Intense Pulsed Light, iLux, Lipiflow, Radio Frequency, and Meibomian Gland Probing). I am incredibly fortunate to have a wonderful husband who will take off work and drive me between 2-6 hours (one-way) to each of my appointments for treatment and medication, as nothing is available closer. I am also fortunate to be able to pay for these expenses. These treatments are not 'nice to haves', which is the feeling I get when I'm told they are not covered by OHIP. These treatments are absolutely required if you want any shot at getting better, any shot at living your life again.

I was never warned that my LASIK procedure could result in cornea neuralgia, meibomian gland dysfunction, and diminished function/deterioration of my lacrimal glands, leaving me in constant pain. That's been hard to accept, but to know that OHIP doesn't cover any of these treatments makes it that much harder, and sadder. I feel left behind, as if my diagnosis and pain don’t matter. I hope that can change, for myself and all of the people I have met who deal with this horrible disease.