captpackrat | A new option

Went in for my appointment with the opthamologist today. He told me about the treatment options, which I'd heard before, and which really weren't too appealing. He could either abrade the surface of the eye with something resembling a Dremel so that there's a clean slate for the epethelial cells to grow (I've had this done in the past, ouch!), or they could take a needle and punch hundreds of tiny holes in the surface to allow the cells to adhere better (OUCH!), or they could use a laser to do the same thing as the needle (painful to the wallet). Then he mentioned there was a new drug therapy that was non-invasive, 90% effective in clinical trials, and downright cheap! Well, it's pretty obvious which one I'd choose.

Apparently this therapy is very new, none of the dozen or so eye doctors I'd gone to in the past ever mentioned anything about it. It's very simple, oral doxycycline for 2 months, combined with a topical steroid. The doxycycline apparently inhibits the formation of matrix metalloproteinases, proteins that can prevent the successful adhesion of epethelial cells. The steroids help accelerate the healing process.

The doctor also gave me pain relieving drops, the first eye doctor out of a dozen or so to bother with such a thing.