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I have had recurrent corneal erosions in both eyes with phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) surgery to correct it, also in both eyes. My most recent PTK was in the right eye in July 2018.
In October, I took a 3 hour flight to a conference. Once I was there, I had a very large erosion to develop in my right eye which resulted in a trip to the ED where they placed a bandage contact lens and gave me an antibiotic and drops for pain. I also purchased a pair of goggles called TranquilEyes that allows you to apply moist heat to your eyes, and wore those on the flight home. My eye was so inflamed and the erosion was so large that I honestly could not tell if the goggles made a difference.
My eye doctor who is a corneal specialist tells me that there is no correlation between commercial airline travel and the subsequent development of an erosion. She said that is rare to have another erosion after you have had PTK.
My question for the board is this - if you have had problems with corneal erosion, have you had eye problems while flying and if so, how do you manage them?
Doctors deny things they don't know about. The dry and disgusting recirculated air in an airplane could likely cause your erosion. I would use whatever drops or ointments you would normally use and the goggles to protect your eyes on any future flights.
Lubricating eye drops before the flight and after. I tore a cornea years ago and have had recurrent erosions. None real recently though. Knock on wood. Any dry air environment puts you at risk and any situation with air blowing on your such as from above. Sorry to hear about your recent erosion. I know it is very painful.
I have experienced erosions in the mountains where the air is very dry. I would use the lubricant eye ointment on the outer eyelids and the Systane lubricating eye drops. Make sure your body is well hydrated with plenty of water and avoid coffee. I also avoid wine for the most part, but can have small amounts.
The bandage contact lens is a miracle for erosions and it is good the ER knew what to do on that. I had one ER visit for an erosion and they had not clue how to handle it.
Doctors deny things they don't know about. The dry and disgusting recirculated air in an airplane could likely cause your erosion. I would use whatever drops or ointments you would normally use and the goggles to protect your eyes on any future flights.
Do you have an underlying corneal condition?
GM Tamajane and thanks for your response. I agree with your thoughts - there is very little information on the effect(s) that recurrent corneal erosion (RCE) may have on basic activities of daily living.
I know that airplanes are extremely dry and filthy - to me, it is like flying in a daycare. I did use drops and followed standard precautions, but still had that very large and extremely painful erosion.
The RCE started several years ago and for no apparent reason - no injury, no family history, etc. Following the first episode, I was diagnosed with map dot fingerprint dystrophy and epithelial basement membrane dystrophy.
Lubricating eye drops before the flight and after. I tore a cornea years ago and have had recurrent erosions. None real recently though. Knock on wood. Any dry air environment puts you at risk and any situation with air blowing on your such as from above. Sorry to hear about your recent erosion. I know it is very painful.
I have experienced erosions in the mountains where the air is very dry. I would use the lubricant eye ointment on the outer eyelids and the Systane lubricating eye drops. Make sure your body is well hydrated with plenty of water and avoid coffee. I also avoid wine for the most part, but can have small amounts.
The bandage contact lens is a miracle for erosions and it is good the ER knew what to do on that. I had one ER visit for an erosion and they had not clue how to handle it.
Thanks, Rivertowntalk. I do all of these things. I use Muro 128 during the day + Refresh eye drops and Retaine ointment at night. The physician who saw me while I was out of town called the most recent PTK surgery a failure. This morning, I am up early with yet another erosion in this same eye, so perhaps he is right. I have an appointment with my corneal specialist later this morning. I am thinking that maybe this surgery needs to be repeated.
I don't know much about eyes, but with a little general knowledge, we can make some deductions:
-the vast majority of corneal ulcers are caused by trauma-- dust, a poke, a clumsy application of a contact lens, etc, and treatment usually only requires patching the eye and maybe some antibiotic drops, "just in case." They heal remarkably fast, in most cases.
- most cases are solitary- the guy never gets them again, Yours are recurrent and bad enough to require a special procedure for treatment. You must have some underlying condition (like seca syndrome?) that makes you vulnerable.
-Your specialist states that airplane flights are not known to cause ulcers. He's right, I'm sure, that probably nobody has collected enough cases of such to recognize the association and then publish it-- Doesn't mean it's not true, but it's probably very, very rare.
-airliner cabins probably have strong de-humidifiers-- a lot of people in an enclosed space all turning sugar into co2 + h20 for 3-4 hrs at a crack and breathing it into the air and they want to dry the air out. Add in those little ventilation fans, and you have dry, moving air drying out your cornea. Probably not a problem for most of us, but yours is a special case.
--If God had wanted us to fly, He would have given us tickets.
The Muro 128 did not work for me as it seemed to only aggravate my eye. I stopped it after a few days. I have found, in general, that my eye has a tendency to become aggravated more when traveling due to air flow and usually drier air. In hotel rooms, I run the air on low and never any direct air flow towards me while sleeping.
Doctors deny things they don't know about. The dry and disgusting recirculated air in an airplane could likely cause your erosion. I would use whatever drops or ointments you would normally use and the goggles to protect your eyes on any future flights.
Do you have an underlying corneal condition?
Negative. Plane flights cause many things: stress, colds, flu, going postal, but corneal erosion is not one of them. The more likely culprit is OP's corneal thinning caused by the physical trauma of PTK. I doubt the Tranquil Eyes goggles will benefit you. They are supposedly for dry eye relief but I doubt they would help even that condition. Dry eye is caused by a lack of tear production from the lacrimal glands. Moist heat applied to the eyelids will not improve either the lack of tear production nor corneal erosion heal time. BTW, I'm an ophthalmic technician and optician x many years and have seen corneal erosion patients once in a while in the office. Although the condition is painful, it can usually be treated and cured pretty quickly.
GM Tamajane and thanks for your response. I agree with your thoughts - there is very little information on the effect(s) that recurrent corneal erosion (RCE) may have on basic activities of daily living.
I know that airplanes are extremely dry and filthy - to me, it is like flying in a daycare. I did use drops and followed standard precautions, but still had that very large and extremely painful erosion.
The RCE started several years ago and for no apparent reason - no injury, no family history, etc. Following the first episode, I was diagnosed with map dot fingerprint dystrophy and epithelial basement membrane dystrophy.
I have EBMD as well, it is just another name for map dot fingerprint and I also have severe dry eye. I was told they frequently exist together. While I have not had a large erosion yet I have chronic microerosions and must use muro128 ointment overnight. Any dry air situation causes problems for me, especially if it is blowing, including airplanes. All my eye problems began while I was taking an acne med and had a reaction to it.
If you used your drops on the plane, and got an erosion anyway you may have to be extra careful. It could have been a coincidence as well, but I really do not like that blowing recirculated airplane air for my sensitive eyes.
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