Hi there, I've had severe dry eye for over 7 years and I work as a teacher. I always have to have eyedrops on hand wherever I am and have to stop whatever I'm doing to put them in, but I've gotten quite quick about it. At first people think it's strange but they gradually get used to it when I explain. I've only met one other person who has dry eye as bad or worse than me. Things that are important to me whenever I walk into a building are whether or not there are fans. When I drive or go outside I always use the type of sunglasses which hug your face and keep out wind. Most often I wear an outfit that has pockets so that I can store my eyedrops in something and be able to use my hands for other things. I got dry eyes as a side effect of botox injections in March of 2010.

i found that eye drops, restasis and compresses only provide temporarily relief. I felt i needed to address the problem from a different angle, i even thought about spending thousands for Lipiflow. I realized nutrition was the missing link for me. I started taking Theratears and Nordic Naturals ProDHA. My Story at http://dryeyescured.com

I do a lot of public speaking. Difficult if your eyes are dry, scratchy, and red all the time.

Hey ArtGrrl and TGrove—I sent you messages. Let me know if you'd like to talk. Thanks!

Hi I'm new to the group as well. I'm not a tour guide, or any of those other things you mentioned... but I did use to be a photographer... not a professional one, but I took a college class in photography which I aced in my course to get my Fine Arts AA... and I took pictures all the time, and they were good pictures too. Then I worked as a middle school teacher aid briefly after graduating with my AA and planning on continuing with college but I got very sick... I got diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Bipolar Disorder, IBS, I have a low thyroid, my body is virtually producing no estrogen what so ever so my whole menstrual system is shut down and I've been told it's going to be next to impossible (but not necessarily impossible) to have children) and I have Plantar Fasciitis, and a really bad back~ one of my the areas between two of my vertebrates in my lower back has been compressed so I have a lot of low back pain and are unable to do many normal household chores but my upper back gives me problems too mostly due to my Fibromyalgia I think.... and then to get back to my eyes the past 4 years or so I have been dealing with light sensitivity, I think I have always been a little sensitive to light but it's gotten worse over the past 3 to 4 years and just recently in the past 4 to 6 months even worse... I just got prescription glasses with tinted lenses and the sun glare glaze on them but I'm going to have to go with an even darker tinted lens.. as far as my dry eyes (and I apologize that I'm just now getting to that) I use eye drops mostly at night when my eyes are most sensitive to the light but I use them during the day too and I use like 3 to 4 different brands/kinds depending on my needs at that time... I like having different types of drops because the oily ones vs the gel ones vs the lubricating ones all feel different and I want different ones at different times... gel is great for right before bedtime... as far as how it affects my picture taking... yeah I would say I take less pictures now... it might be partially due to my other illnesses... but when your eyes are bothering you you tend to not want to take pictures... I remember last Christmas I told my mom & my sister to take all the pictures I just wasn't up for it.. and usually I'm the picture taker... so yeah it has affected me.. I'm hoping with my new collection of drops and once I get my glasses figured out I'll be taking more pictures again... I hope at least some of that was helpful and sent in time for your article. ❤