Sleep Apnea and eyes

[the baker]

Hi everyone, I hope it's ok that I put this in a new thread,

I was wondering about your experience with vision problems, eye pain, eyesight etc before starting cpap and how if any they changed for better or worse after getting your apnea under control and getting better sleep.

Thanks

[dreamingofdreaming]

I was told that I am "glaucoma suspect", around the same time that I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. This was due to the size or number of something on the optic nerve. Nothing has changed since being on CPAP. No better no worse. I need to have a special scan every year now, with my normal eye check. I am very near sighted, but that has nothing to do with sleep apnea.

[Julie]

Your mask may allow tiny air leaks into your eyes and need adjusting, or even replacing... the leaks dry out your eyes and cause problems and you may want to use artificial tears, etc. in the a.m. if it's a problem.

[loggerhead12]

Huge improvement with CPAP, but I'm probably not the norm. I fought severe corneal irritation for two years, blurred vision, extreme sensitivity to light, saw three specialists, used expensive eyedrops incessantly, taped my eyes shut and wore headbands that covered them at night, had serum made from my own blood that I put in my eyes - on purpose. None of it helped. A week after starting CPAP therapy it all cleared up and my perfect vision was restored. My main eye doc said, "Oh, you must have floppy eyelid syndrome then."

WTH? Now you come up with the diagnosis? I was sleeping face down which pushed my eyelids open, and my eyes rubbing on my pillow irritated the crap out of them. Wearing the mask keeps me off my face. So, CPAP definitely helped my eyes.

26% of people with OSA have FES (40% for severe OSA). 100% of people with FES have OSA. Much like sleep apnea itself, It is hugely underdiagnosed and probably the real cause for many eye irritations.

[Goofproof]

Most people with Treated or even untreated Sleep Apnea have been found by researchers to have two eyes, Many of them are over 50 too! Jim