Many of my patients complain of chronic, debilitating eye pain. They have been dismissed by many optometrists and eye surgeons as their eyes do not “look bad.” This can be very frustrating to patients as they feel as if there is no hope.
Many of these patients have “Pain Without Stain,” which is another way of saying “Neuropathic Eye Pain.”
The issue here is that the nerves innervating the cornea and the tissues around the eye are firing for unclear reasons. The cornea and surrounding tissues do not show signs of dryness, but the patient has all the symptoms of patients with severe dry eye.
We have started using autologous, adipose derived stem cells to help with dry eyes due to meibomian gland dysfunction and autoimmune disease. I have been in communication with Dr. Russell Vickers of Australia who reports he has had significant success in treating patients’ Neuropathic Eye Pain with their own autologous, adipose derived stem cells.
Here are some recent papers to help patients understand the issue and a possible treatment option.
We are hopeful this will work better than the current treatments for neuropathic eye pain, which can have side effects as discussed in my post about Neurontic, GABA, Naltrexone.
https://drcremers.com/2018/03/neruopathic-eye-pain-what-is-it-and-how.html?q=natrexone
Many of these patients have “Pain Without Stain,” which is another way of saying “Neuropathic Eye Pain.”
The issue here is that the nerves innervating the cornea and the tissues around the eye are firing for unclear reasons. The cornea and surrounding tissues do not show signs of dryness, but the patient has all the symptoms of patients with severe dry eye.
We have started using autologous, adipose derived stem cells to help with dry eyes due to meibomian gland dysfunction and autoimmune disease. I have been in communication with Dr. Russell Vickers of Australia who reports he has had significant success in treating patients’ Neuropathic Eye Pain with their own autologous, adipose derived stem cells.
Here are some recent papers to help patients understand the issue and a possible treatment option.
We are hopeful this will work better than the current treatments for neuropathic eye pain, which can have side effects as discussed in my post about Neurontic, GABA, Naltrexone.
https://drcremers.com/2018/03/neruopathic-eye-pain-what-is-it-and-how.html?q=natrexone
Here are some interesting papers:
If you have further questions about our protocol, please feel free to email Allie at: ABlankenship@voeyedr.com
Amitriptyline 25-50mg/day
Gabapentin (total 1500-3200mg/day
Naltrexone
| Subject # | Sex | Age (years) | Cause | Diagnosis | Duration | Quality | Pain score*pre-treatment | Pain score†post-treatment at 6 months | Pain medication pre-treatment (daily consumption) | Pain medication††post-treatment at 6 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Female | 45 | Tooth extraction | Atypical odontalgia | 1 year, 4 months | Burning Aching Sharp |
7 | 4 | Amitriptyline 25 mg Gabapentin 1,500 mg |
Amitriptyline 25 mg Gabapentin 1,500 mg |
| 2 | Female | 80 | Tooth extraction | Atypical odontalgia | 4 months | Aching Sharp |
9 | 1 | Analgesics 6 tabs§ | Nil |
| 3 | Female | 47 | Idiopathic | Facial neuropathic pain | 1 year | Burning Aching |
4 | 0 | Amitriptyline 37.5 mg Gabapentin 2,400 mg |
Amitriptyline 25 mg Gabapentin 600 mg |
| 4 | Female | 52 | Tooth extraction | Atypical odontalgia | 2 years, 8 months | Burning Aching |
7 | 6 | Amitriptyline 50 mg Gabapentin 400 mg |
Amitriptyline 25 mg Gabapentin 400 mg |
| 5# | Female | 65 | Idiopathic | Atypical odontalgia | 8 months | Sharp | 8 | 7 (1 month) | Nil | Nil (1 month) |
| 6 | Female | 66 | Tooth extraction | Atypical odontalgia | 18 months | Burning Sharp |
8 | 8 | Gabapentin 1,200 mg | Gabapentin 1,200 mg |
| 7 | Female | 62 | Dental implants | Atypical odontalgia | 5 years | Burning | 8 | 3 | Gabapentin 600 mg | Nil |
| 8 | Female | 61 | Dental crowns | Atypical odontalgia | 2 years, 5 months | Burning Aching |
7 | 5 | Amitriptyline 25 mg | Amitriptyline 25 mg |
| 9 | Female | 27 | Idiopathic | Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgia | 6 years, 5 months | Sharp | 7 | 2 | Gabapentin 3,200 mg |