Mucus Fishing Syndrome

Suffering from strings of mucus on a daily basis? If the severity of the mucus is abundant where you insist on constantly wiping it from your eyes you might just have 'Mucus Fishing Syndrome (MFS)'. MFS includes increased mucus production through ocular irritation. However, when you reach into your eyes to remove the mucus you could be further irritating your eyes. This condition can last for years. Some times it can be embarrassing to admit to your peers let alone your optometrist but if they are not informed of this condition, the road to recovery will cease to exist.

If you think you might have MFS, pinpointing the problem is key. Are you allergic to certain things you eat but are unaware of it? Have you been neglecting your eyes through overuse of contact lenses? Make sure you know the side effects of any medications you may take as they may agitate the eyes. There is no one answer fix here but for more information please visit the websites below.

• dryeyeinfo: dry eye in depth
• reviewofoptometry: gone fishin'
• pubmed.gov: mucus fishing syndrome 
• dryeyezone: mucous fishing syndrome

Update On Stringy Discharge + Helpful Links

*Please read updated 'FAQ' page as you may find it useful. Updated 01/09/11.

Hello all,

First off I would like to provide my visitors with some links that have proved useful to me:

• Eye Discharge Signs/Symptoms (Wrongdiagnosis.com)
• Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca (Wikipedia.com)
• Relieving Dry Eye (Allaboutvision.com)
• Keeping Eyes Healthy (Videojug.com) *Video is somewhat outdated but useful nonetheless. States that only eye drops that come in vials are 'preservative free' which is not true anymore. I use TheraTears Eye Drops in bottle form and it is 'preservative free' when it exits the bottle.

--

The main question I'm sure most visitors have is,

"How can I cure my eyes of this discharge??"

• Well the first question you should ask yourself is, how did this discharge come about in the first place?
  
  1. Have you had lasik surgery performed?
  2. Do you wear contacts?
  3. Are you taking any medications that can result in dry eyes?
  4. Etc.
• There are many underlying causes of eye discharge and I am by no means licensed professional that can diagnose you. My first suggestion to you would be to visit your local optometrist or ophthalmologist so that they can properly diagnose you. Of course the tech savvy would Google their problem (hence probably how you ended up here). Eye doctors can get expensive so I am here to help as best as I can, however, I do hope to visit my optometrist in the near future to get a check up on my eyes and possibly get refitted for new "1 day disposable contacts." If you have not already visited the links above, I highly recommend them.

Now to answer the question posed in the beginning, I will say my optometrist diagnosed me with keratoconjunctivitis sicca (fancy term for dry eye syndrome). Dry eye syndrome is accompanied with red eyes, dryness, stringy discharge and a plethora of other things. So I will focus primarily on this condition.

So have I cured myself of this clear stringy eye discharge?

Short answer is, no.

From what I have read, it seems there is nothing that you can do to prevent dry eyes and it is something that older individuals are prone to as they age. However, I am in my early 20's. From the links above, they state wearing contacts (which I used to do) is something that is related to why dry eyes occurs. I have been wearing my glasses for 3 months now without any contact use and I still get clear stringy discharge but it is definitely not as thick and persistent as before. It used to be there every morning when I woke up but not anymore. It comes and goes, sometimes it's there after I put warm compresses on my eyes, sometimes it randomly appears when I am driving. The discharge is definitely thinner and doesn't appear as often.

**I also want to add that TheraTears eye drops leaves my eyes a bit crusty in the mornings so it is not just with the Optive Sensitive eye drops. Sometimes when I use alot of it at night, the next morning there is some type of discharge but I want to say it's not the 'bad kind of discharge.' If anything, I would say it is present because during nighttime use, it is lubricating the eyes and is keeping them moist.

Is the stringy discharge under control? I would say so.

• In a previous posting I wrote that the TheraTears Omega 3 supplements works for me but I did hope they would work quicker and showed a bit more results. (Yes I mention TheraTears alot, I'm a walking billboard but I like to use products that work.) However, others out there should know that there is still not a huge amount of scientific evidence correlating fish oil with improvement of dry eyes and everybody reacts differently to treatment so do not be discouraged if this product does not work for you.
  
• It seems I am on my laptop all day, and I try to remember to blink as often as possible and rest my eyes when I can. These simple steps do go a long way in helping your eyes. If they get tired, let them rest! Furthermore, drink plenty of water to hydrate your body, it could help get you back on track to healthy eyes but of course genetics does play a role. With that said, I digress.

Central Valley

This blog is long overdue but I am finally finding the time to write about my eye condition.

About a year and a half ago, there was a clear stringy discharge that developed from my eyes. It was quite persistent and would be in my eyes every morning. It would not hurt, and my eyes were not dry, frankly it was just irritating. I never thought much about them because I was too focused on school and I had no time to think about such a 'minute' problem. During this time, I was attending college in the central valley and my 'weapon of choice' were the Acuvue Oasys w/Hydraclear Plus. Before I moved, I lived in the bay area and wore frequency 55 contacts. So let's see what I used in the past:

2004-2007

Contacts: Frequency 55 by CooperVision

Lens Type: 1 year / soft contacts

Solution: ReNu by Bausch & Lomb (There was a recall/lawsuit in 2006)

Location: Bay Area

2007-2009

Contacts: Acuvue Oasys by Johnson & Johnson

Lens Type: 2 week / soft contacts

Solution: Opti-Free RepleniSH

Location: Central Valley

Recently

Contacts: Acuvue 2

Lens Type: 2 week / soft contacts

Solution: Opti-Free RepleniSH

Location: Bay Area

(I am in no way saying certain contacts or solutions are better than another. Depending on the contacts, they are made from certain materials that affect your eye differently.)

Many optometrists prescribe Acuvue Oasys simply because of their breathable material. It is stated that oxygen can pass in and out of the lenses quite easier than the older generation of contacts such as the Acuvue 2's.

As I was saying before, this stringy discharge started when I was living in the central valley where the air pollution is abundant; wikipedia states "The San Joaquin Valley now has the worst air quality in California, along with the highest asthma rates." Am I making a correlation with where I live and how the discharge developed? I'm just trying to state all the variables. I also spent a vast majority of my time on my laptop and many individuals should remember to blink in order to allow the tears to move around the cornea. I digress.

I finally had some time to visit an optometrist about my eye condition and they did not know what the clear discharge was. I was given a bottle of Alcon Naphcon A since the optometrist believed the discharge was due to allergies. I used up the bottle and it did not help reduce the amount of discharge present in my eyes.