Cyclosporine ophthalmic and Dry Eyes: What Users Say

• Ali...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 29, 2021

Cyclosporine ophthalmic for Dry Eye Disease "I developed bizarre seizures from this medication. Any intense emotion, such as laughing, enjoying food, or getting angry, would result in a 'hiccup' of sorts where my head would reset, and I would feel nothing. It felt similar to a brain zap from psychiatric med withdrawal, but even worse. And yes, this also impacted sexual function. Imagine not being able to enjoy anything or feel any significant emotion in any way. This particular side effect continued for about 4 months after stopping the medication. I was terrified it wouldn't, and it made me suicidal. Oh, and there was no relief from dry eye, either."

• Car...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 6, 2025

Cyclosporine ophthalmic for Dry Eye Disease "Excellent drops. These drops help me with my eye dry disease, and my insurance does not cover this medication. And the pharmacy asked me for $600.00. I called my insurance and nothing. The first bottle was an example. Now my eyes are bothering me again."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• October 4, 2022

Cyclosporine ophthalmic for Dry Eye Disease "I started Cequa about 9 months ago, and it seems that my dry eye is worse. I kept at it for the full 9 months, hoping things would improve. But my eyes feel very gritty at night, almost like I have sand under my eyelids, and the burning after instilling the drops is not pleasant. I stopped the Cequa for about a week, and the burning and gritty feeling went away. So I guess the Cequa drops do not work for my dry eye and made things worse. I would rather have some dry eyes but not the burning and gritty feeling - the gritty feeling would wake me up and keep me awake all night, and nothing would help."

• JJa...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 19, 2018

Cyclosporine ophthalmic for Dry Eye Disease "I have been using the ampoules since 2012; lots of used amps to discard in the recycle bin, no problem. First multidose bottle: 1) I cannot see the drop as it is ready to drip and therefore cannot align to my eye properly. 2) It takes a lot of squeezing to get a drop to be dosed; in the process... 3)...eye becomes dry being held open so long awaiting the drop to be dispersed. I timed my process last night, 5 minutes to get 2 drops; one per eye. The night before, I had a gushing stream down the side of my nose, not from the tip as far as I could tell. Not impressed, I am requesting to go back to the vials; and another preauthorization process with my insurance."

• Ber...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• July 17, 2018

Cyclosporine ophthalmic for Dry Eye Disease "First, I just want to mention I never post about products, but this one has me so annoyed. I have had dry eyes since my laser eye surgery. My eye doctor prescribed Restasis. It works, but you need to take it indefinitely. I used the vials and never used the whole thing, so I thought switching to the multidose would mean less waste and less plastic. Nope. Just finished my 1st bottle (I think, the bottle is impossible to squeeze and get anything out) in only 2 weeks. I might have gotten an extra drop here or there with the multidose bottle. With the vials, I always did 2 drops (so not as much went to waste) in each eye and still had some left in the vial. I will be switching back to the vials, unfortunately."

• Dry...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• November 6, 2018

Cyclosporine ophthalmic for Dry Eye Disease "I first used multidose bottles then switched to vials. Vials are MUCH better. I get 2+ days from 1 vial (after opening, stored upright in fridge in a narrow capped pill bottle). Previously, for several months, I had a ghost image about 1 o'clock above the normal image in both eyes. The combination of Restasis PLUS Refresh PM ointment in each eye before bed quickly cleared up the ghost image problem. My ophthalmologist said the dry eyes had caused a scar due to eyes not being fully closed during sleep--hence the need for a lubricating ointment."

• Ann...
• July 14, 2018

Cyclosporine ophthalmic for Dry Eye Disease "The multi-dose bottle is impossible for me to use by myself. I have to have someone put the drops in for me, and by the time we get a drop out of the bottle, my eyes are burning and dry from holding them open so long. I don’t really see that I’m any better after one month, and this drug is outrageously expensive. My next refill, I will ask for the single-use vials, which I hate because of all the plastic, but I have to have."

• sam...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 22, 2020

For Dry Eye Disease "I only used this for two days and stopped. My doctor gave samples to me and told me to try them out. After only two days, my eyes felt terrible. Burning lasted the whole day for me, and my vision is now blurry. Eyes also feel even drier...it's like I took 1 step forward, 10 steps back. I'm not using this anymore. My eyes feel terrible. I will be sticking to just artificial tears for now."

• Akm...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• January 1, 2018

Cyclosporine ophthalmic for Dry Eye Disease "Severe dry eye, a result of MS. Restasis effective, lessening severity of symptoms. Have used for 7 plus years. Problem is new multi-use dropper. Very difficult to squeeze. Almost impossible for someone with limited hand strength and tremors to use. Please bring back single-use vials!"

• Mic...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 14, 2021

For Dry Eye Disease "Didn't work at all for me. Made my red dry eyes even worse."