Eye of this Tiger

yes, by the Chinese zodiac, I'm a Tiger

Approximately, 23 years ago, I had laser eye surgery to correct my vision and lose the glasses.
Unfortunately, I began a 4 month battle w/ corneal erosion. Some eye specialists would not treat me b/c there was a chance that the laser surgery caused the problem and was not covered by provincial health insurance.
However, the original laser clinic, quite famous, would and did see me regularly over that time. The epithelium over the eye would tear or lift. Painful.
The solution from the clinic was a pressure bandage til the eye healed in approximately 3 days.
Then it turns out that the clinic started to realize although this old and tried treatment was good for some, for those like me who couldn't control their 2 eyes independently, the bandage was as much irritant as cure.
At the four month mark in the saga, an assistant eye care Dr, saw me in the waiting room and came over.
The Dr was interested in why he kept seeing me in the waiting room. I explained the history.
Now, the clinic was owned and run by two father - son teams. I had seen the older doctors repeatedly.
The assistant asked me to stay where I was and wait for him.
The assistant went behind the glass door and conferred w/ the younger owner. They pointed at me occasionally and finally the young doctor / owner came to talk to me. I confirmed what I had said before and he asked me to follow him.
We went over the whole history while he looked up my records.
He turned to me and said ' what we need is a solution not a band aid ' . Here are your choices a) re- laser the whole eye surface ( both eyes ). Recovery would be a week, a bit of sore and blurry vision.
b) wear disposable long term contacts for 3 months.
I chose contacts and by Xmas the irritation was almost gone.

Not the end. A student who had left the high school dropped in to visit in February, their reading week, she mentioned her brother a 2 nd year optometry student and how the brother had inquired about my eye problem.
She gave me a business card for the university eye health clinic ( out of town ) and a referral if I needed it.
I went.
Only to discover, that the diagnosis now included a condition called Blepharitis. Bleph is a build up of dirt and oil. Sneakily the culprit is either not enough tears or not enough oil.
The eye specialist gave me a regimen of daily eye care. I faithfully performed this treatment for about 16 or so years. And very few if no occurrences of pain.

My current optometrist is quite up-to-date on eye care in the profession.
My latest routine includes twice weekly eye warming, followed by a slight massage of the eyelids and a wash of the eyelids.
The routine has undergone a evolution over 5 years.
The latest has included a eye mask ( microwaved ) and krill oil supplements.
Well last week. The current optometrist has observed radical change in my eyelids. The meiobium glands which produce the oil that your eye needs to clean and lubricate, line the lower eyelid. As we age, the glands plug up or fail to yield the meiobium oil.
Last year, on average 6 - 8 glands opened on pressing by the doc. 
This year, 15 - 17 glands opened in each eye. The doc was astounded. He expects a small improvement if treatment goes well. The only other case where this occurred was a patient who bought an eye warming machine ( $600 U.S. )

The weather is summer optimum