I had an eye appointment on April 17. Restasis had plateaued for me, and my eyes were still dry with a foreign body sensation in them. I was prescribed Cequa.
The prescription was sent to Phil RX, which ran it through insurance. Insurance rejected the prescription. I assumed that I would have to remain on Restasis, which was better than nothing. I was unaware that my doctor was still going back and forth with insurance.
Meanwhile, Phil RX offered me a one-month supply (60 vials) of Cequa at a cost of $89. I knew that I could stretch the supply to last for three or four months. I decided to pay for a one-month supply.
Sometime after the Cequa was mailed to me, my prescription was changed to Vevye and was immediately filled by CVS. I did not expect that. Vevye cost me $90 for a three-month supply.
The Cequa arrived on April 30, and I started using it. Cequa burns less than Restasis, and at first, it was more pleasant to use. Sometime during the first week of use, I had a brief shooting pain in my right eye. I also had intermittent pain from the inner corner of my right eye. Within a couple days, my eyes became more sensitive and irritated. By May 5, I had a near constant foreign body sensation in both eyes.
It was around May 13 that I realized that I had a runny nose that was caused by Cequa. It had started soon after beginning Cequa.
I received the Vevye prescription on May 16. By that point, I was miserable on Cequa and wanted to switch immediately to Vevye. I knew that the better decision was to stick with Cequa, since I had
read that Cequa requires a minimum of 30 days for it to work.
I looked into how Cequa works, and I learned that it penetrates further into the eye than Restasis. Cequa initially irritates the eye due to the deep penetration that then wears off as Cequa heals the eye. I decided to continue Cequa for at least two more weeks to give it a fair chance.
On May 26, I had sudden improvement in my eyes. I felt like my eyes were still somewhat worse than they were when I got punctal plugs (February 2025) and then had to get them removed due to excessive irritation (April 2025). I have been trying to get back to the lower level of discomfort I had before the punctal plug debacle. In late May, I mostly wasn't feeling the foreign body sensation, just the dryness.
On May 28, it seemed that the foreign body sensation was gone. My eyes felt more moist than they had in quite a long time. I still had a feeling of dryness during parts of the day, but it was much improved. By evening, my eyes began to feel dry.
On May 31, I felt less discomfort than I had in a long time.
On June 12, I started instilling the Cequa in both eyes immediately upon waking instead of using another eye drop first. This did increase the burning sensation, but I knew that it would also penetrate the eye better.
On June 21, I noticed that I wasn't needing to use eye drops nearly as often. This continued into July.
Even though I would have liked to have used all of my Cequa to see what the trajectory would be, I also needed to give Vevye a try. My next appointment is in October, so I need to know how Vevye works in comparison to Cequa. My experience with Cequa up to July 11 was promising. I just don't know if Cequa is the one, or if Vevye will be the one. I do know that Restasis was not strong enough for me and that I do need on at least Cequa or Vevye.
On July 11, I switched to Vevye. My current plan is to use all three vials of Vevye. Once they are used, I will switch back to Cequa in the weeks before my October appointment. By October, I should have a good idea how the two brands compare.
Vevye is a subject for another post, but my first week of use shows that it seems about the same as Cequa. Both eye drops are better than Restasis, but I will have to see which one is better for me.
