Help a trans artist of color see without pain

Hi! My name is Ames and I am a trans Asian tattooer/artist (ig: @eggstattly). I used to love rock climbing, making art with my friends, and looking at crabs and cool little creatures in tidepools. I never thought I would be in this situation, but I have been diagnosed with a rare disease, neurotrophic keratitis, which causes severe dry eye and accompanying eye pain. After getting images of my corneal nerves, one fellow patient described the level of damage as "it looks like you had LASIK done". My current theory is that it was caused by a combination of hard contacts use + COVID. However, I say theory because it’s such a rare condition that my doctors are currently stumped on how to treat it.

I lost my full time job in November due to my health issues and am unable to work on screens for long periods of time due to the eye pain and I am typically experiencing pain levels of 4-5/10 daily, where I have 24/7 discomfort in my eyes which also causes tension and pain building up in my shoulders and neck. Wind and sun burns my eyes, I can’t drive long distances, or watch TV, and I can’t hang out with friends for more than an hour before needing to head back home and close my eyes.

On top of this, dry eye treatment is not covered by insurance. For example, I will need $3250 for probing which stimulates the meibomian glands, of which I will need multiple. This is a procedure that is not recognized under a CPT code, as it is relatively new and thus does not have insurance coverage. However, various patient groups have said this was the most helpful thing for their symptoms. The most frustrating part is that doctors cannot promise me an improvement in my symptoms: only that it may prevent me from getting worse. I have already spent $3000+ of my own money just on treatments that didn't work, and these costs are becoming a great burden as I am still unable to work.

Examples of my upcoming medical costs:

Doctors visit + medical treatment (meibomian gland probing + IPL + RF) 2x (Dr. recommended 3 times to start): $6500

Scleral lenses (lenses to protect the eye from being scratched/damaged from dryness): $2300

Thank you for reading this! I will keep on annoying doctors and trying new things so I can hopefully enjoy my life again. I would greatly appreciate any and all financial support, as this is an ongoing, costly issue that is not covered by insurance.

If you could send me funds personally, that would be better! Reach out on instagram at @yam_town / vmo: @ amexs