By MEIKE LEONARD, HEALTH REPORTER and LUKE ANDREWS, U.S. SENIOR HEALTH CORRESPONDENT
Published: 18:38 BST, 25 August 2026 | Updated: 20:29 BST, 25 August 2026
It was on a family holiday to Mexico that Sarah Koseki's eye issues first began.
The field consultant, then 37, was out sightseeing with her family when she felt her eyelid become stuck to her eyeball 'like velcro.'
Confused by what had happened, Sarah tried to peel her eyelid open – and was suddenly bowled over by a sharp, knife-like pain.
'I couldn't find comfort with my eyes open or closed; I couldn't sleep at all; I was beside myself,' Sarah said.
The holiday was ruined. Returning home to Boise, Idaho, Sarah visited an emergency doctor and was told she had suffered a corneal tear – a rip in the front surface of the eye that can cause extreme, sharp pain, redness and blurry vision.
Antibiotic drops and resting in a dark room helped ease her discomfort and within two weeks, Sarah's eye felt fully healed.
But just three months later, Sarah again found herself in the same agonizing position. And the problem continued to strike with increasing regularity.
It was on a family holiday to Mexico that Sarah Koreski first experienced an agonising corneal tear
'I would be in debilitating pain for 48 hours,' she says. 'Nothing helped. I would be on all fours in a dark room trying to get gravity to separate my eyelid from my eye.
'Sometimes I would just hold my eyelids away from my eyes with my fingers for hours to give me relief.'
By the fifth incident, which saw the corneas of both Sarah's eyes tear, she decided to seek answers.
After a series of tests at a specialist clinic, Sarah was diagnosed with meibomian gland disorder (MGD) – a distressing condition which occurs when the oil-producing glands in the eyes stop working properly.
Affecting as many as 17 million Americans, it can cause severely dry eyes, irritation and damage to the cornea left untreated.
