Help Protect Marisa's Eyes and Manage Rare Ocular Disease

Hi y'all,

This is my first GoFundMe and I'm humbly asking for help managing a rare medical condition.

Late last year, I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called Ocular Lichen Planus. It’s an autoimmune disease that more commonly involves the skin and mouth. When it affects the eyes, it involves the conjunctiva (the thin membrane covering the white of the eye and inside of the eyelids), the cornea, or other ocular tissues.

Because of the severe inflammation, it causes my eyelids to slightly rotate. This rotation leads to several eyelashes growing inward (Trichiasis) and scratches my corneas. I have to sleep in soft contacts every night and have constant coverage of my corneas so they won't receive further damage. Because of the eyelashes growing the wrong way, my corneas have hundreds of micro-abrasions or scratches when they should be smooth.

Ocular Lichen Planus is extremely rare and there is no cure. It's a chronic condition that I will have to manage for the rest of my life. Symptoms include pain, inflammation, redness, blurred vision, and, if not treated well, can lead to blindness.

Treatment options I've explored so far include cryosurgery on my eyelids to remove the hair follicles, 3 types of eyedrops that I use day/night, sleeping in soft contacts, immunosuppressant medication, THC/CBD edibles, and scleral lenses (hard and larger lenses to protect my corneas during the day). I can't do another round of cryosurgery because eyelids are so thin that I would be at risk of my eyelids "melting off" from necrosis. My procedure only removed about 80% of the problematic lashes. I have to manually pluck the remaining eyelashes out every day with tweezers and can't get all of them.

I'm kindly asking for financial help to protect my eyes and manage the monetary, physical, and emotional burden from this condition. I plan to use these funds to help with the following:

I understand this is a tough time for everyone. However, I'm at rock bottom and had to push aside my embarrassment and pride because I need help. I don't want to lose my eyesight and the pain can be unbearable. Anything helps at this point.

With love and gratitude,

Marisa