For the past couple of months I have had some discomfort in my right eye, on and off. The symptoms include: foreign body or burning sensation in the corner of the eye, watery/discharge sensation, sometimes gritty sensation and itching, some disconfort when i read on the tablet without my eyeglases. The optometrist believes it is dry eye as the eye itself looks healthy, the family doctor says it could be allergies and sinus related as I have these conditions year round. It is not extremely painful, it is just annoying, so I was just wondering if I should see an eye doctor or just live with it. Thanks!
PS. I live in a very dry climate!
I am on zyrtec and there are days the eye feels OK, other days I feel the discomfort! The optometrist did not prescribe artificial tears but said I should consider it if the eye still feels annoying. Now, most of my symptoms are consistent with the dry eye syndrome and I also know that sinus issues can make your eryes feel irritated, that is why I am kind of confused.
I have lighter symptoms in the left eye, it is mostly my right eye that bothers me.
I have dry skin (a topic dermatitis) & dry nails and do not drink that much water. In the morning, I usually wake up congested and the eyes seems to bother me more when I have sinus issues (congestion). My sense is it is a combination of all these, not one (allergies) or the other ( dry eye). I will give it another couple of weeks and if there's no improvement I will go see an ophthalmologist.
The optometrist seemed really thorough and yes, dilated my eye, and although I did not have symptoms at the time of the appointment she said that the discomfort I had experienced may be due to dry eye. She said OTC artificial tears can help, but did not write a prescription! The discomfort came back after couple of weeks of reading on the tablet without my glasses ( my little one had misplaced them). I can actually contact her to see which kind of artificial tears she recommends. Thanks everyone for your helpful advices!
for winter dry-eye and spring and fall allergies i get a homeopathic med called 'optique.' it's very gentle, but works even on my horribly allergic (and vehemently anti-homeopathic<G>) younger son.
:) khairete
S.
I would see an ophthalmologist if you can.
Any kind of eye problem that goes on for more than a couple of weeks should be checked out by a specialist. You don't want to mess with your eyes. Especially if it is just the one eye. I believe allergies and dry eye syndrome most commonly affects both eyes, although when I've had allergies, sometimes one is a bit worse than the other.
If you take medicines to dry out your sinuses, you will also dry out your eyes. That whole area is connected. Eye allergies tend to occur in both eyes and often you have itching with them. I would use artificial tears, but stay away from redness drops like visine and clear eyes. Artificial tears (especially preservative free ones if you use them a lot) are used in both dry eyes and allergies (to wash allergens out of the tear film) so it's fine to use them for either condition. Optometrists are trained to diagnose and treat dry eye and ocular allergies. If it's needed, he/she can write you prescriptions to help. Personally, I would start with the artificial tears.
Edited to add: If you notice your eyes bother you more on the tablet, it's probably dry eyes as you tend to blink less and your tear film drys out. Try the tears and blinking more. HTH!
I have dry eye. Both an optometrist and an opthomalogist said I have dry eye related to my age and allergies. If the optometrist dilated your eyes and says they are healthy that is good enough. That's what the opthomalogist would also do. Optometrists are trained to refer a patient to an opthomalogist when they see a condition that requires more attention than they are able to provide.
I would trust the optometrist and get eye drops. Know that it would be rare for you to have a more serious condition. Hopefully, he suggested specific drops. Some OTC drops make the condition worse. Mine recommended Seldane.
As A.L. suggested there may be other body issues that could cause your eyes to be dry. I'm not aware of other issues. I suggest you talk with your primary doctor About this possibility. I'd call your doctor's advice nurse and ask about this possibility.
What you describe is what I have. It's dry eye, and it's exacerbated on days that I dust or by hormone shifts around my cycle. It's not every day, but when it hurts, it's like a wooden stake in my eye.
I agree medications that dry you up will make it worse. There is an eye gel I use at night for sleeping and it speeds healing. There are also specialized OTC drops for day use. They give temporary relief, not complete resolution.
Please don't "live with it." Try and resolve it if you can.
Did your family doc give you anything to treat the allergies? If not, then I'd got back and ask him for something to try for awhile first, to see what happens, and give it awhile to work. Like a month. Not just a day or two. Give the meds enough time to really work.
If allergies turn out to not be the issue, then yes, I'd go to an ophthalmologist to get it checked out, just to be sure. They are much more highly train than an optometrist. An eye doctor has gone through ned school and residency and is an MD so should be able to really work with you and help you out.
Good luck. I'm sorry you feel so crummy. Hope you feel better soon!
I buy a box of those individual tubes/vials of eye drops. They moisturize my eyes and wash allergens away.
Since I use sterilid, eyelid cleanser, I have no issues anymore. My eye MD recommend it to me.
If the eyes feel dry, did the Dr say it's ok to use artificial tears to moisten them?
Allergies will cause crumbly stuff to collect in the corners of your eyes. Mine were so bad that my lashes would be glued together when I woke up. Turns out I was allergic to a door mat that had horse hair in it. Dry air makes my dry eyes worse (heat or AC). There are many OTC drops or vaseline like tiny tubes of eye cream that help. I also buy the box of single use vials since they do not have preservatives in them and bottled drops do. Use a humidifier at your desk at work or at home. But have an eye doctor check it out and also discuss with MD. Many illnesses have side effects and you want to rule those out before self medicating only symptoms. Forgot that when I sleep on my left side, my left eye feels worse in the AM.
The zyrtec not only drys your sinuses but everything else... it's VERY dehydrating... Also, notice, are your eyes drier mid-cycle? I mention this, because if you ovulate, with it comes a surge of progesterone each month and the hormone is known to be "warming".. it does so in the event you become pregnant so it can keep the womb warm so to speak.. but back to your eyes... in essence, hormones play a big role.. also, yes environment.. living in a dry environment doesn't help... I would suggest drinking more water than usual... try and limit the allergy meds if you can.. also, it's probably not dry eye syndrome so don't buy into the idea that you may needs eyedrops for that. The other thing that can cause dry eyes in women.. ANEMIA.. yes... believe it or not, I know this because I am anemic and my eyes were getting drier by the moment.. I read up on it and discovered that it makes sense.. with anemia not enough oxygen in the blood... hence... your skin can nails can become dry and your EYES....
so.. maybe you are anemic? you won't know without a test.. also, a test can come back negative so it's the Ferritin stores that the doctor should test.. thing about anemia (in my case) it caused dry eyes, which I thought was allergy related) it cause depression, fatigue, chills, and above all CRAVINGS related to pica..
that said... who knows.. part of the dilemma may be iron... or not.. but might be worth checking out..
good luck
If the typical remedies for all these possible conditions don't relieve the symptoms, you might have an ophthalmologist take a look. My husband had something called blepharitis which caused a lot of tiny bumps on the inside of the eyelid. Definite feels like something is in there even when there isn't. It wasn't an easy fix until he started taking a natural anti-inflammatory that also boosted his immune system. He also has allergies and although they are drastically reduced now what you're describing is very common in people on drying antihistamines. Before I got rid of my allergy symptoms, I felt like what you are describing. Sometimes it's worse when you read or start at the tablet because you don't blink as much - that's worse if you have dry eyes, but better if you have blepharitis which irritates every time you blink.
If your discharge and gritty feeling is really bad in the morning, with crusting, get double checked for conjunctivitis which is easy to treat but highly contagious. I would have hope that the optometrist had ruled that out, but it's something that can flare up quickly especially if you are dealing with a runny nose and then touching your eyes because they are itching or feeling watery.
Start out by going to the Opthamologist. The MD. They are amazing. S/he will put these little hard paper like things in your eyes and make you sit for 5 minutes. When my doctor came back, he said that my eye was sandblasted dry and told me to use an eye lubricant ointment (which is like a vaseline - yay) at night. It helped so much. I also use a eye lubricant drop during the day.
But see the dr. And drink more water!
