My 2.5 year old had a pronounced crease under each eye which, for the last week or so, has been red & a bit crusty. Her eye itself looks fine. Any thoughts on what this might be?
UPDATE: I should add that she is otherwise perfectly healthy and doesn't seem bothered...
My thought is pink eye. Call your doctor and see if they want to see her. Good luck.
E.,
My son has this exact same thing! The eye itself is fine, but the crease immediately under the eye is dry and flaky and slightly red - just overly dry? My son even started complaining that his eye would get "fuzzy" occasionally. I brought him to the doctor and it really was just dry skin. He said that the dryness directly under his eye could cause the eye itself to get dry, which would cause the "fuzziness" in his vision to come and go as he blinks in moisture. He prescribed an ointment (I think it was called Tobradex) to put on the affected skin as often during the day as I could (it leaves his skin greasy, so I would usually do it just when he first got up in the morning and again right before bed). It seems to have done the trick. The crease under his eye is better, but when I notice it starting to get a little dry again, I'll just put some of the ointment on before he goes to bed and it's fine the next day. And the "fuzziness" in his vision disappeared with the dry skin.
Good luck!
My son had some redness there at one of his well child visits and was fine otherwise. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic eye ointment and said to put it on (I think twice a day) and it should go away. He said that I could also try just putting some moisturizer on it and that might fix the problem as well if it wasn't infected, but just irritated. I would probably try the moisturizer and if it doesn't go away or improve in a few days call the doctor and try to get some antibiotic ointment that is safe for use around her eyes.
Does he/she have a cold? When my 2 year old gets stuffy, the corners of his eyes will sometimes get crusty from the mucous which will then cause redness (irritation to the skin from the dampness). I found this out from my doctor after I brought him to rule out pink eye, which you may want to do since pink eye is pretty contagious and needs antibiotic ointment to cure it.
My kids had the same thing with a slight discharge from the eye itself. Worried, I thought it may be an eye infection and took them to the doctor. Turns out, ear infections all around! A few days of antibiotics cleared up the redness, flakiness, and discharge. Who knew that an ear infection could do that? Not me! If you're worried after trying dry skin methods, take the kids in...it couldn't hurt!
I would think that since it is a pronounced crease, that maybe it can get easily irritated/infected if things get in there and are not cleaned out properly? I would use a warm washcloth and thoroughly clean it a few times a day and see if that helps. There are also eyelid cleaners that you can buy - by the eye drops, etc. That I have used in the past for a similar reaction I had to using old makeup. But I am not sure how helpful they would be for a toddler...she would have to make sure to keep her eyes closed because they are not "tear free". I would say if it doesn't clear up, to call the dr.
Could be allergies. I've always had allergy reactions there. (Like eczema.) See how it goes - ask the doc.
