eye issues

[Dfcman]

hi.  I am having diffuculty with my eye.  I had a gold implant put in July of 06 and its worked moderately well.  I used a lacralube called Awkwatears for a bit then I just went to using standard eye drops.  I don't have to use them all the time but I live in a college dorm now.  My air conditioning is def increasing my eye drop usage to 2 or 3 times a day(which I turned off).  This weekend, I was home and I got shampoo in my eyes and it really irritated them.  At least I think.  I dunno  It is wednesday now and I still have the "pinkeye" resemblance. I have tried using the awkwatears and eye drops but I still have a red eye as i'm typing this.  The drops have little and temporary effect.  Did I actually catch pinkeye?  What is the deal here?  What are some of your thoughts?

[nancyann]

Hi Chris - good to hear from you - college now, eh?
Anyway, about the eye - have you tried to use an allergy drop to get rid of the redness?  Try this - it WIll get the red out if your eye got irritated from the shampoo.
If you have 'pinkeye' or conjunctivitis, you would be seeing ALOT of exudate (pus, etc),it could get to the point it would be difficult to open your eye - it would feel grainy, itchy, maybe even hurt a bit.   'Pink eye' is very contagious - I would imagine it could spread quickly in a dorm, etc, anywhere there's lots of people.  Treatment includes an antibiotic eye ointment, also, changing your pillow case & towels daily, not touching your eye with your hands, frequent hand washing.  Using a paper towel to open doors, etc. so as not to spread the infection - you should isolate yourself for a few days & use the antibiotic (prescribed) if you do have it.
Let's hope your eye got irritated from the shower.
Always good thoughts,  Nancy

[satman]

I noticed when i use anything other than lacrilube I get red eye and
it burns really bad.
Come to find out it was due to the persevatives in the
other stuff.

[4cm in Pacific Northwest]

Chris,

Well I have had an allergenic reaction to the eye drops (i.e. the preservative) …and also had 2 bouts of conjunctivitis since my surgery 8 weeks ago. I empathize with you here.

Try a different eye drop overnight. The Refresh Plus is ‘preservative free’ (I was told to use by the OHSU Casey Eye Institute folks)
http://www.allergan.com/site/products/consumers/home.asp?id=refresh_plus
it does not blur your vision as much a lacrilube

It is rather pricey however ($15 at Rite Aid  $19 at Walgreens) … (I have said before the pharmaceutical companies are making big bucks of  us AN’ers.) These come in packages of 50 sterile single us containers.

If you still have what looks like “pink eye� (conjunctivitis) in the morning - go to the campus health center. (The student residence wants to contain pink eye as it is highly contagious) … you will need antibiotic eye drops to nip this in the bud if this is your case.

4

[Jeanlea]

Chris,

I've had several bouts with the red eye.  Most of them seem to be caused by trying something new in my eye.  I've switched to only using baby shampoo.  There are some nicer ones by Suave and Loreal now.  I've found that using PM Refresh eyes every 2-3 hours during the redness helps to get rid of it.  It may take a few days.  It might also be a good idea to have an eye doctor look at your eye to make sure there is no infection.  Hope it gets better for you soon.

Jean

[Patti]

Chris - Do you have feeling in your eye?  I do not and the only times that redness happened to me was when i scratched my cornea which is normally painful but i did not know i did it.  I had to see a cornea specialist.  I have luck using refresh liquigel in my eye.  patti

[Dfcman]

Yeah I was kinda nervous, but I went to my health center.  I had to wait a lil over an hour to get some anti-biotic eye drops.  But yea thats what it was Conjunctivitis or however you say it.  Pinkeye so to speak.  Its actually gotten better within the past few days but its still noticeable.  All I can do is follow the directions on the bottle right?  Thanks for your posts tho.

Chris

[4cm in Pacific Northwest]

Chris,

Glad you got this solved.

I see you had Dr Moises Arriaga for a surgeon. I came so close to contacting him but Pittsburg is just too far from rural Oregon … and I chose one of his colleagues at Stanford instead. (who was great BTW)

When my ENT diagnosed my tumor he clearly stated it was out of his league and said I needed to search for an experienced neurotologist /neurosurgeon team. Then I ask him if he had to choose ‘the best’ in the USA who would he pick - and he gave me a list (I don’t think he thought I'd personally contact each one and be so proactive. I contacted all on his list, plus a few more, except for Dr Arriaga)

 
 
My ENT said if he “personally� had to have an AN removed he would have gone with Dr. Arriaga because he not just “incredibly skilled� but is apparently “such a nice guy to work with�.


The ENT world is very small I am discovering. Just remember that the “eâ€? in ENT does not stand for “eyeâ€?    ;)LOL 

Study hard at college and “Keep moving forward!â€? (Oh gee you are not studying to be an ENT or anything are you?    Sock in my mouth…  )

Cheers,

4

[Dfcman]

yeah..I feel inferior being in the same room as him.  He is just an incredible person.  Most definitely the most skilled not to mention the best bedside manner of any doctor I will ever probably meet.