Red irritated eyelids

Hello, I've had dry, flaky eyelids for the past couple months and I went to an opthamologist for it. He prescribed me 1% hydrocortizone and to clean it Ocusoft eyelid cleanser and it went away and told me a week after to start using this other prescription (steroid cream) that I already had but only for a week. Generally the dry eyelids are ok as of right now.
However the skin from my eyelid going towards my nose is extremely bright red and irritated. It looks like I was in some sort of fight. I've noticed that cleaning my eyelids with the eyelid cleanser seems to make it more irritated so I'm going to stop using that. Is there any other OTC moisturizer I can use to help get rid of that redness? Thanks a lot

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
This redness can be due to irritant contact dermatitis to the eyelid cleanser. In that case you can talk to your ophthalmologist and get prescribed some other eyelid cleanser. You can use a soap free lotion like Cetaphil for cleaning this red skin but using any moisturizer or cream should always be done after our doctor’s guidance as he can physically examine the condition and decide the best treatment for you.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.