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Eye Care Archive (Expert Forum)
irritated eyes for over a month
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irritated eyes for over a month
by tjg07, Aug 16, 2006 12:00AM
Not quite sure what to do about my eyes, looking for some helpful advice. sorry if this is lengthy
I'm 23 years old, still in college. Beginning in july, I woke up one day with conjunctivitis. That day, I had seen the doctor and recieved gentimicin and used it for 5 days until my eyes seemed relatively normal again. After 5 days, I put my contacts back in and the redness and irritation came back. So...I went back to the doctor, they gave me an ointment to put in my eyes. After two days of using the ointment, no improvement took place so i was referred to an opthamalogist. She had seen no sign of infection so told me to quit using any medication and just try to let my eyes heal on their own. After three weeks, my eyes continued to be irritated, but the redness and irritation tended to fluctuate (typically worse at night). I went back to the opthamalogist and she checked my eyes out again, with the same conclusion, no infection.
However, here I am almost two months after the conjunctivitis took place and I havnt worn my contacts the entire time. My eyes still tend to fluctuate with redness, I wake up every morning and my eyes are dry and the sclera is yellowish. My eyes are not itchy, do not hurt and not sensitive to the light; however, despite my eyes, I feel pretty healthy.
Do you think this is an issue that can wait until september (until insurance kicks in through school) or should I go in to get a second opinion immediately?
I'm 23 years old, still in college. Beginning in july, I woke up one day with conjunctivitis. That day, I had seen the doctor and recieved gentimicin and used it for 5 days until my eyes seemed relatively normal again. After 5 days, I put my contacts back in and the redness and irritation came back. So...I went back to the doctor, they gave me an ointment to put in my eyes. After two days of using the ointment, no improvement took place so i was referred to an opthamalogist. She had seen no sign of infection so told me to quit using any medication and just try to let my eyes heal on their own. After three weeks, my eyes continued to be irritated, but the redness and irritation tended to fluctuate (typically worse at night). I went back to the opthamalogist and she checked my eyes out again, with the same conclusion, no infection.
However, here I am almost two months after the conjunctivitis took place and I havnt worn my contacts the entire time. My eyes still tend to fluctuate with redness, I wake up every morning and my eyes are dry and the sclera is yellowish. My eyes are not itchy, do not hurt and not sensitive to the light; however, despite my eyes, I feel pretty healthy.
Do you think this is an issue that can wait until september (until insurance kicks in through school) or should I go in to get a second opinion immediately?
Doctor's Answer
by Forum-OD-MP, Aug 16, 2006 12:00AM
you saw an ophthalmologist multiple times w/o any serious diagnosis...you are probably fine until sept in my opinion.
we're going to get into my personal bias here, but IMO no contact lens wearer should ever go to any general practitioner for any eye problem. a contact lens wearer with red eyes should go to a contact lens specialist, even if you think that your red eyes are not caused by the contacts.
the list of possibilities in your case is lengthy, but none of them are serious and most/all of them can easily wait until september IMO if the ophthalmologist couldnt find anything wrong.
we're going to get into my personal bias here, but IMO no contact lens wearer should ever go to any general practitioner for any eye problem. a contact lens wearer with red eyes should go to a contact lens specialist, even if you think that your red eyes are not caused by the contacts.
the list of possibilities in your case is lengthy, but none of them are serious and most/all of them can easily wait until september IMO if the ophthalmologist couldnt find anything wrong.
