EYE REDNESS!!

Ever since I was recently sick, I have had problems with red eyes. Whether I wore contacts or not during my allergies, they seemed always red and irritated. Now every time I wake up and every time I go to bed, they seem red, and I have to keep putting eyedrops. I wait a while after waking up because the redness clears, but when I put the contacts on, throughout the day they become red again. It's a never-ending cycle and it's really frustrating, and quite itchy. Does it have to do with my recent allergies, or am I over-using my contacts? I get an average of about 7 hours of sleep, so does it have to do with that? This has never happened before, so it's really bothering me.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

The short answer is that the odds are highly likely that either you have lost the ability to wear contacts, the contacts don't fit, you are allergic to something used on your contacts or that you are caring or wearing your contacts incorrectly.

You need to stop wearing your contacts and wear your glasses for 2-3 weeks and make an appointment with an Eye MD for a comprehensive exam, evaluation for allergy or dry eyes and re-evaluate you to refit the contacts or stop wearing them.

Remember that the ranks of people having LASIK are chock full of people that lost the ability to wear contacts.
JCH III MD