Red eye one side for over a month.

[mkh9]

I have had a red left eye that was painful at first then irritated. It did have a bit of gung in the corner for a couple of weeks, but nothing significant. But I usually don't have any goo in the eye. It looked like I just got a little residual eye makeup left in there in the morning. My family practice doctor said to use sulfcetamol eye drops for a few days. I used them for a week as it said on the package but only twice a day. This usually clears up my eye problems as I have blepheritis. It didn't do anything. I saw a optometrist O.D. head of Optometry, for a diagnostic eye exam and he did looked at the eye and dilated it and it looked normal with no scratching of the cornea and no problems in the back of the eye or the optic nerve. I had a vision test and that was fine and I got new glasses. But he gave me Bacitracin eye ointment to put in my eye to see if that would work. I started cleaning the eye lids with eye lid scrubs twice a day. I have a lot of topical antibiotic hyper sensitivity issues and so he was being careful. I am also very allergic to topical Clobetisol and Alcometasone. So, I tried the Bacitracin and woke up with a swollen left eye lid (only the corner). So I stopped it and called his office and went in again. He checked my vision again and for any damage to the cornea and gave me 5 days of tobramycin with loteprednol etabonate 0.5%. I used it for the 5 days. My eye looked a lot less red toward the last day. Then I stopped using it as directed. Now after 4 days my eye has steadily gotten more red again. It seems to drain or be runny at night and is not painful or itchy. The other eye is fine. So I wonder if I have steroid rebound or if neither antibiotic cleared up an infection, it was a virus or the steroid temporarily helped an inflammatory process going on. Can you shed some light on what is going on. I will see an opthamologist if this doesn't go away in about a week. My vision is pretty good on that side but maybe slightly less clear on that side. This seems to be mostly after the steroid. The eye lid swelling is mostly gone but still when I look in my magnifying mirror it is still slightlly puffy in the corner. but you can't see it with normal magnification.
thanks,
mkh9

[JohnHaganMD]

=

[JohnHaganMD]

No the directions are on the bottle but its rubbed into the eyelashes and left to dry.  It would be done after you do any mechanical removal  with warm compresses or the medicated pads.

[JohnHaganMD]

This eyelid cleaner Ocusoft Plus Platinum works really well for that problem (better than "original" or "plus")   This is the link  http://www.ocusoft.com/ocusoft-lid-scrub-plus-platinum-foam-50ml-2

[mkh9]

Thanks I will take a look. Is this for doing the actual scrubbing instead of using a wash cloth?
mkh9

[mkh9]

Thanks I will take a look.
mkh9

[JohnHaganMD]

Happy to help

[JohnHaganMD]

Steroids don't cause "rebound redness" like Visine eye drops do. What happens is steroids are so powerful they suppress the inflammatory reaction. When you stop if the inflammatory cause is still there e.g. dry eyes or blepharitis' the redness comes back not due to the steroids but the underlying disease.

[mkh9]

Dr. John Hagan, M.D. Thanks for clearing up the question about steroid rebound and the eye drops. I appreciate your time!
mkh9

[mkh9]

Dr. John Hagan, FYI I saw a Opthamologist (cornea specialist) today and he said that the optometrist was correct the eye is fine but it just has bacterial over growth (normal eye flora) due to the natural oil in the eye getting more viscous. So I just have to use a hot compress for about 10 minutes twice a day and either lid scrubs or wipe the lid with baby shampoo to get rid of the bacteria and crummy eye. I'm very relieved. I hope it works. I am afraid to rub the eye like that and of getting more "pathogenic' bacteria into the eye. But I'll give it a try.
Regards,
mkh9

[JohnHaganMD]

An optometrist is not a MD and in situations like this I suggest you see an Eye MD opthalmologist. I can't make any diagnosis over the internet.

[mkh9]

I didn't expect a diagnosis. I was wondering if you can get rebound red eye from the steroid like you can on your skin? That is all I want to know right now. I will go to an opthalmologist if I find this isn't rebound. If the eye doesn't do that like the skin does (especially the face) then I will go my first chance.
thanks,
mkh9