dry eye and redness

I had allergic conjunctivitis for the entire length of allergy season this fall. My eyes were red, burning, itching, it felt like something was stuck in my left eye and my lids were on and off swollen. Pataday did absolutely nothing for me and neither did OTC drops. After a few weeks of this my eyes started to feel kind of dry as well. In the past few weeks my allergies have subsided (no more swelling but redness and occasional burning persist) but my dryness will not go away. I have heard that conjunctivitis can cause depletion of tear film and that it can later heal. Is this true? I have only worn my contacts once since july. Is this dryness permanent or does conjunctivitis induced dryness usually heal (if so how long does it generally take, I miss my lenses)

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

Dry eyes are very common and along with allergy is one of the most common reason for having to discontinue contact lens. Dry eyes is more of a problem for women, especially women over 40. Use the search feature and archives to read more about dry eyes. 20% of our lasik surgery is done on people that lose the abilitity to wear contacts, dry eyes is the main cause.

JHaganMD