I have been reading all these responses and no one has made the gut connection. I believe these to be reactions caused by glyphosate poisoning in the majority of our foods. ....especially wheat products (which is in everything from bread, crackers, pasta, seasonings, etc...). My research led me to find that they spray the glyphosate on the wheat the WEEK BEFORE harvesting.....basically a slow kill to us. They even spray this stuff on our produce. When this problem initially occurred with my eyelids, the only change in my life was I had switched to wheat bread for my daily sandwiches. It is not an immediate response, it takes several days before the eyelid itching and inflammation and then crusting and flaking and lasts about 2 weeks as long as I do not eat a food that has pesticides in / on it.
I lad had difficulty in the evening when I went to bed. Swollen lids and sneezing. I began to wash sheets on a more regular basis but the symptoms persisted. I continue to have some effects but they have decreased since I have begun to vaccume my mattress. I was horrified to see what actually will come out of a mattress. I was tested for allergies and found I am highly allergic to dust mites. I have a Rainbow vacuum cleaner and was able to see what came out. As I said my symptoms have diminished considerably at night. Hop this helps.
While listening to NPR many years ago, I heard an inventor talk about a way of softening water electronically without using salt. Why did he invent this? Because of his sore, eroding eyelids! So long as I avoid water that has gone through a salt treatment system, my eyelids remain intact. Recently, I saw a new dentist and a high pressure system was used to clean my teeth that may have used baking soda as the main cleaning agent since it tasted very salty, and since all of my gums reacted by going into extreme irritation. Wondering if it could be related. Anyone have a thought or experience in the regard?
For the past 6.5 months now I have suffered from what my eye doctor has said is blepharitis..but the only symptom I have is swollen left eyelid on the top and bottom. I don't have any of the other symptoms. I have tried everything from antihistamines, steroids, Tobradex, ointments, tetracycline, doxycycline..nothing seems to be working for me..i was told to do hot compress, but it made my eyelid swelling worse :( please, if anyone has suffered this symptom as well and has over come it, please let me know what you had tried.. I'm willing to try anything
DEMODEX - Over abundance of the human skin and hair mite, try tea tea oil wipes around your eyes, you can buy these or do what I do, by occusoft wipes and,add your own tea tree oil, a few drops, use terpina4-ol kind, i use essential brand on Amazone. I have been dealing with same issue for 3 years, have not been able to wear makeup that long, spent so much money on doctors, been to 3 doctors and they all dismissed demodex. Started using and it was instant relief, you have to do this treatment for quite some time to treat these little mites. Hope this helps everyone out there
Not sure who you are directing this last question to.
Just looked at the style n clean pen and great care would be needed or you'll end up with a corneal abrasion.
I have had blepharitis for some years and only recently found a product that actually helps, so I know exactly how you feel. I found a product that you can use to clean your eyelids with and that also comes with a cleansing gel that has done wonders for my eyes. It's called style'n'clean pen and cleansing gel. Hope this can help you to.
Salt in US drinking water is very minimal. If it were a problem distilled water could be used. actually many people find with with salt (normal saline) is more comfortable than hypotonic tap water.
JCHMD
That is unusual, especially not responding to such vigorous treatment and also just being one eye. I would suggest a second opinion from an ophthalmologist, if possible one that specializes in cornea and external disease. It may be something other than blepharitis. JCH MD
I have had this in the corner of my eyelid for about a month. It's been red, swollen, itchy, flaky and watery. It's been driving me crazy!
I tried anti-fungal cream which made it mad. That ruled our trying tea tree oil since it also has anti-fungal properties.
Then I tried cortizone cream. Again it just made it mad and so swollen.
Last night I tried Aveeno Baby Eczema lotion with oatmeal.
OMG! I woke up with the swelling gone and my eye almost looks normal again! I'm going to keep using that. It's the only thing that it's responding to. And that tells me it most likely is eczema.
I have the same problem. I went for allergy tests and was told I'm irritated by ceteryl alcohol. This is in all creamy moisterisers including eczema favourites like Aqueous cream and E45. I looked for a moisteriser without this and started using facial oils like Palmers Cocoa oil. This worked temporarily but my eyes started to get sore again after a while. A few months ago I bought a jar of organic coconut oil and this seemed to help. However after making a big mistake of using facial washes for a few weeks (that don't contain ceteryl alcohol!) my eyes are sore again and although better since stopping the facial wash, are still being irritated by something! This can only be the coconut oil, vaseline or cotton wool. I'm at my witsend with this issue. I hate not wearing make up, I hate feeling ugly!!!! Some days my eyes looked scorched. I need to moisterise the rest of my face but my eyes get sore as a consequence. My lips also crack in the corners when my eyes are sore and won't heal which can be a sign of aneamia. I am aneamic and take appropriate action to combat this so I think this is linked to whatever is irritating me as well. I read recently it could be linked to food intolerances....has anyone been tested for this? I've not read all 900 odd answers so apologies if there is already a miracle answer here somewhere. Perhaps someone could direct me to it if so!!
I have the same problem. I went for allergy tests and was told I'm irritated by ceteryl alcohol. This is in all creamy moisterisers including eczema favourites like Aqueous cream and E45. I looked for a moisteriser without this and started using facial oils like Palmers Cocoa oil. This worked temporarily but my eyes started to get sore again after a while. A few months ago I bought a jar of organic coconut oil and this seemed to help. However after making a big mistake of using facial washes for a few weeks (that don't contain ceteryl alcohol!) my eyes are sore again and although better since stopping the facial wash, are still being irritated by something! This can only be the coconut oil, vaseline or cotton wool. I'm at my witsend with this issue. I hate not wearing make up, I hate feeling ugly!!!! Some days my eyes looked scorched. I need to moisterise the rest of my face but my eyes get sore as a consequence. My lips also crack in the corners when my eyes are sore and won't heal which can be a sign of aneamia. I am aneamic and take appropriate action to combat this so I think this is linked to whatever is irritating me as well. I read recently it could be linked to food intolerances....has anyone been tested for this? I've not read all 900 odd answers so apologies if there is already a miracle answer here somewhere. Perhaps someone could direct me to it if so!!
I have found a solution to my problem. So glad that I found this community. I read all of the posts. And decided I needed to go to the doctors again.
Here is my story, in February 2013, I started to develop symptoms of my eyelids burning after I washed my face at night and put my moisturizer on, I was using Cetaphil(which I used for over 10 years) and Oil of Olay Regnerist(about a year). I immediately washed off my face with water and stopped using the Oil of Olay, still used Cetaphil and went back to using Clinque yellow lotion. Well my eyes starting getting worse, I dealt with it until I moved in July, it was really bad at this point so I went to my local urgent care since I just moved and didnt have a doctor. I was told I had contact dermatitis, given presnisone pills and was told to start eliminating things to see what I was allergic to. The redness went away the pills stopped and the redness itchyness returned. I went back to the urgent care, was given the same treatment. During the coarse of both treatments, I started using all products that were geared towards allergies, such as scent free laundry soaps, all natural shampoos, bath soaps, etc. I even bought all new organic makeup and new hypoallergenic pillows. I even would soak my contacts in saline solution before I put them in my eyes (eye doctor told me I wasn’t allergic to my contacts or solutions because my eyeballs weren’t red or itchy) Of course by now I am going crazy because nothing is working. I have tried all of the following which helped but the flair ups would come and go:
No make up
Hot washcloths to the eyes
Ocusoft eyelid cleaner
Nubian Heritage Black African Soap
Aloe
Oil treatment
Teabags
Vaseline
Zyrtec
Bare Minerals Makeup
Will not use products that has Glyceryl Stearate in them
Hydrocortisone cream
All natural cleansing and moisturizing products by www.skincatering.com excellent!!!
I found this community in October, so I made yet another doctors appointment because my condition was at its absolute worse ever. That day the doctor had a student with her and asked if I wanted to let the student examine me, so I agreed, they have to learn right? He was very throughout, asking my history and lots of questions, he said it could be eczema, I was convinced it was blepheritis since I has searched the web for over 2 years. I was even thinking it was a food allergy not having any symptom after eating any foods just the constant itchy red eyelids. He lefted the room to confer with the doctor and they came back in the room. She agreed with the eczema and said its quiet common. She suggested that I see a dermatologist. She said I could use the hydrocortisone cream I had used before but only twice a day for 10 days, its not good for your eyelids since that skin is so delicate. I was using 1% over the counter she gave me 2.5% prescription and she also had recently been to the dermatologist herself and he suggested to her that she use Cerave products. So off I went to CVS to pick up the prescription and check out the Cerave Products. Since I use my Skin Catering Cleanser I decided to try some of the Cerave PM facial Moisturizing lotion. OMG that stuff is the best thing I have ever used. My eyes are no longer red, itchy, saggy, runny, swollen. I have my glow back when I use mascara you can see that I have some on, wow. Fingers crossed that I can keep the eczema at bay. I will comment back in a couple of weeks with an update on my situation!
I have been suffering for months now, and have just stumbled upon this thread. I myself awoke one morning with a very raw, red, swollen left eye. Over the next few days, it was both eyes. I also developed a dry, flaky sort of rash around the folds of my nose, the corners of my mouth, behind my ear, down my neck, across my chest, and on the insides of the elbow folds on both arms. I've now been seen by 2 care now Dr's, which initially diagnosed me with Atopic Dermititis, and then two weeks later with Impetigo. I was given both antibiotics, and steroids. While the rash and my painful swollen eyes seemed to improve initially, after finishing treatment both times, it came back with a vengeance!! I then saw an Internal Medicine Doc who referred me for Auto Immune testing, but suspected that this immune response could be a result of a fungal infection, and prescribed Nystatin (An oral anti-fungal). I took the Nystatin for the 10 days prescribed, and also cut out ALL sugar and starch from my diet. I'm an avid red wine drinker, so this was not an easy or enjoyable measure for me. The anti fungal approach worked!!! Finally a little relief. At this point I started researching and experimenting different options for myself while also making the appointment with the Rheumatologist. (Will note what I've found that's made a difference to date below) The Rheumatologist tested me for a number of Auto Immune deficiencies, as well as Lyme, Thyroid, and the like. Everything came back negative. 4 months and 4 Dr.'s later, the Rheumatologist referred me to an Allergist and Immunologist for allergy testing. While yes, I do have a number of allergies, and food sensitivities, I suspect, that this is not allergy related (Although I'm sure the allergies are not helping anything).Having reached a point of utter frustration, after seeing numerous specialists, with little to no help or definitive answers, I've taken the below noted steps on my own, based on research from the 20+ books I've read as it relates to fungal infections in the body.
Here's what I know for sure:
1. Antihistamines do not help
2. Antibiotics and Steroids also do not help- in fact exacerbated the symptoms upon completion of the treatments every single time. Fact- Antibiotics and Steroids will cause a fungus to explode- It's why we're encouraged to take Pro-biotics especially when taking antibiotics. Pro-biotic are the good bacteria that keep the bad bacteria in check in our digestive system.
3. This is not caused by an allergy. (I spent the last 4 months strictly adhering to the elimination diet recommended for food allergies-with no real change) I travel for a living, so the possibility of an airborne allergen causing the rash is not possible. All of my skin care, hair care, body lotions are hypoallergenic, and have been used for years with no reactions. I also went weeks without any makeup at all during all of this, and it made no difference at all.
What did make a difference:
1. Nystatin prescribed by internal medicine doc- Fungal infections are tricky because you can't just kill the fungus, but you also have to kill the spores which won't become fungus for another 30-45 days. So it often takes several rounds of treatment to eliminate the fungal infection.
2. Because of the success I had with the anti-fungal medication, I added a rather lengthy list of supplements to my daily routine with anti-fungal properties. This had a huge positive effect on the rash and swelling and discomfort on my eyelids as well as around my nose and ears. In fact on one trip out of state, I forgot to take them, and I had a flare up of epic proportions.
3. I started cleansing my face (and any areas of skin on my neck, arms, face with the same dry flaky rash) 2 to 3 times a day with a mild Tea Tree cleansing pad from Trader Joes. While yes, it did sting, it also made it significantly better. And as the rash healed, the cleansing pads no longer caused a stinging sensation when used. The rash is completely gone from my neck, chest, and arms- and only my eyelids, and around my nose flare up from time to time.
All of these things lead me to strongly believe that the issue is indeed fungal related. I'm seeing yet another specialist in the coming week- This time a dermatologist, for a skin biopsy. I've stopped taking all my supplements, and also stopped using the tea tree pads in the meantime so that I will have something to show them other than pictures and for them to biopsy. And wouldn't you know it, it's flaring up. Hopefully I'll have some results after the biopsy next week to report.
In the meantime, if this info could help anyone else, I thought I would pass it along.
Sorry for all the comments, but I have follow-up thoughts and I can't edit my posts. Do any of you sit near or under an A/C or heating vent? I noticed that my right eye was worse when I had the flair up and the only thing I could connect it to was the A/C vent in my car -- I'd have it pointed right at my face. I really need to have my car a/c vents cleaned since it's an old car and I am quite sure there has to be mold spores in those vents.
My bed is right next to my a/c (on my right side) and I know for a fact that thing needs to be cleaned because it's a wall unit that hasn't been updated since they built our apartment complex -- a loooong time ago.
Someone else mentioned this happens when people are stressed. I don't know. I have been stressed plenty but never this bad.
The A/C and heating units will dry you out and so we have to drink a LOT of water and lay off the alcohol and cigs and sweets or drastically cut them down.
KI hope
I remedied this by using NO more BABY WIPES or eye make up removing wipes or microfiber anything on my eyelids or under my eyelids. (Sorry for the caps but you're all pretty desperate as I was, and I think this might be what is causing our problem.) It flares up really bad when I use anything like that around my eyes. I just use a very gentle cleanser like jojoba oil and nothing with alcohol in it. Too drying.
NO WATERPROOF makeup.
I don't sleep with the A/C on my face.
Keep well-hydrated, especially during the hotter months.
I noticed it started when I started using those stupid exfoliating wipes and baby wipes and microfiber washcloths to take off my makeup. Once I stopped using that stuff and rehydrated myself with fish oils and evening primrose oils, I can wear makeup again.
Do you mean that your baby rubs his eyes a lot, or that he actually scratches them?
And when you 'itch' them for him, what exactly are you doing?
I really think you need to talk with his pediatrician about this. Rubbing or 'itching' someone's eyes for 20 minutes can only cause even more irritation.
it will take a while for you to get used to the new fur but youl become immune