red eyes/contacts

[seanyb]

im 22 yrs old. ive been wearing contacts since 2003. About 4 months ago i got pink eye in 1 eye. I went to the doctors and the pink eye was confirmed. i disposed of the contacts and wore glasses until the infection was cleared ( i was prescribed eye drops). After the infection was gone my eyes never got back to their original state. they stayed a little red. I started to wear contacts again but every time i put them in my eyes would get really red.  I went back to the doctor and they said the infection must still be in my eye. So they gave me more drops. once again it seemed the infection went away. tried the contacts again and the same thing happened, except now there was no pain or  other symptoms of pink eye. ive now been back to the doctor roughly 6 times. I was even given a different bran of contacts (acuvue oasys). I have yet to change my solution. recently i was on vaction and tried the contacts and they were doing fine until 1 day they got extremely red. I was using red removal drops after and before i used contacts.( i red this was bad). Im going back to the doctors tomorrow, But i wanted to see if i could get any other opinions. I know this is hard to follow. Also when i do wear the lenses, they make my eyes feel kind of heavy.

Note: I experienced nothing like this until i had pink eye.

Drops prescribed: pred forte, gentamicin

[seanyb]

ps. when i do try the contacts there is no pain, or feeling of irritation (besides the heavieness feeling). Just redness.

[John C Hagan]

Hell seanby,   your problem is much more likely due to contact lens intolerance and wearing problems than any recurrent eye infections.  You may need to stop wearing contact lens. Not everybody can wear then and people, especially women due to the effects of estrogens, can lose their tolerance to contacts anytime.

Our practice has a very large LASIK practice and when we analyse why our patient have LASIK contact intolerance is one of the leading reasons.

JCH MD Eye Physician and Surgeon

[dss111]

I had the exact same thing happen.  I got pink eye in my left eye, was treated w/Zylet drops for 2 weeks and no contacts, this cleared up.  Went back into contacts the eye again became very red and itchy/swollen after about a week of wearing lenses.  Anyway, long story short, this happened 2 other times and I have been told it was because of intolerance to the contacts or possibly allergy to the contacts called GPC.    I never had a problem either until I had pink eye and I have been a contact wearer for 24 years!!  I thought mine might have been recurrent eye infection as well.  That would have been a great answer to me given I am perfectly content in the contact lenses.