yellow eye stripe

[rfischr]

For the past 4 months both of my eyes have had a yellow stripe across the exposed part of the white. I have tried eye drops and eating spinach, as recommended on various websites. I must stress that it is not the entire white, but only the exposed part which is yellowish. My only guess is that I severely sunburned the whites of my eyes when on vacation in Hawaii, as I spent time there in the bright snow on top of Mauna Kea [13,000 ft elevation]. However, I did not at the time experience any pain or other side effects generally connected with a sunburn.

Does anyone have any ideas about how to treat this? Yellow eye at 27 seems a bit premature.

[rfischr]

Thanks a lot for you input. What kind of oral multivitamins are you referring to? Also, if my eyes were sun damaged [its not the whole eye and so I know its not jaundice], about how long would you predict it'll take them to recover? Thanks again.

-A grateful Seattlite linguist

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

Too much sun and wind exposure can cause damage to conjuctive -pinguecula or pterygium.  Sunglasses, wind protection, frequent artificial tears, oral multivitamin, occasional redness reliever drops like OPCON A may help to reduce the amount of redness and future damage but will not undo current damage. If the whole eye appears yellow that can be a sign of jaundice - just a side note.

MJKJ MD