chronic eyelid margin swelling in the outside corners of both of my eyes

[sam170]

I have chronic eyelid margin swelling in the outside corners of both of my eyes and it extends 2 inches beyond the eye lids towards the cheek. There is pain, inflamation, and itching in the outside corners of both eyes for the past several months mostly in the skin area.  Recently, my eyes have also started to burn and when they burn severely, my eye lashes fall.  My eyes are always tired and I've lost the fresh look.  I've used prescription steroid creams, antibiotic ointments, allergy eye drops etc. but nothing is helping. They thought it was angular blepahritis and treated me with blephamide ointment, tobradex ointment but nothing took away the swelling.  I've been using preservative free artificial tears, pataday, an eye drop which is for inflamation and nothing helps. They burn more in the afternoon and evening however, the eyelid margin swelling doesn't go away at all infact, it keeps increasing.  I've stopped all cosmetics for the past 1 year and only use a mild cleanser and moisturizer that was given to me by my dermatologist.  The opthomoligist has given up and I've been to three of them.  My dermatologist thinks it could be rosacea but I've done lid scrubbing and warm compresses and they irritate the outside corner of the eyes further.  It's a line coming out of the outside corners of the eye like an eye liner except that it is red and inflammed.  I have no idea how to treat it any more and I'm desperately searching for help.  Thank you for your help.

[sam170]

It has been a couple of years now with the same issue.  They keep saying I have blepharitis but it's mild.  They still don't understand what this line is that is extending from the outer corner of the eye margin and is almost 1 inch long  now and keeps extending.  It is on both sides of the eye.  It's like an extended eyelid margin....almost like a hypertrophic scar.  It hurts and itches and sometimes even stings.  It gets red and almost feels like a permanent scar on both sides that keeps extending.  It just never goes away.  I have applied several steroid creams and fungal creams and bacitracin but it all seems to cause further inflammation.  I take zyrtec from time to time hoping that it may help but nothing does.  I cry not knowing what is causing it and in the mean time it keeps extending.  I wish I could add a picture for you to see and may be someone could give some feed back.  Please let me know if you have any information that may be helpful.  I keep reading that chronic blepharitis can cause scarring but my lids have no scar except these outside lines.  They start from the outer corner of the eyelid margin and extend towards the face almost an inch on both sides.  People think I have had eye surgery done and it's a scar from it when such is not the case.  Your help will be greatly appreciated.  I've been to 5 opthamologists and 2 dermatologists and they keep switching between steroid creams, Elidel, protopic and bacitracin.  I look forward to your reply or anyone who can shed some light or give me some advise.  And yes I have sometimes just left it without using anything for a couple of months hoping it will resolve on its own but it only gets worst!  And I have tried using allergy drops but again, they help the eye but this is on skin on the outer corner of the eye.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
For your symptoms, blepharitis and blepharospasm should be ruled out. Benign essential blepharospasm is not considered life-threatening, and occurs due to dry eyes or eye irritations. Blepharitis is caused by inflammation of the eyelids due to malfunctions of the oil glands near the base of the eyelids.

Another possibility which should be ruled out is of seborrheic dermatitis. Please consult an eye specialist and get these possibilities ruled out.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.