Red dry eyes!

[Slim22]

Hello,

When I wake up my eyes are blood shot and dry, I have to use eye drops constantly to get rid of the redness, it is fine during the day then as the night gets longer my eyes go redder and redder. Any advice? Also I am considering lasek surgery will this make things worse.

Thank you any advice will be most welcome.

Cheers Dale.

[alison22]

Eyedrops with tetrahydrozoline (i.e. Visine Original) are perfectly safe to use on occasion. I agree with Forum OD that you should not be using them every day. You should instead be using a moisturizing eye drop. Visine does make a moisturizing eye drop called Visine Tears that many of our patients are quite happy with. And it is a little bit cheaper than some of the other lubricant eye drops out there. If you are using them every day, you should probably use drops without preservativee. (single use vials)
Hope this helps!

[Ag-i-doc]

any continued redness and/or discomfort should be investigated by an eye doc.

[CrazyButLuvable]

For the past month everytime I wake up my right eye is blood shot. My lower eye lid is red as well. When my eyelid is closed & I rub on it, it hurts slightly. I don't use any visine eyedrops or anything like that. And I wear glasses when needed. Should I go see my eye doctor or is this something common?
Thank you,
Julie in Richmond, Va

[Ag-i-doc]

it depends.  have you used eyedrops like i described earlier regularly (once a day or more) for 8 years?  tetrahydozoline or naphazoline containing eyedrops?  if so, yes it is possible the you might have permanenet corneal damage that might never resolve.  but  depending on how young you are, you may also have little or no damage.  regardless, you still need to stop.

right after you stop you'll actually get WORSE for a few weeks.  more redness, more discomfort, etc.  its called "rebound hyperemia".  this is when to use the chilled artificial tears copiously.

if you are a contact lens wearer, like i suspect you are if you are considering lasik, then you really, really need to be under somone's supervision.  go to an eye doctor.

[Slim22]

Thank you for such a prompt response,

Is there permanent damage if I have been using eye drops for about 8 years and will it take 6 weeks to rectify if I go cold turkey?

Dale

[Forum-OD-MP]

i bet the "eyedrops" you are "constantly using" contain naphazoline or tetrahydrozoline or a similar "ocular decongestant".  do they?  visine or clear eyes or naphcon-A or ophcon-A or something like that?

if that is the case, then there is your problem.  quit cold turkey and start using over-the-counter artificial tears like systane or refresh instead.  chilled systane works great.

if you are a CONTACT LENS WEARER: then you need an eye exam.  YES if you are considering LASIK/LASEK then you need to fix this problem before you go in for your initial consult.  it could take up to 6 weeks to resolve if you really have been using naphazoline/tetrahydrozoline....