Eye Infection - Complications

[ohl]

Nine days ago I woke up with an extremely mild case of pink eye in my left eye. My sister had been suffering from it, so it was pretty easy to guess where I'd caught it, and I went promptly into the doctor to get it checked out. She confirmed it was pink eye (but didn't say whether it was viral or bacterial) and prescribed me antibiotic eyedrops. Knowing that it usually spread to both eyes I started drops in both eyes.

Within hours both of my eyes are had become drastically worse -- red, swollen eyelids, constant discharge photophobia and pain, Having never had pink eye before, I assumed this was the natural progression of the affliction, and over the next five days I took my drops four times a day as prescribed, my eyes getting worse and worse. Finally on the fifth day I woke, barely able to open my eyes, and went into the doctor. It turned out I was severely allergic to the antibiotics, and was prescribed the less irritating 'Vigamox'. That was four days ago.

After I stopped the drops I was allergic to, I went through two or three days of moderately high fever, which I'm not sure had anything to do with my illness (maybe from stopping the antibiotic?). My fever broke yesterday, and I now feel otherwise healthy. My eyes, however, are not improving. They has significantly less discharge, but I'm still experiencing extreme redness, swollen eyelids and dry eye pain. I usually wear contact lenses, and I'm blind as a bat without them, especially wearing normal sunglasses - and have been avoiding public places. I've been lurking in the house for the past ten days (luckily I work at home) but I don't understand why this hasn't gotten better yet. I went back to the doctor who said my eyes had made a great improvement, and  didn't show any complications and I should continue to use the new drops.

I'm doing everything I can -- cold compresses, natural-tears-drops and taking ibuprofen for the pain and swelling, and they still look and feel horrible. Is there anyone who can suggest ways to improve my condition?

[ohl]

Thanks for the quick reply -- I know I should have gone in earlier. My sister was experiencing the same symptoms (she was allergic to the antibiotics to!) so I  just thought it was a bad bout of conjunctivitis. Then when she went in and found out she had an allergy, I went straight into the doctor's office then.

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

It is very hard for me to make suggestion on a situation like this without an eye exam.  In the future, you should call your doctor immediately if conditions worsen.

Dr. O.