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How to take care of itchy (and red) eyes
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We, Bloggers, use our eyes a lot. My routine work involves computing, reading, writing, and editing. I feel sorry for my eyes (and hands). Once in a while, my eyes itch so badly that I need to buy OTC (over the counter) eye drops (either as “natural tears” to reduce dryness or as eye drops to reduce both dryness and redness). It worked fine until this time.
Early last week, I bought some OTC eye drops, but I felt my eyes were not getting better (maybe even getting worse). I finally called Kaiser on Saturday, after suffering for days of eye irritation, ranging from minor discomfort to burning sensation. I made an appointment to see Dr. Ling on Monday. I also went to the Longs’ Drugstore to buy an eye wash kit. While on the phone with the Kaiser staff, I recalled that eye wash helped me in the past. The kit includes an eye cup and a bottle of purified water. I felt a lot better after giving one eye bath to my worse left eye. So the practice continued throughout Sunday. By Monday morning, I was thinking NOT to see Dr. Ling because it could be a waste of time and money if the eye wash had solved my problem. Then, my eyes felt itchy again, urging me not to neglect them, and I feared that I have some kind of allergy (yes, Hawaii is a great place to have all kinds of allergies), so I kept my Kaiser appointment.
I was lucky that there were not many patients in the waiting area this morning. Dr. Ling listened to my story, and nodded constantly. It all made sense to him what I had gone through: itchy eyes, OTC eye drops not working, eye wash sort of worked but not solving the problem… Ok, what I want to share with you is something I learned from Dr. Ling today, which may help you some day.
What I have is called “allergic conjunctivitis” or “dry eyes.” (Correct me if an eye doctor is reading this.) Why didn’t the OTC eye drops work this time? Well, there are all kinds of OTC eye drops, and many of them contain preservatives to keep the fluid “clean.” Some preservatives can irritate our eyes, which probably did in my case. The eye wash is good to wash away unwanted things, such as pollen, dust, etc. However, it also washes away our natural tears, which is bad because we need tears to lubricate our eyes (so we won’t have dry eyes or irritated eyes).
At the end of the visit, I was asked to use two kinds of OTC eye drops. Zaditor (by Novartis), which was a prescription drug at $50/bottle, is now available as OTC medicine for less than $15/bottle. It contains antihistamine. To face the medical problem head on, I was told to use 4 times daily (instead of twice daily) for 14 days, and then switch to twice daily as needed. Refresh Tears (by Allergan, Inc.) are lubricant eye drops, which you can get at a drugstore. It has some preservative, but the preservative is “gone” once the drop “sees” the light. I was told that I can use Refresh Tears as often as needed. Another thing I haven’t tried is to apply cold compressor over closed eyes for 10 minutes 4 times daily as needed. One can make a cold compressor at home by using a sandwich bag to hold some ice and cold water inside, and wrapping the bag with a towel.
I am glad that I don’t have eye infection, and Zaditor is already making my eyes less irritated…
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-306792-271671.html
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