Ocular rosacea

[avee]

I'm 36. After 15 years of dry eye I finally started to believe that I have ocular rosacea. I have inflammations all the time,my eyes are red and burning when I'm under pressure (meeting or sth), eyes get red in the evening. My doctor says I have mild blepharitis.
I haven't noticed any signs of rosacea on the skin of my face. Is it possible?
I have my good days too. I'm an optimistic person but this struggle makes me desperate. Of course this forum has shown me that it can be worse.... I don't suffer any real pain, except early mornings when I'm trying to open my eyes in bed. But these inflammations....
This diagnosis is no good but it's still better than thinking that I'm a just a freak with blood-shot eyes.
My husband agrees to buy us alkaline water ionizer and I'm going to drink lot's of alkaline water as a start. I have doctor's appointment in couple of weeks, let's see what she thinks of my self-diagnosis. Doctors here are not familiar with dry eyes unfortunately.

[Gretchen]

Avee -

Posterior/anterior blepharitis, ocular rosacea, meibomitis - these are all terms regarding lid dysfunction. As to which exact thing it is, some of us never really know. However, it is important to know whether you have an issue with your lids and the lipid layer, or aqueous issues. From your description, it sounds like bleph to me.

The treatments for blepharitis are the same no matter what "flavor" you have. It is heavy Omega-3 supplementation, lid hygiene, lid compresses (hot or cold), low dose doxy and/or azasite (azithromycin drops), and sometimes steroids. I would focus on trial and error with treatments as opposed to nailing down an exact diagnosis.

HTH.
Gretchen

[avee]

Thank you, Gretchen!

[Debk]

Eye Redness

Hi there.

I was diagnosed with ocular rosacea and I do not have it on my face. It seems that some people have it both places, but others just one or the other.

Gretchen mentioned both warm and cold compresses. I think that is an important point because although warm is what is initially recommended by many doctors, they can make some people's symptoms worse. When I did warm compresses my eyes would get more red. Cold compresses really help with my redness and inflammation and I just do my lid hygiene after my warm shower instead of doing actual warm compresses.

I hope you can find something that gives you some relief.

[avee]

hot compresses are good for me. however, when I have very bad inflammations nothing helps.And it takes sometimes 2 weeks or so to heal. I have stayed at home with my children for 5 years and I'm so afraid of going back to work in couple of months. Sometimes I look and feel awful for days... My general health is very good -I don't have any chronic diseases, I even haven't had simple cold for a year by now. My eyes are awfully sensitive to any dust, but I don't seem to have allergies and allergy drugs don't help my eyes.