Does anyone recognize these symptoms.

[EMP]

I have been having troubles with eyes for years now (I'm a 24 years old male) and having visited plenty of specialists, I have only managed to partly solve my problems.

What I have is the following and applies for both eyes:

-Very visible veins on the upper eyelids as well as on the margins of the lower eyelids - they always look purple, from the morning till the night.
-A burning sensation in the eyes, which typically worsens when drinking alcohol or being in the sun.
-Oily foreheard, and nose.
-Grain like things on scalp.
-Very light sensitive

One specialist told be that I have seborrheic dermatitis and provided me with supranettes (sterile tissues) to clean my eyes, which seem to help little. Additionally, I have a stye on my eyelid margin which doesn't seem to disappear and a couple of weeks ago I got a milium or milk seed on the outer edge of my left eye.

Could anyone tell me whether these symptoms are recognizable and specifically regarding the following:

-Being a minute of 10 in the sun without sunglasses makes my eyes feel very tired and seems to make the eyelids puffy (or probably the veins become even more visible). Has anyone experienced this?
-Alcohol seems to be a killer - if I go out and start drinking, my eyes start feeling really tired - I don't know how to explain it, but the feeling is very unpleasant.
-Does this milium indicate anything? Never had it before.

I feel like being out of options and I still don't know what I really have. I therefore would really appreciate it if anybody could give me some input to finally solve the problem.

Many thanks and greetings from Denmark.

[y-gwair]

Greetings from the UK!

Sorry to hear you are having such bad problems. I have similar problems, only just beginning to explore the dermatological side of my eye problems, but the reaction to alcohol and heat sounds like you may also have a problem called Rosacea, which can occur alongside seborrheic dermatitis and be an underlying cause of blepharitis which causes inflammation of the eye surface/eyelids. I've just been diagnosed with Rosacea, and have found that things like hot drinks, baths or sun can worsen both my skin and eye problems (including setting off the red vein inflammation in the eyes). I only made the connection between the skin and eye problems when I came across this forum, although I've probably had it mildly for many years

If you visit the Rosacea Support forum, they have lots of information on the various manifestations of Rosace/seb derm and ocular rosacea.
http://rosacea-support.org/community/viewforum.php?f=20

Not sure what you mean by a 'milium', it might be a small marginal ulcer caused by the bacteria that go along with with blepharitis/abnormal oil production, but you need get your doctor and/or an eye specialist to look at it as soon as you can. They will also be able to suggest a further interventions that might help your eye soreness generally, depending on exactly what is wrong.

Goodluck!

[littlemermaid]

Seborrhoeic blepharitis

Hey, Denmark! My young daughter is pale Viking skin type and has a seborrhoeic component to blepharitis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blepharitis . She has had yellow flakes on scalp, dry reddish patches behind ears, rough sandpaper texture between eyebrows, that is, some mild tendency to sebaceous dermatitis which flared up during sebaceous overproduction in puberty. She also has what looks like periorificial acne rosacea inflammation, therefore multifactoral causes of blepharitis. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an allergic inflammation component, particularly to facewashes. Just in case any of this sounds familiar.

We have good control of flareups and restored meibomian gland function with antibacterials (oral and topical, for obvious bacterial red eye with chalazia), warm compresses and hot cloth massage lid cleaning. But particularly anti-dandruff shampoo to control seb derm, letting the foam rinse over the face. We use Head and Shoulders shampoo for sensitive skin all the time (Zinc Pyrithione antifungal), but if you need something stronger for a short time, Nizoral (Ketoconazole 2%).

'Milia' on lid margin could be blocked meibomian glands. Since you haven't noticed bacterial infection you may be just seborrhoeic blepharitis, or any bacterial infection could be secondary to blocked glands if you've never had conjunctivitis or a chronic red eye. You can see the oil quality by gently pressing on lower lid with one finger from below lash line in bright daylight in bathroom mirror after warm cloth compress, and examining lid margin for line of tiny dots of oil (baby oil consistency good, toothpaste problem). If that's not producing anything, try gently pinching with two fingers. We find optometrists in LASIK assessment business at least know how to do this. A doctor decides whether a short course of eg doxycycline is needed to restore MG function. Then you would be developing a daily maintenance regime as a preventative.

I would have thought swelling, purpling and eyelid veins are due to persistent inflammation on pale skin, unless you have been using steroid drops? Could be allergy.

Don't you think problems in the sun and after alcohol are due to the dry eye surface from meibomian gland dysfunction from blepharitis? People definitely feel worsening/improvement on meibom consistency with components of diet. We find sugar and fats make it worse, could be alcohol sugars if it's definitely not environmental like heaters or a/c. Light sensitivity suggests corneal changes, I think, so you need to take this blepharitis seriously and doctor-shop for an anterior segment ophthalmologist till you're happy.

Can you get someone to check your tear film as Rooneyandfergie was suggesting. Meibomian oil holds the tear film on the surface so lack of gives you dry eye. An optometrist uses fluoroscein dye and counts the seconds it takes to break up and disperse. To the trained eye, the pattern of dispersal can also tell you where problems are. You can use bland eyedrops to maintain tear film until you get progress, preferably no preservatives, we use Celluvisc.

I am so interested in possible fungal factors in blepharitis. It would be some variant of Malassezia furfur, naturally occuring on the skin but in overgrowth. This is not in the literature yet but there's plenty of anecdotal success in the forums Y-gwair links above - not just with an obvious seb derm skin. Anti-dandruff shampoo and daily warm compresses and lid massage. Worth a try, if you haven't already. Let us know if it works!

[littlemermaid]

As Y-gwair says, we have to consider also what might be the causes of rosacea-type skin inflammation flareups that affect the MG function, as well as seb derm. In our case it has been chemicals from facewashes and components of diet, some people find allergy is their main factor. When these are reduced or eliminated there has been improvement. Antibiotics and antibacterials improve inflammation as well as reduce bacteria, nobody knows why yet. The aim is to restore MG fuction and find a long-term maintenance regime.

[EMP]

Thank you all so much for the input. I greatly appreciate it, but it's a lot of info and I probably have to re-read and do some research myself.

I should add, the optometrist - whom is 'the' specialist in the Netherlands in the field of dry eye told me the tear production and quality is average. I've been using an organic shampoo for some time (as per recommended by her) but that doesn't seem to help much. I use black African soap (fully natural) as a face wash.

Today was one of those rare days that my eyes actually felt relatively normal. I suspected before that certain types of foods might be of influence - I just can't figure what. Being a student, I am kind of on a pasta/bread diet

Once again, thank you all. Right now, I'm having exam weeks, but I'll definitely get back to you guys later.