Mucus-discharge. Advice needed please..

[Colin P]

Have just awoke this morning and to my horror, for the 1st time my eyelids/lashes were stuck together with lots of yellow 'stretchy' mucus in the middle section, and not just a tiny amount in the corners, is this normal for 'dry-eye' sufferers?.
During the day i do get occasional discharge in the inner or outer corner (white or yellow) and i put it down to my tear film being unstable? not enough water(tears) therefore balance is incorrect and there is now slightly more mucus than there should be?.
I'm discounting an infection at the moment, as i have no swelling, itchiness, redness or 'puffed-up' eyes..
Does this happen to anyone else??....

[spmcc]

RE: discharge

I normally have no discharge with my dry eyes. One day I started having tons... granted it was a couple days after I got intracanalicular plugs so it was kinda a "duh" moment.

Anyway, I had no swelling, itching, redness, nothin'. But it was definitely an infection.

Once I had the correct antibiotic drop, it went away immediately.

So... I wouldn't discount infection. Go to your doctor.

[Colin P]

Thankyou for reply, appreciated!.. I got it in the morning and none really for the rest of the day- just the usual dry white in outer corners and slight yellow on inner corners, this morning was not as bad, but there was some present...

[littlemermaid]

Hi Colin! Are they looking after you in a hospital eye clinic? just noticed you are listing corneal damage and mucous strings. Just to make sure it's not just a GP having a crack at this. If we have yellow discharge we increase antibacterials, which we are using for reinfecting MGD anyway. Hopefully you are keeping your lid margins very clean night and day like we do with eg warm water, cotton wool, cotton bud, cleaning off debris along lashline etc. Also we like a clean flannel that has been microwaved with water and cooled to warm and steamy, laid across the eyes before gentle massage. Or a quick fix, flannel in hot kettle water. For some people, careful eye rub in a warm shower is enough. The flannel has been great for getting the glands moving and cleaning the eyes as well.

We use the blepharitis info from the big teaching hospitals, maybe check out Manchester and Moorfields websites. It is possible to get help out of your local big teaching hospital triage services and helplines when you're suffering, depending who's on. Keywords to get through if you need them are pain, inflammation, possibly chronic infection - don't say dry eye!