Dealing with red, glossy eyes

[BigApple24]

Hello,

I'm a 23 year old male, new to the forum. I believe I have had some prominent red veins in both of my eyes for a number of years, but just started paying closer attention to them recently. Over the years people have occasionally asked me if I am high and all that, and I usually just shrugged it off as funny, but now it is more concerning to me. My sister also gets a lot of people asking her that, but not because of redness but because of the way her eyelids are I believe, not really sure..

But anyway, I wore contacts from 10-21, and then got LASIK. I don't believe Lasik made my eyes any worse, or dry. They've always been kind of dry, probably from the contact use..an eye doctor I went to recently said my eyes were pretty dry, but not severe. I've seen a couple of eye doctors recently, and they've all said I have a mild blepharitis, and possibly some ocular rosacea, but otherwise my eyes are healthy. I've been prescribed all types of drops and antibiotic ointments, but none really seem to help. It's really the redness that bothers me, not the dryness and I don't have itching or pain really whatsoever.

I'm also just finishing a course of Accutane for mild/moderate acne, but I don't believe my eye redness is caused by Accutane, as I had it before, just started noticing it more and more as of late. It was on doryx last year for the acne before I started Accutane, and I can't really remember if this helped with my eyelid inflammation, as I was more concerned with my skin at the time, but I'm curious if I should give doryx another shot soon and try my luck. Anyone with any suggestions, on drops, medications, or lifestyles changes I'd greatly appreciate it, thanks!

[DryMichael]

As you said, it seems you have some mild dry eye which at the moment doesnt look like much of a problem, but I would be VERY careful if I were you. It can easily become worse, you can get your meibomian glands clogged and its very hard to get back to "normal".

Just find all the things that can make your dry eye worse (its a very long list from "work in A/C office" to "demodex" or "food intolerance") and try to avoid them or minimalize them. I can guarantee you that the time you will invest in this will be worth it if you manage to avoid some severe dry eye symptoms.

[BigApple24]

Thank you for your response. In addition to treating the dryness, do you have any recommendations for treating or minimizing the redness, or at least the appearance of redness? I feel that when I go out into the sunlight, especially if it's sunny or windy I can just feel my eyes becoming more gritty and burning, and sure enough when I look in the mirror they appear more read. I think the fact that my eyelids are more red makes the eyes look more red overall. Cold compresses seem to make my eyelid go back to normal color but only temporarily. If only I could have a cold compress applied automatically every half hour or so lol

[DryMichael]

Thank you for your response. In addition to treating the dryness, do you have any recommendations for treating or minimizing the redness, or at least the appearance of redness? I feel that when I go out into the sunlight, especially if it's sunny or windy I can just feel my eyes becoming more gritty and burning, and sure enough when I look in the mirror they appear more read. I think the fact that my eyelids are more red makes the eyes look more red overall. Cold compresses seem to make my eyelid go back to normal color but only temporarily. If only I could have a cold compress applied automatically every half hour or so lol

I'm afraid dry eye = red eye, you need to cure your dry eye and then the redness will go away. You can only hope, that blepharitis is the only reason for your dry eye - than you should be able to help your dry eye with lid-hygiene done every day.