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Dry eyes from latex allergy..??

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  • Dry eyes from latex allergy..??

    I have had dry eye troubles for around a month, and believe it originated with an allergic reaction... here is how it happened and also some recent developments and ideas...

    I thouhgt inmitally I was allergic to something in an apartment. I was not staying in the apartment, it was my girlfriends and i stayed there maybe once or twice a week. Each time my eyes would end up watery and a bit stingy, like when you blow menthol in your eyes, making it hard to even keep them open for more than a few seconds. They were not red or itchy at all. After going back to my own apartment they settled down to perfectly normal after 1 or 2 days. This happened every time like clockwork - exactly as an allergy would. Then I had exams, and couldn't afford days where I couldn't read, so stopped staying with her for maybe 4 weeks, and my eyes were perfect the whole time, then after the exam, I stayed there and the next morning my eyes were in agony again. As I had no exams and hadnt seen her much for weeks, and know I was moving away in a week I stayed there every night in spite of my eyes, thinking it was one week more then they would get back to normal.

    I moved to another city after that, and didn't see her at all for a number of weeks, but my eyes never got back to normal. they were always a bit dry and sore. My theory now is that the allergy somehow affected my meibomian glands, and after that week of constant dryness and pain they must have got blocked (or maybe something else, I'm not sure of the possibilities), hence the continued dryness.

    However this weekend I visited her in her new apartment in a different country and my eyes flared up again! This was the morning after the first night I stayed with her. On a hunch from something a friend had suggested, we decided to avoid latex (condoms) for the next couple of days and after maybe 1 full day my eyes were getting better, even though I was around her the whole time, and now 2 days later they are back to the way they have been since I moved away the first time -not perfect but better than during the reaction itself. So now I'm fairly certain the allergy was to latex, however I'm still a little unsure how to go about treating the general dryness that seems to have been left as a hangover from the original reaction.

    If the glands are clogged I have read that compresses and expressing the glands can solve the problem completely, so I'll try that. In case that doesnt work does anyone have any suggestions. Has anyone heard of allergies that affect only the meibomian glands before, or eye allergies that cause eye irritation without causing any redness whatsoever???

    I am cautiously (as ever with every new idea) optimistic as this is the best evidence I have found and the surest I've been as to what the cause is, so here's hoping!!!!

  • #2
    Wow. Thanks for sharing your story. Good detective work tracking down the, er, cause.

    I think the theory about allergy messing with the MGs has a lot going for it. Many, many people report their dry eye/MGD problems being kicked off initially by some other kind of ocular surface 'episode'.

    Have you been to a doctor at all during this process? It would be a pretty simple matter for them to examine your MGs and see how they are as well as recommend treatment. Lid cleansing, heat and lid massage are classic simple daily-use remedies to keep MGD under good control. If that's not enough, usually the next step is topical or oral antibiotic.
    Rebecca Petris
    The Dry Eye Foundation
    dryeyefoundation.org
    800-484-0244

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