Dry eyes caused by allergies

[nopoint]

Hey everyone,

A little background on me: http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showthread.php?t=6845

-Basically I've had eyelid inflammation for about a year now, with fairly prominent blood vessels that have been there for about the entire time my blepharitis has started.

-It's been really hard and depressing to deal with dry eyes, as I'm sure most of you know, and I'd like really like to get back to having healthy clear eyes.

-I had an appointment with Dr. Latkany approximately 5 months ago. He was pretty sure that my dry eyes were caused by some sort of allergic reaction and he also said that I don't blink fully. He said, if my eyes don't get better in 6 months than I should contact him again, however he seemed pretty optimistic that my eyes would improve and I wouldn't have to come back again. He gave me a prescription of Pataday, which didn't really help.

-My eyes are not much better than they were 5 months ago. I've been taking TheraTears and fish oil pretty regularly and they haven't made much of an impact. My question is, how can I find out if it is really some sort of allergy that is causing my blepharitis? How can I isolate the allergen? If it is allergies, how long would it take for my eyes to recover, presuming that they are able to recover in the first place?

[GinaJ]

Hi. After I went to so many eye specialist and tried the typical treatments with only worse conditions I went to an allergist,dermatolgist,remautologist,etc.I also have other conditions though Can you go for allergy testing? Do you have any skin issues if so what about a dermatologist to rule out roseasa. If you have not had a complete physical with bloodwork I would suggest that too that way you can rule out any other conditions. Feel better

[sazy123]

Your situation sounds like mine, i have really inflammed inner eyelids and obvious vascularization which ive been told numourus times by doctors that i have 'chronic allergic conjunctivits', well the conjuntivitis part is right but not the allergic part. Like you i tried patonal, pataday.. and most allergy eye drops- aclar, chromogate, rapitil. Nothing helped. Ive also had extensive allergy tests against enviromental allergies like dust, chemical allergans like nikle, food allergies- here i am sensitive to dairy and wheat i.e it blocks my throat up, but avoidence and strick diets made NO difference to my eyes. I also got an air purifyier, eliminated dust, dont use soap when washing, but nothing. I saw two allergists and both concluded that allergies werent causing the problem. But yet every eye doctor trys to tell me a have a subtantial allergy problem!! and are surprised when steroids dont help!!

So i came to the conclusion that its not allergic conjuntivits but probably ocular rosacea ( i also have mild facial rosacea), which is caused by vascular inflammation. I think this can give the impression of allergic conjunctivits.. But i am still not ruling out allergies for good... but if it is where the hell is it? i never notice ANY difference where ever i am in the world or what ever i do so its unlikely.

I wouldnt eliminate allergies from the sceanro until youve been extensive to find the allergy. But i definately wouldn't assume its allergies either. Even Dr Latkany told me to tackle allergies, and gave patonal and clear room of dust, which didnt work.

Hope that can help you some.

Ps i read your story and, i would advise satying away from contacts, they can actualy cause dry eye according to a study and i think they caused my dry dry eye. You are obviously not having a good experiance with them and i think that is telling you something. It is much worse to end up with severe dry eye than to have to wear glasses. I dont mean to sound harsh, but im saying this cause i wish someone had told me this when i weas messing around with my eyes trying to wear contacts successfully, now i have severe dry eye and ruined my life.