One eye more severe than the other?

[pritzzy]

Is it normal to have dry eye symptoms in one eye more severe than the other?
My right eye is more veiny and burns most of the time whereas the left eye is partly veiny and burns ocasionally. Sorry for the language but couldn't put it forward in a better way.

[Colin P]

I'm same as you Pritz, Right eye is far worse than Left...

[Gabriel]

Mine goes from one side to the other day to day. I never know which eyes its going to be.

[pritzzy]

@Colin. Glad to know that i'm not the only one.
@Gabriel. That happens with me sometimes. Each one burns alternatively. :/

[ScottishDave]

My right eye is more veiny and burns most of the time whereas the left eye is partly veiny and burns ocasionally.

Exactly the same as me right down to the veins apart from swapping left for right and vice-versa.

[pritzzy]

hmm.. dont know when this pain and agony will end :/

Exactly the same as me right down to the veins apart from swapping left for right and vice-versa.

[LaDiva]

Hi Pritzzy,
My left eye is always worse than the right. The eye doctor told me ten years ago that I have less tear flow in the left, so that may be part of the answer.

[jenny2008]

LaDiva..i am like you -it's my left eye!!! it finally started tearing and it is almost 5pm?? yest is was good until around 5pm and then it started to kill me.. 98% of the time it is my left eye that is just bone dry and my right eye ok.. whats funny now is that i have an eye infection in my right eye and my left still feels worse!! glad to know i am not alone. but you know they really need to get more $$$ and do more research to help this dry eye thing.. it can be sooo debilating... Thanks to Rebecca at least we have this wonderful site to vent on !!!

[pritzzy]

i had asked a doctor once and he said that its symmetric most of the time. So one eye is bound to show more symptoms than the other.

[rubyslippers]

My left eye has always been worse.

[Mawsky]

My right eye gives me the most grief, I notice that the drops stay longer in my left eye so that may be a contributing factor. When I feel my eyes tear up (they don't really tear) my left one almost seems to get moist, this is my only hope, that someday I will have tears again.

[adienich]

It does seem to be quite common that one eye is worse than the other. For me the left eye has always been worse.
Today it has been terribly red and painful all day. I keep putting in drops but don't really know whether they even help much, just blur my vision. My eyes have been worse in general for a few days, I don't really know what is causing this. At first I thought it was because over the weekend I was in the presence of a dog and I may have some allergies. But now the eyes just seem to be getting worse even though it's been a couple of days since I saw the dog. So frustrating. (Sorry, I'm going slightly off-topic here but don't really feel like starting a new thread for this either).

[MaryVa61]

My right eye has always been worse than left. Doctor said it's not unusual for that to be the case.

But I had a car accident year ago that injured the right eyelid and had to have stiches all along the lid, so that lid may not behave exactly right now. Also part of my dryness problem turned out to the contact allergies (delayed hypersensitivity) and one of the allergens was chemicals on certain fabrics, such as the pillow on the sofa I rested my head on when I napped. I always laid on my right side for a nap, so only the right eye was on that pillow.

Mary

[NeedMyEyes]

this is my issue actually.

My right eye is worse than my left. It turns out I have been sleeping on my right side for years and my eyes open slightly and the right eye touches the pillow.

It was made worse when I was on Dexamethasone eye drops which dry my eyes terribly and made the injury from the pillow much worse. Now I think I have a permanent scar of some type in my right eye. However, no eye doctor can see anything there except the new red veins that have formed at that site.

Another name for this, by the way, is Floppy Eyelid Syndrome.

If you have it, you could tape your eyes at night and also put metal shields over them like I do. I have heard you can use ointments, but those screw up my meibomian glands so much, I don't use them.

Also, I'm allergic to dust mites found on my pillow.

[MaryVa61]

My one-sided worse eye problem is definitely from my formaldehyde allergy. It's in so many fabrics and they aren't labeled as having it in them. When I become aware that one eye is flared up, I eliminate whatever pillow (or pillowcase) I've been using, and go back to using an old one even if ugly, to see if problem clears up. It always does, then I throw the newer one away and start shopping again. The U.S. really needs to limit formaldehyde content in fabrics, like the rest of the civilized world, and put it on fabric labels.

BTW - When both of my eyes flare up, I check ingredent labels of any new product I'm using on my face or hair. And I always find something is there, from my skin allergy list the doctor gave me, containing formaldehyde or a formaldehyde-releasing chemical. Getting rid of it helps dramatically, though it takes about 4-5 days due to that type of allergy causing delayed reactions.

Floppy eyelid Syndrome was ruled out for me, but sounds like a bad problem for some. I have a slightly droopy lid from that car accident, but it's not the same thing exactly.