Redness in eyes

[ryanross]

Hi,
I am a 19 year old male and I have had eye problems for the past few months now. Last summer (over a year ago), I had an issue with my contact lenses that was described as some kind of allergic conjunctivitis to my contact lenses. That was cleared up in about a week with lotemax(steroid drops). In late april (about 5 months ago) I came across similar problems after using a generic brand contact solution, so i decided to knock out the problem and go back to the eye doctors. They gave me a steroid/antibiotic combo drop which worked very well in a week, but when I used my contacts after this my eyes became extremely red and veiny, even after my lenses were removed. My eyes also became suddenly dry every single morning. Over a period of a few months, I went to 4 different optomotrists which all told me different things about what is causing the redness. I recieved more steroids because I was told it was blepharitis, was told to do hot compresses because they said it could be a virus, but overall nothing worked, and they began to tell me that there is nothing wrong and thats just how my eyes are. My left eye still has a bright red vein on the inner side that wont go away, and they are still very dry in the moring. Recently I went to an opthamalagist who told me I had a penguicula, and recieved stronger steroids for it, but just like all the other steroids, they didn't work. Does anybody know anything about this or have had a similar situation?

[ccasti02]

hey

i too am 19 years old, i had a situation where my eyes got an infection and said to stop using contacts. i wore them for about a week after everything cleared up but soon began noticing how vieny my eyes were and thought it came from my contacts. my eyes began feeling dry, gritty, and stinging. i went to an opthamologist, who wasn't the most compassionate person, and told me i had dry eyes. its been a tough couple of months but my eyes feel somewhat better than before. i take restasis, theratears omega3 and theratears eye drops. i have a lot of sympathy for your situation where your very young, like I am and it can be a scary thought. maybe you are allergic to something you are using on your face. best wishes!

[rooneyandfergie]

hey guys, I know how difficult it is to be so young and have this eye redness issues. I started having red eyes about 9 to 10 months ago at the age of 25. I wish i could tell you tat ther was something effective and safe that could be used to cure it. But there is none. I am still searching for that effective cure for red eyes myself.
It bothered me for a very long time as i felt depressed and lacked confidence when speaking to others. I finally resorted to wearing tinted glasses which i really hate. But i guess that is about the only option available. There are some posts in the forum about anti vegf treatment. hopefully that turns out to be effective and safe. Most importantly, hopefully it will be available soon.
My problems started due to a prolonged period of usage of the computer. However, my eyes became dry after that. It was not red. It was after a bout of contact lens wearing that it many new veins grew and it became bloodshot. That was really hard for me to take initially and it sometimes still is.
But i guess the comfort of the eyes are more important. you can hide the redness with tinted glasses. If the eyes are more comfortable and kept moist, the redness will hopefully subside a little.

[ccasti02]

Yes, I'm still trying to get over the fact and accepting that contacts will be out of the picture for me from now on. It is better than enabling the disease even further. It is just hard to see my friends and classmates be so carefree, while I'm dealing with a lifetime changing event.

My prayers really go out to everyone on this board, it is difficult and hard

xoxo

[rooneyandfergie]

yes ccasti02, i know what you mean. The constant discomfort of the eyes, the inability to do things which you loved and took for granted in the past and the self-consciousness about the redness really hurts. I also know the feeling of doctors not being too sympathetic towards dry eye. Because dry eye is not sight threatening and difficult to treat, many doctors don't really acknowledge the problem.

Actually i forgot to mention the gs101 eye drops currently undergoing clinical trials. they appear to be pretty effective. its indication is for corneal neovascularization but i believe it could be used off label in the future for redness in the eye. However, i do wonder if the dry eye condition persists, would the redness eventually return?

Sometimes i wished things could be as simple as they were in the movies like how eyeballs could be transplanted as Tom Cruise did in Minority Report. However, for now i guess there aren't many options available.