Seeking a little advice. Thanks in advance!

[reds89]

Hello everybody! I am seeking a little advice. It was just about this time last year when I started to develop some redness in my eyes. As time has passed, I have studied the redness in my eyes and after ruling out a number of different possibilities, I have discovered that the redness seems to be connected to my contact lenses. I have worn contacts for seven years with no problems, but lately I have noticed that the veins in my eyes tend to become a brighter red and grow towards the edge of my contact within a half hour of putting them in. It is very strange, as my eyes look very good in the morning after I have slept and had my contacts out, but become red quickly after inserting the lenses.

This has led me to wonder whether the redness is being caused by either 1.) a lack of oxygen or 2.) dryness. I was hoping, based off of my symptoms, that I could get some suggestions from the other members here as to a diagnosis and the best course of action. I have the type of contacts that are specifically designed to allow more oxygen, but am still struggling to decide if it is oxygen or dryness and what I should do from here. Thank you for your help!

P.S. I am currently using Systane in the morning/night and contact rewetting drops during the day, but I'm not sure they are doing much. Is this because dryness isn't the issue?

[poppy]

P.S. I am currently using Systane in the morning/night and contact rewetting drops during the day, but I'm not sure they are doing much. Is this because dryness isn't the issue?

Just because the drops don't do much doesn't mean it's not dry eye. It's a fact known only to those who have suffered from dry eye for a long time, that artificial tears don't actually do very much.

You could try a gel like genteal, I find that helps much more than drops. Though I don't know if you can use it whilst wearing your contacts.

[Rebecca Petris]

Have you seen an eye doctor for diagnosis?

[reds89]

Yes, I have seen a doctor. She suggested that I switch to this brand of high-oxygen contact lenses and felt that would help with my eye redness. However, I haven't seen much improvement yet. Even more than drop suggestions, I guess I am interested in your opinions on whether this seems like an oxygen problem or a dryness problem, since it only seems to occur when my lenses are in.

[littlemermaid]

I would say that whether the eye surface is deprived of oxygen or tear or whether it's allergic to the contacts/chemicals, there will be cell changes and damage. If there is inflammation pain on taking the lenses out, it's a medical emergency and I think needs steroid control. This happened to me. It was agony and resulted in pannus. Is your contact lens practitioner seeing neovascularisation across the limbus?