My eye veins troubles me much :(

[ragazza]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading this forum for a couple of months. I've read stories similar to mine but unfortuately they were not encouraging. The reason why I want to post my own story here is that everyone around me (my family and friends) thinks that there is nothing wrong with my eyes. They tell me that I am exaggerating and have become obsessive with them. They also tell me that they had not noticed my veins before I told them and if they had the same veins, they would not mind. So I began to think that the only problem is me. Well, I have always been lacking in confidence, but whatever they say, I look into mirror and see these awful veins (especially when I rise my eyes). After noticing my veins, I started looking into other people's eyes. What I see is : they have either nearly no veins or some veins but they do not look as bad as mine. I tried to accept my veins but I simply cannot.

I recently thought about what the reasons can be. For example, I started to wear sun glasses at the age of 19 and I was diagnosed with dry eyes several months ago. I think that they can be the reasons of my veins, but I cannot be sure. Because nearly none of my friends wore sun glasses at that time and none have these veins. Also my doctor said that my dry eye problem was not that serious. Maybe it can be hereditary as my mum and dad have some veins as well but theirs do not look so bad to me Whenever I talk with my mum, she says to me that no one looks directly into the white parts of someone's eyes, but they look into the pupils so no one recognizes them as I do. Well, whatever the reason is when I look into miror I see them and I hate them. I should say that I do not trust the cosmetic surgeries mentioned on this forum, but I am hopeless and sad everyday A couple of weeks ago, I was nearly crying everyday, but later I talked with a friend of mine and she told me to go and get some sleep and try not to think about it. She thinks that it is such a trivial matter to depress myself with. What she said gave me a little relief, but it did not last long.

I know that I've already written far too much and also I am not a native speaker so I make mistakes But as a result if you are troubled with the same problem, I want to ask you these questions : I wonder what do your family and friends tell you when you ask them how your veins look? Do they say the same things in order to not to depress you any further? Do you agree that people really do not recognize your veins until you tell them? Also if you have the same problem, what do you do to comfort yourself? Thanks in advance

[gormz]

i also have developed eye veins as a result of my dry eye. I think its true that most people really dont notice them unless you point them out. My family says they cant tell theyre there as well as my girlfriend. Most people are too concerned about how they look and maybe their own minor imperfections to notice ours.

The more you obsess about them the worse it makes it. I used to obsess a lot about them but what can you do. Theyre there and the only thing you can do is just forget about them and live your life. I have noticed though that since my dry eye has gotten a little better the veins dont look as red. I don't think they'll ever go away but at least i can minimize them by fixing my dry eye.

[ragazza]

I may have had eye veins before my dry eye problem, I am not sure. As to their redness, whatever I do they become more red during the days when I am out because I get tired and it affects my eyes. But you are right, I also noticed that when my dry eye troubles me less, the redness becomes less as well.

However hard I try to live with them, I cannot stop thinking 'WHY ME?'. I try to make eye contacts with people in a direction that my veins look less visible, I do not want to raise my eyes, look into mirrors and I envy those people who do not have eye veins. Reading this forum, I also learnt that people with much worse eyes exist and I feel sorry for them as well

I will try not to obsess about them as much as I do now and I hope it will work otherwise my life will get harder each day. I also hope that we can red rid of our dry eye problem and minimize the redness.

[bakunin]

I may have had eye veins before my dry eye problem, I am not sure. As to their redness, whatever I do they become more red during the days when I am out because I get tired and it affects my eyes. But you are right, I also noticed that when my dry eye troubles me less, the redness becomes less as well.

However hard I try to live with them, I cannot stop thinking 'WHY ME?'. I try to make eye contacts with people in a direction that my veins look less visible, I do not want to raise my eyes, look into mirrors and I envy those people who do not have eye veins. Reading this forum, I also learnt that people with much worse eyes exist and I feel sorry for them as well

I will try not to obsess about them as much as I do now and I hope it will work otherwise my life will get harder each day. I also hope that we can red rid of our dry eye problem and minimize the redness.

ragazza,

Your problem is "just" red veins, or you suffer with pain or burning due to your dry eyes either?

Trust me, I and I think most of people here, would post a drye eye triumph if we manage to get rid of the pain and burning feeling, even though the red veins where still there. Has someone thought you were stoned or drunk when looking to you? If the answer is "no", I think there isn't even a aesthetic problem going on.

I have symptoms of severe dry eyes (terrible burning feeling plus some photophobia), and I can't manage to work properly, and it has a terrible impact in really all aspects of my like: health, social, economic, sexual etc. Last december came out of my eyes a lot of secretion. It lasted a coupe of days. For the first time my eyes were red (not too much, I think it eas like yours, because I could notice it seeing in the mirror, but if I didn't talk about it the other person would not notice it). I was happy that day, because with that secretion my eyes were not burning like they use to be...

If your redness bothers you, of course you are right trying to get a solution (everybody would do the same). But don't let it change your life and self-esteem. Reading your description it seems that it is causing a trouble to you that has no explanation in itself.

[ragazza]

ragazza,

Your problem is "just" red veins, or you suffer with pain or burning due to your dry eyes either?

Trust me, I and I think most of people here, would post a drye eye triumph if we manage to get rid of the pain and burning feeling, even though the red veins where still there. Has someone thought you were stoned or drunk when looking to you? If the answer is "no", I think there isn't even a aesthetic problem going on.

I have symptoms of severe dry eyes (terrible burning feeling plus some photophobia), and I can't manage to work properly, and it has a terrible impact in really all aspects of my like: health, social, economic, sexual etc. Last december came out of my eyes a lot of secretion. It lasted a coupe of days. For the first time my eyes were red (not too much, I think it eas like yours, because I could notice it seeing in the mirror, but if I didn't talk about it the other person would not notice it). I was happy that day, because with that secretion my eyes were not burning like they use to be...

If your redness bothers you, of course you are right trying to get a solution (everybody would do the same). But don't let it change your life and self-esteem. Reading your description it seems that it is causing a trouble to you that has no explanation in itself.

My problem is not just red veins. My eyes burn when I am exposed to artificial lights or when there is not much fresh air (in shopping centers for example) , but when I go out, it disappears. I used an artificial eye drop for a month, it helped a little but the problem did not come to an end. Nobody asks me if I am tired or drunk or stoned, but I think it is an aesthetic problem. I can live with this sense of burning but these veins really take away all my self-confidence (which is quite little already). As I said, I try to accept them but seeing other people's eyes, I understand once more how unlucky I am

Your problem looks more serious than mine. Even my dry eyes sometimes keeps me from studying.

Well, during the day my eye veins look more red than they actually are but when I ask my friends if they notice them when they look into my eyes, they say no (maybe they are too kind). But when I look into mirror, this moment of relief dies away and i can't help worrying about how I look.

Actually my left eye is more veiny than my right eye. There are 4 visible veins. One coming from the left side to the cornea, one coming from the right side and the other two coming from below (because of them I hate raising my eyes). I know you think it is useless to bother about them. I really want to forget my veins but I can't. I fell myself more unattractive than I used to. Unfortunately I can' help but thinking about them all day.

I know you are right and I will really try to follow your advice

[Faith1989]

HI there,
I can understand where u are coming from.. I used to think of myself as a very attractive girl until I got blepharitis. It does come with red eyes too. try to treat the condition causing the redness.. What are u using right now?? What did the docs tell u was the reason behind the red eyes? Until u treat what's causing them they will likely return.

[ragazza]

HI there,
I can understand where u are coming from.. I used to think of myself as a very attractive girl until I got blepharitis. It does come with red eyes too. try to treat the condition causing the redness.. What are u using right now?? What did the docs tell u was the reason behind the red eyes? Until u treat what's causing them they will likely return.

I used systane for a month. My doctor said nothing more was necessary. He thinks that my veins are allright and I don't need to worry about them, but after reading this forum I saw that every doctor says almost the same thing to their patients.

I think my problem is this : When my eyes get irritated by lights etc. my eye veins fill with more blood and it makes them more visible. The only solution I can think of is to minimize my dry eye problem because I know that my eye veins will always be there until I risk my eyes and have an expensive surgery which is done only in America.

[tiff]

I really feel for you, Ragazza. I've got all kinds of problems surrounding ocular surface disease and my very red eye veins have bothered me since I was a teenager. People ask me if I'm tired all the time. I always hear my eyes look bloodshot. It hurts my feelings and I'm constantly envious of others whose eyes are much whiter and bright. The worst thing about all of this is that my very young son has very red eyes and I don't notice any children his age with lots of dark red veins in their eyes. I wish I knew a solution to eliminating them, or the pain and irritation that comes with them, but there is nothing out there that I'm aware of.

Please know you are not alone and that things could definitely be worse.

[ragazza]

I really feel for you, Ragazza. I've got all kinds of problems surrounding ocular surface disease and my very red eye veins have bothered me since I was a teenager. People ask me if I'm tired all the time. I always hear my eyes look bloodshot. It hurts my feelings and I'm constantly envious of others whose eyes are much whiter and bright. The worst thing about all of this is that my very young son has very red eyes and I don't notice any children his age with lots of dark red veins in their eyes. I wish I knew a solution to eliminating them, or the pain and irritation that comes with them, but there is nothing out there that I'm aware of.

Please know you are not alone and that things could definitely be worse.

It really made me sad to hear your situation The only solution I know about red eyes is the eye whitening surgery carried out by Dr.Wachler in LA. I also heard that people with red eyes wear tinted glasses to hide the redness which is not a solution. As a result, it seems that we have to learn how to live with this.

People who have white eyes do not understand what we are going through. If they do, they will probably change the way they talk.

Have you ever seen a doctor for your son? Maybe there is something to do for him before it is late because I haven't seen any children with red eyes as well although they sometimes have little veins.

I thank you tiff for sharing your own problem and letting me know once more that I am not alone. If anything new happens, please let me know.