One Eye affected by DES?

[Jleigh010]

I have been dealing with eye problems over the last decade, although I have never been diagnosed or treated. When I was younger I used to think it was styes and I would buy stye ointment to treat it (which wasn't very helpful) but looking back I believe it was irritation due to DES.

I have stringy mucus in both eyes, but it seems like only my right eye is the one that gets painful, irritated and gritty. When I pull the mucus out of my right eye, it almost feels like I'm peeling off a layer of my eye but its painless when I'm pulling it out of my other (left) eye. Sometimes pulling out the mucus will relieve the pain and sometimes it won't. When it starts getting painful, the mucus won't stop coming and I'm constantly trying to pull it out which makes it more irritated. Environmental factors always make it worse - heat, wind, A/C, smoke, etc. If its a very bad episode, I will also get sharp shooting pains in my right eye lasting a couple seconds at a time. The pain/irritation mainly used to happen at night when I was overtired, but its getting worse and its affecting me during the day now also. Recently, I even woke up from a full night sleep with the eye still hurting from the night before which has never happened. I have discovered Refresh Celluvisc and Liquigel drops over the past year, which can be very helpful at times and other times it doesn't provide much relief at all.

I've never worn glasses/contacts, nor had any eye surgeries and I've always had good vision. Unfortunately, I haven't had medical insurance for about 2 years, so I have no way to get this treated or get a diagnosis. My only hope is that some people on here can provide me with some information. Has anyone ever had just one eye affected by dry eye? Is this even possible?

Thanks.

[GinaJ]

I have heard of people or read about it online with 1 eye being impacted. Is there a way you can see an eye doctor who may work with your financial issues? I just hate for it to get worse or be something different that goes untreated.
Do you have any other health problems? I am not sure the drops you are using but I think preservative free are safer for long term use. Are you doing warm compresses? Do you have any allergies?
Sorry I am asking more questions then giving answers.

[Jleigh010]

I have heard of people or read about it online with 1 eye being impacted. Is there a way you can see an eye doctor who may work with your financial issues? I just hate for it to get worse or be something different that goes untreated.
Do you have any other health problems? I am not sure the drops you are using but I think preservative free are safer for long term use. Are you doing warm compresses? Do you have any allergies?
Sorry I am asking more questions then giving answers.

I appreciate the questions & help. I have no other medical conditions, I am 30 years old. I was diagnosed with allergies to milk, cats & dogs as a young child and took allergy shots for many years. I was not diagnosed with allergies to any environmental factors such as pollen, dust, etc. and those things have never bothered me. I have used warm compresses in the past until I started using the liquigel drops. The drops seemed to help more than the compresses.

I know I will ultimately need to get it diagnosed and treated by a dr, but due to not having insurance and my financial state, thats not possible at the moment. They have one free clinic around here in the bad part of town, and they treat you awful there. I'm sure all they would do for me is refer me to an eye specialist I can't afford.

Are there any perservative free drops I can get over the counter, or are they only available through prescription? Thanks.

[Perception]

Are there any perservative free drops I can get over the counter, or are they only available through prescription? Thanks.

There are many non-prescription choices out there. Check out the artificial tear reference guide on this site: http://www.dryeyezone.com/encyclopedia/lubricants.html

Any of them that say "None (PF)" in the last column are Preservative Free. Many of them you should be able to find at the local pharmacy, and others you can find online (such as Oasis Tears, which is what I use, available through the Dry Eye Shop).

[Seamus]

I have two dry eyes, but my left is far far worse than my right....in fact if both were like my right I could live with it. I have been like this for 5-6 years.
I suppose I should be grateful my right hasn't caught up with my left yet in terms of dryness. Doc has never been able to explain the disparity, by the way, or acknowledged if it was even relevant.

[Rebecca Petris]

I have stringy mucus in both eyes, but it seems like only my right eye is the one that gets painful, irritated and gritty. When I pull the mucus out of my right eye, it almost feels like I'm peeling off a layer of my eye but its painless when I'm pulling it out of my other (left) eye. Sometimes pulling out the mucus will relieve the pain and sometimes it won't.

Please google Mucous Fishing Syndrome. Continuing to pull these strands may aggravate the problem, be it dry eye and/or allergies etc.

I hope you can see a doctor soon. Meantime, safe self-treatment for symptoms would include unpreserved tears (as the others have mentioned - anything that comes in individual vials, not a bottle), maybe saline (Unisol 4) rinses when you get that urge to dig for strands, warm compresses before bed, some kind of covering over the eyes at night as well whether it's plastic wrap or a sleep mask. The shooting pains you describe almost sound like baby erosions so the more pro-active you are about this the better, to keep it from continuing to spiral. Consider also some cheap goggles (something like the Dustbuster in my shop - you can probably find something local though) to help reduce environmental impact during the day.

[GinaJ]

Hi again. I am sorry you are unable to see a doctor but as soon as you are able I hope you do. Like others said you can buy over the counter eye drops but I would make sure they are preservative free. Also for me keeping my eyes clean of debree is very important. I use thera tears foam. I just out some on my eye lashes and wash it off with warm water. I try to not do things in extreme. When I first developed this condition I was using too many drops and too many times the scrubs and compresses. It just flared me up more. So I try to find a happy medium. Any other problems with skin,congestion,anything you can think of? Like you I did not have lasik and the why behind this and also I have other condition like PN is unknown. So anyhow I try to make connections with everything I have going on health wise. I have been tested extensivly though. Small things though you ay have not thought of at the time may help connect the pieces now. Hope you feel better