Why are my eyes whiter after doctor appointments?

[hopeful_hiker]

I used to have normal eyes. When I got dry eyes, at first my sclera was freakishly white and glassy. As if I was pouring in vasoconstrictors all day.
Now I have a few small pink/red capillaries. Perhaps, a regular person won't notice but someone more perceptive or obsessed with eyes would. I know they are there and they do bug me.

Whenever I got to the doctor to do IPL or just a regular checkup, I come back with visibly whiter eyes. They use numbing drops and stains.

How can numbing drops reduce these "veins"?

[Meibum Ian]

A guess based on my limited understanding..

Foreign particles, wind, etc hitting a dry eye causes an inflammatory response, which results in redness. Numbing drops prevent the detection / response happening, thus less redness?

[hopeful_hiker]

Meibum Ian Interesting! was also thinking in this direction. But how can it be so rapid?

[SirDryEye]

Where can we get our hands on these numbing drops then more importantly? I also have visibly whiter eyes after the doctor puts numbing drops into my eyes so I’m curious what these drops actually are?

[hopeful_hiker]

I don’t think you can use these day to day. I am so frustrated that Bausch and Lomb decided to dump a ton of BAK preservatives into Lumify! Someone posted that they use diluted Alphagan P (glaucoma med) for the redness. Alphagan P has the same as Lumify: brimonidine. Alphagan P still has preservatives but they are not as bad as BAK found in Lumify. Anyway, we have some redness solutions (for say special occasions at least) plus side effects data from all of the glaucoma patients. Yet these solutions are not available to us safely. Why could not Bausch and Lomb make a preservative free version? Hylo gel eye drop is preservative-free simply because they designed a container in a way that the drops can’t get back into the bottle. Others have single vial options... ugh.

[SirDryEye]

hopeful_hiker - I know it’s ridiculous why would they not make a preservative free version, the majority of people with red eyes have dry eyes. Bausch claim that they’re experts yet they can’t even bring out a preservative free version. My life would be a hell of a lot easier if they brought a preservative free version that I could use once or twice a week....

Love to get my hands on some alphagan P but that’s never going to happen. I guess all we have to deal with redness is lubricant eye drops