Red eyes when waking up. Any ideas why?

[hopeful_hiker]

Sometimes I get red eyes when I wake up. Today they were pretty red, especially the one with more problems. They did not feel dry, burn when they were closed so when I went to the bathroom I was surprised to see the redness. Both eye corners were especially red as well as some inflamed blood vessels.

I slept a bit more than usual today and I used the same drops as I always do. I use them during the day but have no redness or irritation but sometimes they are painful for a second to instill whereas serum drops aren’t. I used to get redness from ointments but I stopped them a long time ago.

Any ideas what that could be? My room is not dry and my eyes are closed. Some docs said I have tiny lagophthalmos but it is not obvious, my eyes look closed and feel closed.

[Guest]

There’s no way for you to know if you slept with your eyes open, unless someone can view you doing it. You can’t assume your eyes are closed, you’re asleep, you have no idea. My first thought is that you’re sleeping with your eyes open. It may be incorrect, but makes the most sense. One of your first posts was titled blinking pain misery corrrect? My assumption is you have something going on with your lids and the lagopthalmos is a side effect of that problem. Also, I believe it’s why your blinks hurt, all my blinks used to hurt. Now, I don’t feel them at all, I have much more normal functioning eyelids.

Ler me also add that sleeping with my eyes open didn’t always hurt or irritate my eyes. Once I stabilized a bit, and taped my eyes and healed up, I was able to actually ditch the tape. I noticed I was actually healing and getting better so I decided to try giggles again. Low and behold, I was still sleeping with my eyes open, mainly my right, but I wasn’t waking up with that stinging biting dryness. My eyes were red, they looked irritated, but didn’t feel bad at all. Which was shocking because previously, before I had stabilized, napping for 20 mins would cause extreme pain and dryness. Now, I can sleep with my eye a bit open, yes it bothers me, but nothing like before. im sayung this so you understand it’s possible to sleep eyes open with little to no pain or dryness. I would try to peruse this. I’m assuming there’s something that’s causing this that can be treated. How do you do on steroids? Do you respond well? Has a doctor flipped your eyelids and discussed what they found with you?

Whats funny is is the first doc to flip my eyelid, doc number 7 the corneal specialist. He saw concretions but he never mentioned the small papillary conjunctivitis I had. Then I saw Dr Jain and he’s like we need to treat this papilae on the lid. So even if a doctor flipped your lid, doesn’t mean he/she knew how to treat it. Or that he/she even knew there was a problem to treat.

I want to tell you it’s been 5 months since I started treatment for floppy eyelid syndrome. I have no more blinking pain at all. My lids touch easily without thinking about it. Matter of fact, I have to blink softly now so the drops I put in don’t jist squeeze out of my eye. The gritty feeling behind my lids is pretty much gone. Rarely I feel a patch behind my right eye, rarely. I don’t need tape anymore, goggles are finally helping me. I literally feel like I’m healing not just managing a problem. Once I treat my sleep apnea, I believe I’ll get even better. There literature suggesting treating the apnea will reverse the floppy eyelid. So we shall see.agaik why do I bring this up, to offer hope. I think if you find out the cause, you can get where I’m at. Good luck, keep pushing for answers.

ine thing I forgot. Since I’ve been aggressively treating my problem, I have used zero drops in 17 days other than serum. If your drops burns when you I still it, you need to avoid it in my humble opinion. Even a slight agitation will cause a problem, so I believe not using commercial eyedrops had also helped me heal A LOT!

[Shell259]

hopeful_hiker does the redness fade once you have been awake for a while?
The dry eye specialist I have been seeing for the past 5 months has told me in the past that when you are asleep your tear production drops hence the redness on waking.
He told me this when I mentioned to him that my eyes are red when I get up for a little while and then it fades.
So could maybe just be that.

[Shell259]

hopeful_hiker just thought I’d also mention that since having all 4 ducts plugged this isn’t something that happens too often anymore.
I do also sometimes get irritation when applying eye drops, I don’t use them too much any more for that reason. It seemed to have no real pattern to it, sometimes it would hurt and sometimes it wouldn’t, odd.

[hopeful_hiker]

Dowork123 thank you for sharing the info about your journey. How did you first find out about sleeping with your eyes open? Did you wife notice that? My partner did not see that in my case. He took a photo and it looks like my eyes are closed.

I no longer have papillae (or if I do then very little compared to before) but I still have some lid wiper staining and MDG.

Did you ever do Schirmer’s? How’s your gland status? How often do you use serum?

[MGD1701]

[QUOTE=Shell259
The dry eye specialist I have been seeing for the past 5 months has told me in the past that when you are asleep your tear production drops hence the redness on waking.
He told me this when I mentioned to him that my eyes are red when I get up for a little while and then it fades. [/QUOTE]
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This is what my understanding too. I guess that is why most doctors, including Dr Korb, recommend ointment before bed.
as when eyes are too dry - easily get inflammed or even possibly an erosion??

feel pain when applying drops, may also suggest eyes are too dry??

Shell - do you mean your lid margin, eyes or both are red?

[MGD1701]

Hi, hopeful_hiker
You mentioned, ''I still have some lid wiper staining''
Did doctor treat such issue, how?

[Guest]

My doctor figured it out because of the erosions I was having. As much as I hated them, they clued me into all this. My wife could not tell. I took pictures and could not see it. Your eyelashes get in the way of being able to tell. So no, my partner didn’t see it. In order to see it, you’d need a flashlight and to really get in the persons face and look. A doctor can determine this in office if they’re skilled.

TEST RESULTS:
Schirmer 5 months ago was roughly 3mm both eyes.
schirmer after 2 months treatment 20 left eye 12 right eye. I’m assuming it’s even better now.

100% functioning glands.

I was using serum 12-20 times a day minimum.
tiday im using serum 12 times or less a day.

i still had papillae at my 4 month follow up so I’m still on steroids. I can tell it’s syill there too. Hopefully soon, that will calm completely.

[Shell259]

MGD1701 the whites of my eyes, mainly the veins that are now there are redder when I first wake, then they fade somewhat. My margins are ok I think.

I dont think its dryness that causes my pain when I use drops. I think I’m sensitive to something in them.

[Milo007]

hopeful_hiker

The easiest way to know if you have nocturnal lagophthalmos is to start taping your eyes for a trial. I was pretty much on the same boat as yours a couple of months ago and I was unsure if it was due to my eyes remaining partially open at night or something else. I started taping my right eye to see if it made a difference. And guess what?

From the day I have started taping my right eye there has been no signs of inflammation, redness or irritation in my right eye upon waking up in the morning.

If you happen to have red irritated eyes even after taping your eyelids shut properly with a tape it's a different issue then and you can rule out nocturnal lagophthalmos. This would be the first step in troubleshooting the exact cause of your problem.