Puffy eyelids

[Dryeye22]

Hey everyone,

I was just wondering if any of you had any ideas on how to reduce eye puffiness. My eyes are puffy in the lids all the way up to the eyebrows and are now starting to have folds. I do lid scrubs but that does not seem to help. Thank you!! : )

[Rebecca Petris]

Have you tried cold compresses?

[Amy09]

a few years ago i had major problems with my eyelids being swollen. your description of how your eyelids look reminds me a lot of how mine were. warm and/or cold compresses worked well for me in the morning. unfortunately, this did not help me for the long term and my eyelids were so swollen that they were scratching the surface of my eyes, causing more damage. if your eyelids are like mine were, and you can't get the swelling to decrease they you might want to consider getting botox in your eyelids... this improved swelling the most for me. good luck! i know how frustrating and irritating swollen eyelids can be.

[Dryeye22]

Thank you!!

[Kathel]

Swollen eyelids make me think about ruling out allergies: either airborne, or contact. Airborne allergies can be tested by an allergist; contact allergies can be tested by a dermatologist. You might also want to make sure you've had your thyroid checked. Good luck,

Kathel

[Kathel]

I forgot to mention that I would be hesitant to try Botox with dry eye; I don't want Botox near my lacrimal glands. We know it can decrease sweating from the eccrine glands, and I speculate that it can decrease tearing as well, though I can't find too much in the literature. I do know that Botox for crows' feet can decrease the blink reflex, which is not good for us DES patients. (I do a lot of Botox in my practice, but unfortunately, because of my dry eye, I'm afraid to treat myself).

Kathel

[Rebecca Petris]

I've heard mixed reports about Botox and dry eye. Many people with blepharospasm seem to do well with it. But I've heard some complaints from others about increased dry eye after Botox.

[sazy123]

My eye lids seem to expand about 1/2 an inch in the morning and look puffy. But then they will go down after an hour. They never do this when my eyes are good/normal. So i speculate it is due to MGD, and dryness during the night.

[brudni]

Terrible swelling with folds also

I have terrible swelling with folds on upper eyelids especially in the morning.

I also have severe allergies and ocular rosacea, but what surprised me was that I just found out I have SLK which can be thyroid related or of unknown etiology.. which means they don't know why and it just might be my latest allergic reaction. My eyes were fine in the winter when mold was killed when it reached 32 degrees but were poor in the fall and returned in the spring when the mold came back here.

My allergist said Clarinex was the least drying of the antihistamines and I did notice my eyes were worse when I missed a dose and I take it at night as mold is highest in the night and mornings.

But please make sure your opthamologists checks this out as I had so many miss this.

I find the swelling does subside during the day but never all the way and have not tried the cold compresses as I was worried about the effect on the rosacea which causes MGD. However, the refrigerated eye drops are great.

I never thought I had SLK as I don't seem to fit the candidate profile for thyroid problems but I am a Stevens Johnsons survivor and my allergies have been quite different than the average person.

Good luck and let me know what helps your swelling.

[Julie1]

I also have very swollen eyelids in the morning. I believe that I posted a picture of my lovely morning eyes somewhere on this website. Dr. Latkany thought that the swollen eyelids was due to allergies and sleeping with my eyes slightly open. They are more swollen in the winter than in the summer so it must have something to do with the level of humidity.

[Dryeye22]

How is slk diagnosed? If i went to the opthomologist they would recognize it right? Sorry ever since I have gotten this whole dry eye problem I have become a bit nervous about everything!

[brudni]

SLK diagnosing and CONTAC LENS SLK OR CL-SLK

How is slk diagnosed? If i went to the opthomologist they would recognize it right? Sorry ever since I have gotten this whole dry eye problem I have become a bit nervous about everything!

All opthamologists looked for this probably, but mine was way back in the back of my eye and difficult to find. It can be called superior limbic keratoconjumctivitis or superior limbic keratitis or SLK of Theodore.

There is a great article and I have copied the reference. It talks about diagnosis using staining.
http://www.revoptom.com/HANDBOOK/SECT12a.HTM

I suspect that it is sometimes difficult to see like mine as it was way way back in the eye. For me now that I am aware I have it I notice that I do have some mild pain when the swelling is bad in the night or morning and it is in the back of my eye like something is pushing on it.

My swelling does go down during the day. My main symptom is dry eye.

Good luck but I noticed that extra fold in the eyelid is more pronounced in the dryer eye and the one that I feel a little pain sometimes.

Again, everyone is unique, but I have to admit I was totally shocked with this diagnosis. I am having thyroid testing on Wednesday but expect it to be negative and think it is just some weird allergic symptom that hopefully will go into remission eventually.

I am just editing this as I noticed reading the article it mentions contact related SLK and I believe you were a contact wearer. This is a different kind of SLK that shows up as contact lens intolerance. So please read the clinical pearls at the bottom of the article.

Hope it helps you.

brudni

[Amy09]

Wait, slk can be caused by allergies? I didn't know this. I had to have my eyes cauterized because my slk got so bad, but the tests that i had for sjogren's and thyroid problems all came back negative. could allergies be the cause? if so, could allergy shots help? i get allergy shots since the perscription allergy meds all dried me out too much.

also, i just wanted to mention that although i heard that most people get botox in their eyelids due to blepharospasm, i do not have this, and i still had success with the botox treatment. the doctor did mention some warnings and side effects associated with the botox, but he said that the success rate of it far exceeds those have had more pain due to the botox. also, even if botox doesn't end up decreasing the eyelids swelling and causes some side effects instead, the doctor told me that botox and any possible side effects wear off after a few months, so i felt it was worth a shot. i'm still very glad that i had it done, but i understand why some people might want to steer clear from this procedure.