Dry but Never Had RED EYES?

[Rory]

I have had dry eyes for 15 years. They are "environmental" dry eyes...which become extremely dry and uncomfortable in central heating and aircon etc. I also have never found a contact lens that I can tolerate in any conditions for more than a couple of hours...as i am only -1.75..this is not such a big problem.

In my own conditions and wearing protective glasses (mostly wrap around sunglasses) I can get by with very few symptoms and often none at all.

However, i NEVER EVER have any redness in the eyes and I notice that one of the most common complaints amongst members here is the redness that they suffer from...and the resultant affect on their appearance. (The inside of my lids do however become very red and inflamed in dry conditions).

I was just wondering what percentage of dry eye sufferers have red eyes and what is the cause behind this....similarly why do some of us have no visible symptoms...no visible redness at all? Is redness due to a low or high aqueous tear production? allergies?

In some ways I am grateful that my appearance is not affected by my dry eyes, however the invisibility of my suffering is also sometimes very frustrating...as no one can see the discomfort that I am in.

Any ideas?

Rory

[eva b]

Hi Rory,
I'm not going to be much help, because my experience is the same as yours. My eyes feel chronically dry, but never red. Like yours, the insides of the lids look inflamed a lot of the time, but from the outside they look perfectly normal. Very frustrating to be taken seriously when there are no visible signs of how dreadful one feels!

Eva

[Rojzen]

sometimes called "white eye"

Hi, Rory - - What a great question you've raised here. I'm also blessed, for many years, with only rare instances of redness. . .but, like you, I'm highly symptomatic without (and even sometimes with) protective eyewear. I have also been diagnosed with atrophied meibomian glands, which leave my tear break-up time at zero seconds. . .all without usually looking red.

For the first few years of my problem, doctors seems mystified and skeptical about me, but when I finally found Dr. Tseng in Florida, he instantly recognized that I was a severe case, even if my eyes were not red.. .He shared that among the true experts in ocular surface disease, there was a slang term for my presentation. . .namely "white eye". . .This means a highly symptomatic and potentially severe/advanced case of dry eye in which the appearance of the eye is not red, and may even be normal. . .I think the term "white eye" even covers what a doctor may initially see on slit lamp. . .It may, for example, include corneas that are not particularly eroded, on examination, where eyelids, nonetheless, are very inflamed. . .When I was first told I had "white eye," my corneas and sclera looked OK, but my eyelid injection was 3+ and my TBUT was already zero. . .

Anyway, join the club, Rory, because we are a club. . .We have the advantage of looking healthy to the untrained onlooker, and the disadvantage of often being unable to convince the same onlookers that we are hurting badly, at times. . .

In meantime, I'm thrilled you get good relief from the eyewear. . .I'm doing quite well now with the Dr. Holly products, but still need to go back to my moisture chambers much of the time. . .I'm experimenting with time out of them, as I switch from Dwelle to Dakrina, and then maybe back to FreshKote. . .but Hallelujah for the eyewear!

Did you catch, Rory, that our Rebecca is working with a major developer of dry eye protection products to bring out a new form of protective eyewear in the next few months? Please keep watch for this. . .You and I could possibly be the first to try the new concept out. . .(:^))

[NYer]

I don't get red eyes either. And most of my problems happen when I'm sleeping. During the day, I'm pretty much OK most of the time. Watching TV in the dark or sitting in a movie theater, I always have to pull out the artificial tears. But when I fall asleep - either at night or on the couch during the day - I have to have the drops nearby because when I wake up, I can't open my eyes without them. And my eyelids do close all the way, too. Goggles didn't help me.
If I look closely at my eyes in the mirror, I see more veins in there than I'd like to, but it's not to the point that it makes my eyes look red. No one is aware of my problem unless they see me putting in drops.
And by the way, I have MGD, occular (and facial) rosacea, blepharitis, and allergic conjunctivitis.
And, for the record, I started taking Doxycycline (100 mg. twice a day) a week ago and I actually think it's helping (it's really too soon to say for sure - the doctor said it would take a while to see results, but I'm already using less drops) (It's also a little hard to tell what's causing what this week because I have the flu.)
Anyway, my point, and I did have one somewhere here, is that I don't get red eyes either!

[Rory]

I don't get red eyes either. And most of my problems happen when I'm sleeping. During the day, I'm pretty much OK most of the time. Watching TV in the dark or sitting in a movie theater, I always have to pull out the artificial tears. But when I fall asleep - either at night or on the couch during the day - I have to have the drops nearby because when I wake up, I can't open my eyes without them. And my eyelids do close all the way, too. Goggles didn't help me.
If I look closely at my eyes in the mirror, I see more veins in there than I'd like to, but it's not to the point that it makes my eyes look red. No one is aware of my problem unless they see me putting in drops.
And by the way, I have MGD, occular (and facial) rosacea, blepharitis, and allergic conjunctivitis.
And, for the record, I started taking Doxycycline (100 mg. twice a day) a week ago and I actually think it's helping (it's really too soon to say for sure - the doctor said it would take a while to see results, but I'm already using less drops) (It's also a little hard to tell what's causing what this week because I have the flu.)
Anyway, my point, and I did have one somewhere here, is that I don't get red eyes either!

I find my dry eye symptoms improve when I have a bad cold/flu....maybe its all the medication? (paracetemol etc ... dulling the feelings?).

Another weird time when i feel great ..eyes wise ONLY!... is during a hangover.

I dont drink that often as alcohol is supposedly bad for dry eyes...but the day after a big night out... my eyes feel remarkably good...could be that I am drinking lots of water?....but i tend to drink about 2 litres of water most days anyway....

I know that alcohol dehydrates..but it is a bizarre phenomena that I have noticed.

[Maenad1]

I find my dry eye symptoms improve when I have a bad I dont drink that often as alcohol is supposedly bad for dry eyes...but the day after a big night out... my eyes feel remarkably good...could be that I am drinking lots of water?....but i tend to drink about 2 litres of water most days anyway....

Rory, this is just a stab in the dark, but I've heard that alcohol causes blood vessels to constrict (thus leading to hangover headaches); maybe this is working in your favor as far as your eyes are concerned?

[Rory]

Rory, this is just a stab in the dark, but I've heard that alcohol causes blood vessels to constrict (thus leading to hangover headaches); maybe this is working in your favor as far as your eyes are concerned?

Nice theory...Ok so Dr Rory prescribes all dry eye sufferers to get very drunk every night for the rest of their lives....as long as you dont mind the headaches.

I accept all major creditcards for optowine consultations.

I may even develop a whole new supplement sector to compete with the omega fish/flax dry eye industry...

The working brand name is "drunkeneye".

[NYer]

You Brits always come up with a good reason to party, don't you? LOL

Oh, we're such party animals maintaining our eyesight - me coughing my head off and throwing tissues all over my apartment - you hungover with a bad headache. ..........but our eyes look perfect.

I'm reminded of Warren Zevon's line from Werewolves of London: "I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's/His hair was perfect"

[Stanza]

want a drink now, after reading that...

[odydnas]

Me too!

My eyes can look veiny, but they're not red, like how I imagine red eyes to look. It's hard to have your pain and discomfort be taken seriously when you dont look horrible. I've actually had two doctors tell me that I can't possibly feel much discomfort because if I did, my eyes would be red. That is so frustrating!!!

[Natalie06]

my eyes are white as the driven snow

Even with a schirmer test score of zero, my eyes never look red or bloodshot while a collegaue of mine has eyes that can be seen coming at you down the hall at work. And she does not have severe dry eye.

I am so glad I am not the only one.

Natalie

Lasik induced severe dry eye 7/14/06