Stringy stuff--new symptom for me

[rubyslippers]

Has anyone had kind of weird mucus on the eyes--kind of stringy stuff that you can feel and clouds vision until you removed it? I have had dry eye for 5 months and have been doing somewhat better since I got the tear duct plugs and then today just started with this. Any idea what it is? Do I need to see the doctor before my June appt?

[rubyslippers]

I woke up this AM with a raging case of pink eye. Never had it before and now have had it twice in 5 months. What is going on? I am 51 years old and getting this now?

[calli66]

I guess the mucous was heralding the arrival of worse things to come. But maybe it was coincidental. I used to have trouble with mucous strings and globs, and apparently it just comes along with having dry eyes. The tears layers are out of balance--with the mucous over-producing and the watery tears under-producing. For me it is a symptom that comes and goes, but when I'm going through a bad spell, I get more mucous problems.

Try rinsing with plain saline several times a day, and take a folded corner of a tissue (in front of a mirror) to gently snag and drag the mucous out of the eye. Using your finger is not a good idea because it introduces bacteria.

I hate the stuff---a big string right in your field of vision while driving down the interstate---and you can't do a thing about it.

C
(Sjogren's dry eyes)

[Rebecca Petris]

I woke up this AM with a raging case of pink eye.

I would see a doctor ASAP just in case.

With dry eye, you don't have a healthy tear film protecting your eyes, so your eyes can be more vulnerable against the bugs & allergans etc that they would otherwise be able to deal with just fine.

[rubyslippers]

Thanks for the advice. I will be seeing my doctor in half an hour. I am beginning to wonder if I have blepharitis instead. I have been reading the symptoms and I have been losing eye lashes on and off for the last few years. I cannot see any scaling, but when they treat me for pink eye, my eyes are not that pink. I am suspicious. Going to try the eyelid washes anyway and just ordered "The Dry Eye Remedy" as recommended here on the board. I think I have a good doctor but it appears that dry eye and these conditions mimic one another. I am also dealing with 2 other chronic health problems that while not serious are very uncomfortable and annoying. It just all makes me so tired sometimes.

[rubyslippers]

I am back. He said it is clearly pink eye, so here I go again!

[Zarla]

Yes, I get this whenever the dry eye symptoms start - strings of it coming from nowhere! really gross.

[rubyslippers]

This is day 4 of the antibiotics and the dry eye is back with a vengeance! This is how my whole saga started and I feel like I am going back to square one with this fight. It is so discouraging. One eye is so much worse than the other and has been all along. The other eye is tolerable. There has got to be a better way to treat pink eye than antibiotics that damage the tear glands so badly.