What the hell is wrong with my eye?!

[TastesLikeFlavourlessFizz]

So I woke up at 4am with a sharp, awful pain in my right eye. Somewhere toward the back/crease/socket but IN my eye, IYSWIM. Similar to a windy day when a huge bit of gritty crap blows in.

But, aside from the fact I obviously had my eyes closed, I wear a bloody massive, close-fitting eye mask so nothing could have actually gotten in!

Anyway, I trudged the bathroom and used my optrex eye bath thingy. By this point the pain had subsided considerably but the eye bath did nothing to make it feel normal. I went back to sleep and it felt quite good this morning so I forgot about it.

For the last few hours it’s been really uncomfortable - still with a feeling of something being in there but I highly doubt this is the case. It also has a bit of a dull pain in the back of it at times.

I can’t get a quick appointment with an optician and I’m now thinking I should be more worried than I have been.

Anyone got any ideas? And does it sound like something I should be worried about or ride out? I’m not a wimp but eyes freak me out!

I'd hope the optician wouldn't charge cancellation fees in this kind of circumstance!

Reporting back!

I went to the opticians in the end (with the intention of going to hospital afterwards, if needed).

Its a corneal abrasion (and the conjunctiva ?). He said there’s no reason to think it’ll get infected or recur and it should heal on its own but I have to use gel drops at night for my dry eyes. If I have any more problems, he said to go back but I’ll just go straight to the eye hospital if that happens.

Thanks again to everyone who posted. I wouldn’t have got it checked out otherwise and I shouldn’t be so blasé about my eyes. 🙂

If it doesn't improve then you might need it debriding at the eye hospital.

A better product than the gel is an ointment called Hylo Night. Try to get some of this, it's longer lasting and more lubricating. The gel only lasts a few hours, not a whole night.

Oh thanks @miceonabranch. I’ll order some.

He wrote down 2 suggestions but they sell neither instore so I got something else at Superdrug (hyco san extra) and will order some proper stuff online.

Spent the morning at eye hospital blurred vision. Apparently I've scratched cornea which has been healing hence blurred vision. Have I had trauma they asked. Welllllll a vitrectomy on the Monday which failed hence the micro laser on Friday eight weeks ago maybe should be considered as trauma. So antibiotics again 😞

@justasking111 Ah that’s rubbish. I hope you’re on the mend now.

I suffer with dry eyes. I have a heated eye mask recommended by my ophthalmic surgeon as I also suffer from glaucoma for which I use drops each night.

Dry eyes are the result of the little lubricant glands along your eye lids becoming blocked with hardened lubricant. He said some people dip a wooden spoon into a cup of hot water for a few minutes, wrap it in a clean hankie and hold it over your closed eye until the water cools, repeat for the other with fresh water. He said he found patients get better results with a heated eye mask.
I got mine from Amazon, Optase, £13.99. I heat it up in the microwave then sit and chill until it cools, used it everyday at first and now about three times a week.

I do too,I don't need drops if I stay on top of doing this with massage as well.

Thank you so much for that - I'm going to buy it, hopefully it'll help as I have dry eyes too - sitting in front of a screen every day doesn't help.

I also massage where my tear ducts are when I'm in the shower - my optician recommended it because of the warmth of the water, which helps.

My eye’s really sore today. Not as bad as when it first started but much worse than yesterday. If it’s not improving tomorrow I’m going to head to eye A&E. Too much stressful stuff going on today that I can’t ignore (unless it gets worse obviously).

So bloody weird though. I used the drops I bought yesterday and I’m not sure if they made things worse. The proper ointment/gel stuff isn’t arriving until Tuesday. 😖

I’ll order that mask @Daffodilsandtuplips - thanks for the recommendation.

Hey OP glad you have a diagnosis and now that you do I can share a little more about what has previously worked for me. I had this in my twenties and it resolved when I became disciplined in treating it. Sadly it happened again when I hit peri and despite following a regime I ended up having to have surgery. Which in the end was absolutely fine and I recovered within days and have been problem free since. Just to reassure you. (Also the surgery is very high tech so that's quite exciting, if one is excited by such.)

But.

Do go back to the eye hospital and report that it's not resolving.

And for relief until it does/they refer you for surgery I can suggest:

• on waking, put in your drops. Have them by your bed and reach for them first thing. The ones you have are fine, you can get ones that are more viscous but those are fine.

• boil a kettle, allow water to cool in a shallow bowl, use the water to wipe your closed eyelids. Use a tissue dipped in the water, one wipe on each eyelid, from nose to outer, wipe one eye, turn it around, wipe the other, chuck the tissue, don't use it again

• put your drops in again. You can put them in as many times as you need to as it goes. They won't hurt your eyes.

• when you shower you can wear a patch from the chemist. Yes it looks a bit stupid. And yes it looks like a dress up pirate patch. But it will prevent all the drops being washed out of your eye.

• when you get out of the shower do your drops again. Boil some more water, refill the bowl and drop the patch in it to sterilise it for tomorrow

• throughout the day, don't rub your eyes! The top of your cornea is loose and you want it to attach. Don't disturb it!

• if you notice any gunk, use your wee bowl and another hanky. Always do your drops after to put moisture in. Your aim is to clean and lubricate, all the time.

• a couple of times a day, use your mask and massage your ducts up to down for the upper, down to up for the lower. Leave you mask on for ten minutes each time before doing that and only massage a couple of times each lid. You don't want to rub and you want to just gradually set up a nice gentle environment where your tear ducts start putting the right amount and texture of moisture on your eyes. It won't happen overnight but that's okay. You're not going to go blind and you can take your time and do it properly. Also make sure you drink plenty, avoid strong smells and if you feel like light is irritating your eyes wear shades.

• at night, use your cream. Do your drops ten minutes before then pull down your lower eyelid, put your cream in at the bottom then blink loads and go to bed. With your drops at your side.

I can’t wear eye masks in bed. They scratch my corneas. Maybe this is what happened?

I will be good and follow all your instructions @EnormousBulkhead . I have to say, I’m not excited by the surgery and would like to give it a swerve! (I’m quite tough but eyes are my scary spot.)

I’ll see what it’s like tomorrow and if it’s still being an arse, I’ll head to the hospital.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow Even with a silk one? Argh. I have sleep issues and can’t really sleep without it these days so that would be a nightmare. The optician actually said it might help as it keeps my eyes closed so they’re less likely to dry out.

What a palaver! All I did was go to sleep on Thursday night. I don’t even have an exciting story to tell!

They’ve reduced in price, down to under a tenner now!.
I place the mask on a plate the microwave, then put paper tissue over my eyes before putting the mask on.
I also use Optase tea tree oil eye wipes to massage and clean my lids.
Nice and soothing if you get blepharitis.

Even with a silk one yes. And it’s because you have fry eyes it could be causing it. A lot of people don’t close their eyes fully when they are asleep. And the mask will scratch them. It makes it worse if they are dry as no lubrication to moisturise it.

l discovered this after 2 trips to eye causality. Mask causing it both times.

I’ve ordered one @Daffodilsandtuplips! Bargain!

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow I’ll see how I go and if it persists, I’ll try to wean myself off it. 😔

I just use mine during the day, for ten minutes at a time. Twice a day to begin with then once a day until things began to improve, now about three times a week on average.

@TastesLikeFlavourlessFizz the issue is that your cornea can get infected if the scratch doesn't recover quickly. How is the white of your eye looking?

You need to keep putting the lubricating drops in (and don't rub your eye)

Really really use the drops ad follow the other advice. I ws a bit careless and now I have serious scarring on my right cornea and it's drastically reduced my vision down to 30%.

Someone upthread mentioned surgery... does anne know if that could help me somehow?

Anyone *

Eye hospital rather than optician.

It could be iritis, I get this occasionally due to my arthritis. The iris of the eye actually swells.

It's treated with two sets of eye drops but you need to start treatment ASAP.

When mine first started I thought it was conjunctivitis so by the time I got to the hospital my iris and lens were stuck together.

It could also be 100 other things, but you need to get it checked.

Checking in! Ok so it feels quite a bit better today.🤞🏼

The whites of my eye look normal @underneaththeash. I have no gunge or redness or anything so I don’t think anything is infected (in the part that’s visible anyway) @sashh.

I know the eye hospital would have been the best choice but I’m just feeling absolutely shite at the moment (just getting over covid and have some long-term health issues coupled with stress around being really behind at work) so I went to the optician as it’s down the road and there was no waiting about to see someone. I had a hospital grade OCT scan so I thought that might be enough.

Today I’m waiting for a furniture delivery which I’ve already rescheduled once due to covid BUT once I have that, if my eye gets worse I’ll get a taxi straight to Moorfields.

@ReleaseTheDucksOfWar I’ll keep on with the drops and that dry eye mask should arrive today so I’ll use that too. I’m so sorry you ended up with damage to your vision.

By the way - I really do appreciate you all. I thought I’d be lucky to get a short response or two but instead you’ve given me some really great advice and reassurance. And drilled it into me that I need to be diligent with the drops and things (I’m not renowned for keeping on top of this type of stuff).

😘

Did they check your eye pressure?

Glad you are feeling better.

If you find the mask is causing you problems, try a manta sleep mask - they look a bit weird and take a little while to get used to but have cups which mean it doesn't rub on your closed eyelid