3 year old with red rimmed eye

[Cuppasoupmonster]

I think I’ve posted before about this. In July DD suddenly developed reddening around her eye, like a panda, but rather than black it was red. The lid also swelled slightly. No temperature, the eye itself was fine and white. Doctor was a bit stumped but happy it wasn’t anything serious, and it went away - well sort of.

Ever since that eye has had a kind of red rim to the lower lash line, which is quite noticeable. It comes and goes, and seems to get worse if she is tired or has a cold. The eye also seems to be gunky when she has a cold. The eyeball itself is unaffected, white and she has never complained of pain etc.

We took her back to the GP in August who did a swab and she was negative for any infection. We’ve tried compresses, special wipes from the pharmacy, regular bathing… it looks better for a day or two; then goes red again.

I’ve got another appointment for her next week, just wondering if anyone has any wisdom, similar stories or suggestions what should be tested for.

I’ve looked at the eye very very closely and she seems to have a few red capillaries under the lashes which may be giving the ‘reddened’ effect, but there’s no doubt the lash line itself is also a bit red and sore. It’s like some kind of low level chronic blepharitis - does this exist?!

thanks for reading a long and dull post! Photo attached.

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Go to optician or pharmacist

The optician won’t see her as she’s too little and the pharmacy couldn’t suggest much.

I'd agree it looks like a mild form of blepharitis. I would continue following the treatment plan for that but remember that blepharitis is a chronic condition so it's not likely to go away, like eczema for example. She'll likely have flare ups and times when it's almost non existent.

If you ring different opticians they may see her- some practices do see younger children. At 3 if she can kneel on the chair to put her chin on the microscope the optician can see better- depends on whether she will be happy to let them look. Blepharitis is what has been treated from what you've reported and this hasn't worked- plus it should be in both eyes to some extent, not one. The optician or GP will likely want to refer to ophthalmology to check the tear duct and lid as its reoccurring. Any pain or her feeling ill (which as you say she hasn't had) go to A&E who can can down a consult from ophthalmology.

Oh, I didn’t know this, I assumed it was like conjunctivitis and should go away when treatment is done. Thanks for responding

Thanks, they’ve said the nurse seeing her can refer to opthalmology and probably will, they also want to do one final swab so the results are up to date