Painful eye, optician,GP, or wait and 'see' [grin]

[Jackie0]

It's probably nothing serious or even treatable but my eye has been killing me for the last 24 hours.
Both my eyes have been uncomfortable and itchy for a couple of weeks and I've come to the conclusion I must have hay fever for the first time in my life. Drops haven't made any difference. That's a minor discomfort I can put up without oh my god this new pain is a proper pain and I'm getting really fed up.
I had a sunbed on Saturday and flipped my goggle up to see my iPod but just for a moment, could that be the trouble?
There is no noticeable redness , a slight bit maybe but that's the hay fever I think.
If it doesn't ease today I'm going to have to see someone. Is the GP the best person to see? Do opticians just deal with eye tests or would they help me with this?
Any advice would be great

Telephone appt with GP today. They may have a system locally where you can see your optician for this.

don' t muck around with eyes, GP or A&E

If you've been rubbing your eyes due to hayfever, you might have scratched your cornea slightly. I would phone opticians and ask. If you can't get an appt today there, try GP or walk-in place if you have one? I ended up at A&E so I'm not sure what the best first call is, but it really should be checked out.

My Dr told me that opticians are the best people to see, because they have specialist equipment that GPs don't have. I had a nasty eye infection a while ago and the Dr really couldn't help me much, she referred me to the eye clinic at the hospital as my optician was being spectacularly unhelpful.

Opticians do deal with eye conditions. It would be a good idea to call your local independent optician and ask if they could look at your eye. They will either say yes or no. If no, then go to your GP. There may be a local scheme where the NHS pays for an optician to carry out an eye examination for minor eye complaints, otherwise you may be charged a fee. Ask when you call.

Some chain opticians prefer to just see patients for sight tests, although checking the health of the eye is a part of the sight test. This is because the sight test fee does not cover the cost of the examination. The sale of glasses and contacts is the only way these businesses function.

If you prefer, go to your GP. Your GP won't charge you, but probably won't have a slit lamp etc. However, she will have other equipment to examine you.

I wouldn't go to A&E unless your symptoms get worse or you cannot be seen by a GP or optician at all.

Thank you so much for the fast replies.
I phoned the nearest vision express and they will check my eyes as part of a normal eye exam that you would have for your glasses prescription but they wouldn't just check for this specific problem. I assume that's because they are a business rather than a health service. I would have been happy to pay.
Because I can't see anything in my eye I thought my GP wouldn't be able to either and would refer me anyway.
My doc has an open clinic every Wednesday morning so I can go there if no improvement. I can't see optician today as I'm a childminder, I've 4 children here and I won't finish work until 6.30pm. I can't bring myself to disrupt 4 families over this.
AtiaoftheJulii, I think you have hit the nail on the head. I have been rubbing my eyes and I was out on Saturday night and rubbed my eyes with the mascara eyeliner smokey eye full works on. Apparently a scratched cornea feels exactly like this - according to the conversation I had with the optician. So I'm 99% sure that's it.
Flip sake

Then I would think about going to A&E later tonight, especially if it gets worse, or sensitive to light. Mine ulcerated (it healed fine :) ) and I got very told off in eye casualty for not having gone in earlier!

Please see someone ASAP and don't wait till Wednesday. Try Boots optician, they can refer you direct to an eye clinic if necessary or go to A&E. My optician told me pain in the eye means something. I have had uveitis which is pretty nasty but it was worse for leaving it a few days. GP hasn't got the equipment.