Woke up with a very sore, gritty eye. No stye, visible redness or vision changes. Help?

[FairTurtle]

Not sure what it is but it's been going on 7 hours now since I woke up. I've washed my eye thoroughly, applied lubricating drops and checked for any visible signs of anything but it all looks normal. It's definitely the eye as opposed to the eyelid as I when I touch the eye itself (the pupil bit) its very sore compared to the other one.

I don't wear contacts and can't think of anything I've done to have caused an injury.

I assume this isn't for A&E but very worried obviously as its my eye! Any ideas?

Conjunctivitis?

Why are you touching your eyeball?! Especially your pupil!!

Leave your fingers out of your eyes and stop touching them. It could be an eye infection, dry eye or hayfever.

I would go to the pharmacy and get some eye drops for a possible eye infection. If it's not better tomorrow you could go and see an optician to check your eye.

Sounds like conjunctivitis. Get some Chloramphenicol antibiotic eye drops (over the counter) from the pharmacy.

Go to optician, they often have a minor eye injury service so can diagnose and give drops etc.

When I had this I went to an optician and they sent me straight to the local eye a&e after looking. Can't remember what the thing was called but if left it could cause permanent damage so I'm sorry but I think you should either go to an eye a&e or at least to an optician asap.

If you struggle to open your eye when you wake up, then it's conjunctivitis.

I think maybe it was called corneal erosion.

Did you get seen, OP?

Don't just assume this is conjunctivitis - it could be a more serious condition such as uveitis, which is an emergency.

I had this once, tried to get conjunctivitis treatment at the pharmacy but the pharmacist (quite rightly) refused to give me that treatment until I'd been examined. I actually had uveitis which required a same-day emergency appointment at the hospital where I was prescribed a course of steroids (and then follow-up appointments).

Could it be Blepharitis? If so, wash hands, get some Johnston's baby shampoo, put a little bit in a tub with warm water and dip cotton wool in. Use gently on your closed eye only rubbing in one direction. Use a few cotton wool pieces. Wash gently and thoroughly, dry eye with a clean
cotton wool piece and don't touch your eye with fingers. Do this twice a day until clear.

It can be itchy and sore before showing signs of redness etc.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/blepharitis/

This is correct advice. An optician can examine the eye and either tell you how to manage it or refer you to an eye A&E department.

Just checking if you've had a coldy virus in the past couple of weeks..? 2 in our house have had exactly this eye problem following/during the virus.
Still worth checking out as you can't mess with eyes.

I had a similar experience to @NameChanges123 . I did see an optician who said she could see something wasn’t right and advised the eye A&E asap. Good luck. If you have sensitivity to light it can be an indicator as well as the symptoms you have mentioned.

I had this a few months ago. Could have sworn that something was stuck to my eye ball or there was a graze/cut on it.
Went to the optician who said infection and to get some over the counter drops for conjunctivitis. There was no discharge at all. Anyway it cleared up after a couple of days of drops.