Persistent gritty sore eyes despite drops, where to seek help?

[livsummer]

My eyes feel really gritty constantly at the moment, its been over a week. One eye was red and the pharmacy suggested antibiotic eye drops in case it was conjunctivitis. It’s just not getting better 4 days later. I don’t think it’s conjunctivitis. It’s really frustrating as my eyes feel sore and like something is in them :(
GP said they can’t see my for eye issues and don’t think it’s an emergency to go to a and e. Where do I go? Can an optician help diagnose this? I haven’t gone to an optician since I was a child as I don’t usually have any eye issues and my sight itself is fine. Or back to pharmacy?
thank you

I had similar issues and went to the optician. At least they can have a good look at your eye to see what’s going on. My eyes barrier was compromised and I think they gave me special drops and it sorted it out.

Do you also have an itchy throat or tickly nose? The hayfever caused by tree pollen at this time of year goes straight to my eyes. Worth trying some anti allergy eye drops and maybe an antihistamine to see if they help.

Optician.

My eyes were very dry (menopause). I went to the optician thinking there was grit or a hair in my eye. It was just dryness.
I used Hylo-night. Its over the counter gel and its fantastic. It lubricated the eye.
You put it in at night time as it blurs your vision but its excellent.

See an optician. My husband had what you describe and went to Specsavers. They diagnosed him with blepharitis and gave him eye wipes and a pouch he has to heat in the microwave and rest on his eyes.

Go to an optician, they are the ones who can refer you to the hospital & ophthalmology if they see signs of uveitis/iritis or cancer or toxoplasmosis or anything else that can cause your symptoms.

Optician.

In any case, everyone should have a periodic eye test as they can diagnose all kinds of conditions that may not be immediately obvious.

Book an optician appointment and in the meantime try hayfever medication.

Definitely optician - the eyes give so many early warning signs for other conditions that you need to get someone to look at them

Oculoheel is very helpful for this, they do drops and pills. The Vogel drops for sore eyes are good too.. the ones with the red eye on the box. The Hycosan type things are wonderfully hydrating, but the ones I mentioned are medicated with herbs/ homeopathy for eyes.. very gentle and soothing as well as hydrating.
for overnight Hycosan eye ointment in a tube is good at giving the eyes a nice boost.

Optician. If you are in London and it’s really painful consider going to Moorfield A&E. I had a similar issue and my optician sent me straight there as it turned out I had a corneal ulcer.

Definitely optician @livsummer. I go regularly and do suffer with blepharitis but had a couple of inturned eyelashes - they are blond so you can't see them normally. They have behaved since he hoiked the offenders out.

Thank you everyone - I’ll book the opticians ASAP!!

They have stopped the walk in A& E service. I used it before lockdown but last year my husband hurt his eye on a tree branch and discovered it was appointment only. He had to go to our hospital's A&E dep, where they gave him some treatment then booked him an appointment for the eye clinic in the same hospital for the following day.

Good luck! 👍🏻

Also make sure you are hydrated. I use day and night drops and that's usually enough but I have a cold at the moment, nose is streaming and that makes the eyes feel drier too.

I would try hay-fever tabs. My eyes get awfully itchy this time of year due to tree pollen.

I was going to say the same , last year I kept waking up with sore gritty eyes especially the inner corners, now I drink.more water and that has it cured it. I still get it occasionally, but can always link back to not enough hydration the previous day due to being insanely busy and not taking enough care of myself.

This was perimenopause for me. Stopped within a week of starting HRT.

I had this come on post Covid and never really went away, although for me it’s not grittiness it’s like if you get a bit of shampoo in your eyes

I would book an appointment with an optician.

@livsummer thank you for starting this thread. My eyes have been so irritated recently, by the end of the day they are just sore and itchy. It makes me feel so tired, and it felt like my glasses were constantly needing to be cleaned when they were clear. I already take a daily antihistamine but wondered if it was allergy related seeing as spring is springing. I have now booked an eye test with my optician, just to check there's nothing else going on, but I suspect it might be yet another fun meno symptom sigh

I was diagnosed with blepharitis recently and was given hylonight which, as a pp said, is fantastic. The optician directed me to a local NHS eye clinic which I had no idea existed. I later had to go to Moorfields about an unconnected issue and the lovely doctor there said that studies had shown that 1000mg of flaxseed oil a day can really help the blepharitis. It takes about three months to make a difference but I think it has helped me. Might be worth a try as a longer term measure.

if it’s blepharitis wear a heated eye mask for ten mins and then rub a damp muslin cloth (i use liz earl ones that come with her cleanser - but dont put cleanser in your eye) over your eyelashes where they come out of your eyelid as that’s where the issues start. twice a day.

My eyes felt the same for a long time. Sore, gritty, and would get really watery if I was outside in the sun or wind. I went to optician who said my eyes were VERY dry. I was given hylo-tear and hylo-night drops which has helped massively.