Constant Eye infections

Amy Elliott

Lately I when I wear my contacts my eyes get very red and sore and I often end up getting eye infections like blepharitis or conjunctivitis even when i just wear them for a short time.
I have very dry eyes and I was advised to switch to acuvue moist contacts which are supposed to be the best available for dry eyes but I still have to use confort eye drops with them which seems ridiculous. I have stopped wearing lenses altogether which is annoying as I really hate wearing glasses
Does anyone know if there are better lenses for dry eyes out there?.

rache12

Contact lenses disrupt the tear film, so if you have dry eye already contact lenses will only aggrivate the problem. You may well have to use comfort drops with your lenses, but there are a few other options.

Rigid gas permeable lenses are great for dry eye. Unfortunately they're initially really uncomfortable so people tend not to go for them!

Silicone hydrogel lenses are good for dry eye (eg ciba air optix, coopervision SiH, bausch and lomb purevision) - theres a low water content in these lenses so they don't dry out as much.

MoonDancer

You can re-infect yourself again from coming into contact with anything you've used on your eyes while you had the infection. If I were you, I'd throw out the contacts, solution, makeup brushes, make-up (if you use them) and only use the new ones once the infection has gone. Conjuctivitis is highly contagious.

autograph

Keep washing your hands and I agree with the last poster. If in doubt, Throw it out.

tracie101

I was prone to eye infections such as conjunctivitis also when using monthly contacts. u didnt say whether you are using monthlies or dailies?? i switched to daily contacts as quite often the infection is contained on the lense itself so putting it back into your eye causes the infection to return.

Theres lots of eye drops and supplements available for dry eyes. ask your optician or pharmacist for advice.

j-c-f

It would be unusual to get bleph from cl wear. Conjuctivitis may not have cleared properly when you tried cls again. With the Bleph you probably have been told to dilute baby shampoo in cooled boiled water and rub on lid edges with a cotton bud, however "Simple" brand moisturiser with a cotton bud is very very effective and easier. I would advise to use this in the evening after you take out lenses I would lay off Cl wear for at least a week after infection has cleared and get rid of eye makeup as advised above. Acuvue moist is a good brand but it may be worth discussing with Optom to try a different brand.Acuvue TruEye is the newest so might be worth getting a trial
Try building up your wearing time from say 2hrs first day and add on an hour each day as Moist are a slightly different material. As already mention you may not be able to get a full day cl wear with any brand and may need to use comfort drops............Make sure you did discard your last eye drops after infection!

GalwayGirl1983

Flax seed oil is supposed to be good for dry eyes, mine were too dry to get the laser treatment done and thats what the clinic recommended - u can get capsules and take up to 3 a day.

Lil' Smiler

Hey there,

Just make sure to get your eyes checked out properly. Since December i've been getting bouts of crazy redness, wasn't able to look up or at any light or be in a darkened room with a small light on.

My optician said i had "pitting" like smalls pin pricks on my eyes.

It happened again this week and spent 5 hours in A & E in the Eye and Ear Hospital, the lenses managed to tear cells off my eyes and damage them s now i'm on 4 different drops (steroids, anti biotics, anti inflams and lubricants). My eyes were seriously in bits!!

Just make sure to gt them check out properly, I really wish I'd done it sooner, no lenses for up to a month..and i HATE wearing my glasses

gipi

You might want to change the eye drops you're using, just in case they're making your eyes worse instead of better.

I had dry eye post-laser surgery, got conjunctivitis and blepharitis, which were both aggravated by the fact that I was allergic to an ingredient in the recommended lubricating eye drops. Switched to another brand and haven't had any problems since the infections cleared. I got paranoid about infection as the weeks went by, so started using an anti-bacterial hand gel (readily available in pharmacies) before I put in my eye drops. Didn't do any harm!

Would agree with the poster who said to dump all items which come in contact with your eye - make up, etc. Buy new items and only start using them once your infection has completely cleared up

jimmay

I have been using Acuvue Trueye for about 6 months now as they were recommended to be the latest and most comfortable for dry eyes to me. To be honest I didn't really notice any difference from the Acuvue Advance bi-weeklies I had been using. But I figured if they were the healthiest for my eye then I'd fork the extra dosh (Btw online is alot cheaper than the store).

Unfortunately my right eye is uncomfortable now and it is probably my own fault. Yesterday I woke up early and proceeded to insert the same contacts i had been wearing the day previously. They were in a travel case with saline overnight. In other words I tried getting a bit more wear out of them than I should have and now I'm suffering.
I've rinsed my eye twice with the eyewash stuff but it still feels uncomfortable and I can feel like a small twitching. No soreness or discoloration. I'll probably need to get it checked if it continues much longer . Does anyone know is it likely I caught an infection from doing this? I would have thought this would be ok, it wasn't like I had been wearing them for days, I did stretch it but it was less than 24 hours since I'd opened them.

Esmeralda34

Hi

I'm also having a lot of problems with my eyes recently. I've been wearing conatct lenses for years. My optician did advise quite a while ago that I have very dry eyes - in addition apparently I forget to blink enough to re-moisture my eyes! At the time, I wore my glasses for a week, used eye drops and tried to remember (!) to blink more often.

However in the past month and a half the problem has worsened. my eyes constantly feel gritty, are itchy and I have this stringy residue. These symptoms are all in line with Dry Eye Syndrome, but though I've hardly worn my lenses in the past 2 weeks, have been using eye drops my symptoms are still ther if not worsened. For the first time in years I seem to have hayfever which obviously doesn't help.

I'm wondering at this stage should I go to a doctor or back to the Specsavers' optician? Or perhaps a more experienced optician? I am concerned that from what I've read on sites about this that there is a concern that the itch and subsequent rubbing can lead to a tearing or scratching of the cornea.

Does anyone have an experienced opinion on this?

Thanks,
Esmeralda34

-lala-

Amy Elliott wrote: »

Lately I when I wear my contacts my eyes get very red and sore and I often end up getting eye infections like blepharitis or conjunctivitis even when i just wear them for a short time.
I have very dry eyes and I was advised to switch to acuvue moist contacts which are supposed to be the best available for dry eyes but I still have to use confort eye drops with them which seems ridiculous. I have stopped wearing lenses altogether which is annoying as I really hate wearing glasses
Does anyone know if there are better lenses for dry eyes out there?.

Do you wear soft lenses? Apparently it is VERY easy to get an eye infection while wearing them, whereas eye infections from gas permeable lenses are extremely rare. Try gas permeables - they're insanely uncomfortable at first, but once you get used to them they're absolutely fine.

Also I agree with previous posters about throwing out ANYTHING that comes into contact with your eye when you get an eye infection (eye make-up, eye drops, ect.)

run_Forrest_run

Amy Elliott wrote: »

Lately I when I wear my contacts my eyes get very red and sore and I often end up getting eye infections like blepharitis or conjunctivitis ...

sorry for bringing up an old thread and being pedantic but blepharitis is not an infection, it's a condition involving the eye lids becoming dry for numerous reasons.
I suffer from it a lot and I don't wear contacts or glasses etc.