As always, I am confident the collective wisdom of the cafe will be helpful…
I have gone almost 52 years and never, ever had an eye stye. I have now had 2 in a 2 month period! In addition, my eyes have been very uncomfortable lately - they feel irritated, look redder than normal, and just generally dry (especially at night).
I went to the ophthalmologist yesterday and she said I have a combination of dry eye and blepharitis which I can chalk up to getting older. The oil glands in my lower lids are getting clogged and creating the styes. Here is what she suggested along with my questions:
She wants me to take a low dose antibiotic for a month. Seems like a long time but I guess it could help?
Warm compresses as often as possible. The washcloth thing seems ineffective (they get cold so quickly). Any better suggestions?
Refresh Plus vials for dry eyes. She said any brand if fine as long as it is "preservative-free". I read positive reviews on Systane?
Omega-3 supplement. Have never taken any type of supplement but am hopeful it could help. Any suggestions for a brand that doesn't give the "fishy taste/burps". I did read that keeping them in freezer helps.
Any other suggestions or info is greatly appreciated!!
Oh my, I can empathize. I’ve had dry eyes for around 27 years, although I’ve never had blepharitis and never had a stye.
The antibiotics will help get rid of any bugs that are living around your eyes and eyelashes.
The warm compresses will help unclog any eyelash follicles that might turn into a stye. I have no good ideas for compresses; just keep warming up the wet washcloth in the micro. I have used these only a few times myself. It is soothing.
I use Refresh eyedrops every day, probably four or five times a day. They are also quite soothing. And I’ve been using them for the full 27 years. For me, they are the best brand; YMMV. I get them from Amazon. Unfortunately they’re not cheap, but I figure if they make me feel better, it’s important to spend the money.
I also take a fish oil supplement, twice a day. I don’t eat fish at all – hate the taste, the smell, the texture – and I have not had a problem at all with fishy burps.
Good luck with all this. Again, I can really empathize.
ETA: The reason your eyes are more uncomfortable at night is because you’ve probably been doing computer work during the day. At night, I put an eye ointment in each eye right before I turn out the light. It helps keep my eyes moisturized during the night.
Also, try not to be in the way of air conditioner or heater fans; to me, they are the worst – I feel as if they are literally just drying out whatever moisture is in my eyes.
I developed a stye a few years back just before I was scheduled to fly to Florida. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic ointment and the hot washcloth routine, but as I have antibiotic allergies and wanted to avoid any risk of having a reaction while away from medical care, I just did the hot washcloth. He said to make the washcloth as warm as I could stand. I filled a bowl with very warm water (but not so hot that I couldn’t handle it) and dipped the washcloth in it over and over. This did the trick and the stye healed up on its own sans antibiotics.
I have also have dry eyes at times and keep a box of the Refresh Plus individual droppers (or Walmart’s generic version, Equate Revive Plus) in the house, and a few in my purse.
I don’t take fish oil supplements; I just eat foods with lots of omega-3 fatty acids. I use extra virgin olive oil for cooking and salads, and sprinkle my shredded wheat with chia seeds, flax seeds and hulled raw pumpkin seeds, all of which which add flavor and texture as well as nutrition. We are also fish eaters in my family.
How timely! I had something like a stye yesterday and it resolved on its own last night. But it was very uncomfortable in the meantime and I have a feeling I might be getting more of these. I have no suggestions to offer but will read this thread eagerly.
My husband has suffered from dry eyes for years. He likes Systane Ultra which I’m usually able to buy at Costco to save a little on the cost. I’ve had recurrent bouts of blepharitis over the years and I have never been able to figure out what triggers it or why it goes away after a while. It can be quite miserable so I sympathize. Some products I’ve used are lid scrubs from OCuSOFT and TheraTears and eye compresses by Thermalon. The eye compresses are filled with tiny beads and go in the microwave. They hold the heat much longer than a washcloth. Just be careful not to overheat. I overdid it once and melted the outer cover of the compress. I bought all these things on drugstore dot com since my local drugstore didn’t have much of a selection. Good luck.
Some people like a specially designed eye compress rather than washcloths. My D liked this one & it has good reviews on an "amaz"ing website (not sure if websites will be censored if I name it directly): Thermalon Dry Eye Compress
“2. Warm compresses as often as possible. The washcloth thing seems ineffective (they get cold so quickly). Any better suggestions?”…
a nice warm shower put your face under the water for a couple moments while in the shower. I know somebody who does that. it of course is a temporary relief but it works. she also uses drops. (most effective)
“4. Omega-3 supplement. Have never taken any type of supplement but am hopeful it could help.”
not sure that has any science based value.
rom828, I agree…I left that out because i did not want to recommend someone to do it. better to hear it from a med professional.(IMO) but you are correct! just make sure to use liquid baby soap. scent free and dye free.
For me, we discovered one of the meds I was taking daily (for chronic lung condition) contributed significantly to my dry eyes. We tried having me stop the med entirely but that caused other problems, so we settled on me taking the med MWF instead of daily. Reducing the frequency of the med helped more than anything else. I also tried the warm compresses, eye drops, restasis, fish oil capsules, etc.
I can no longer wear contact lenses, which I’ve worn for decades because my eyes are still too dry, but at least no longer wake in pain because of how dry they are.
When I started a similar thread year ago, someone recommended Barlean’s flax seed oil supplements (I couldn’t handle the fish oil.) I personally find flax seed unhelpful for my eyes, but they make my hair nicer, so I continue to take them.
I have tried Restasis twice, to no benefit at all.
Last year I decided to really try to improve my dry eye misery. After compresses, drops, baby shampoo, more drops, three visits to the ophthalmologist, blood tests, a lupus scare, more blood tests and two visits to the rheumatologist, I am where I started, putting saline drops in my eyes on a regular basis. The cause is autoimmune, but not officially Sjogren’s. I have Hashimotos, with crazy high antibodies.
So if you haven’t already, have a full thyroid panel done (antibodies, not just TSH). The discovery of autoimmune issues will likely not lead to a good treatment of the symptoms, but it could make a lot of things in your life make sense.
For the dry eye part I have had punctal plugs put in. These are silicone plugs that go into the ducts that drain your eyes to “keep the tears in”. Like the tubes that kids get in their ears, they eventually fall out. I didn’t notice much difference with them so when they fell out, I never replaced them.
I get the Refresh Plus individual jets at Costco and go through them all day long. I use a heavier grade drop at night - these often go by the term “gel”. The downside of these is that the gelatin in them can leave your eyelashes stuck together in the AM. If you shower immediately upon getting up this won’t be an issue, but if you shower at another time during the day, it will. If I am not showering right away in the AM, I just flood my eyes with two of the Refresh Plus jets (one per eye) before bed.
Stay well, and I mean well, hydrated. Put in eye drops on a regular schedule and before sitting anywhere that there is a fan, a breeze or one thing you are looking at (movie, TV, symphony, play). If you feel you eyes are dry, it is already too late. You are already starting to get damage to the surface of your eyes.
If your eyes are “difficult” then eye makeup makes thing orders of magnitude worse. As I am filmed sometimes, I have searched for makeupI can wear on special occasions. The Pacifica brand of eye shadow and eye lining gel are the only things I can tolerate at all. I have yet to find a mascara, so I just use the eye lining gel to get some definition for my eyes and then wear glasses with frames.
I also find that wearing glasses helps keep the “micro-climate” near my eyes slightly higher humidity than regular air with air current and the like. But I live in a dry region and maybe in a humid region the ambient air is better.
Oh, Delicate Arch reminds me, I also tried a desk humidifier which did nothing for me.
Over time, I have become intolerant of eye makeup except for the hypoallergenic kinds. I use Physician’s Formula eye liner and eye shadow and Neutrogena mascara.
Last summer I had my eyelashes tinted, hoping I could skip the mascara. Oh it was so pathetic. So my short thin little eyelashes were darker but still pretty much invisible.
My husband was DX with blepharitis about 6 months ago after a watery eye for months.
He is using the eye compress and scrub mentioned above with fairly good results.
The eye dr recommended Bausch and Lomb vitamins. Pricey, but available at Costco.
I get Systane at Costco, coupon this month
I never knew I had dry eyes, I kept getting eye infections and had teary eyes and seeing the PCP, when I finally saw an eye doctor he said, “dry eyes”
I use systane as soon as I wake up and right before going to sleep plus I carry it in my purse/car/desk, I use it the second I am aware of my eye doing anything, before they get bloodshot and that seems to really be working for me, now that I understand it.
I use the lubricant drops, I seem to have a few Refresh drops that feel like tears, but it is the lubricant that does the trick, the tears not so much. There is even a gel lubricant if my eyes get really bad. I have come to learn the feeling of my eye getting dry, if I can just prevent that capillary from popping out to be bloodshot, I am good. No eye infections since I began this. I do have a steroid antibiotic drop that I got when I had the infections and have convinced him to allow me to have a bottle year round as occasionally the lubricant is not doing the trick, one day with the medicated drops and everything simmers back down.
I did get the Refresh Plus today at Bed, Bath and Beyond (70 vials) and with the $5 coupon it was very reasonable.
@zeebamom - when you say “scrub” do you mean the baby shampoo? I had read about that online and am gonna try that too. My bottom lashes are the issue so not sure how to actually do it, but maybe I will google some YouTube videos
D had a run of styes for the first time this year, a few spread out over the course of a couple months. Her doc recommended tossing all eye makeup as they might have gotten contaminated. That did the trick and she’s been ok since.
