<p>For about the last year I’ve had extreme eye irritation…not every day, but several times a week. I was convinced it was allergies. I went to an allergist and had the skin tests and found that I’m not allergic to much of anything. I’ve tried to figure out if it is my eye makeup, I’ve tried days without one element of it (e.g. no mascara one day, no eyeliner another) and the eye irritation occurs no matter what I do or do not wear.</p>
<p>It’s driving me crazy and getting worse. What type of doctor would be most likely to figure out what the problem is? Opthamolagist? Dermatologist? Other?</p>
<p>I have severe eye irritation from ocular rosacea and blepharitis and I used to think it was allergy-related until my eye doctor diagnosed it and gave me medication to alleviate the symptoms. </p>
<p>I’d visit an ophthalmologist for a complete exam. A dermatologist can’t get that really closeup look at your eyelids that an ophthalmologist’s instruments can get. Good luck with it. Hope you’re able to get relief!</p>
<p>Well, this is probably pretty obvious, but just in case…do you wear contact lenses? My son has a recurrent eye problem. He went to the opthamologist at the medical center at his university, and was told to stop wearing contacts until he could get a different kind. I haven’t seen the written prescription yet, but I believe he has been told to get the gas permeable kind (?).</p>
<p>You may have something called keratoconjunctivits, which sounds worse than it is. It’s extremely dry eyes. I was diagnosed with it in 1988, when I could barely see the big green signs on the turnpike. Using lots of special eye drops and some other medications has helped significantly. Now it’s only a minor annoyance.</p>
<p>Opthamologist–are extremely dry eyes becoming an epidemic?! My D had the condition so bad that she couldn’t get an eye exam to get new glasses for months until her eyes could get rehydrated.</p>
<p>Gosh, my D has the same problem - dry eyes. She has been wearing GP contacts for 6 years now, and the problem only developed a month or so ago. D saw an opthalmologist, and he did recommend some eye drops and fish oil dietary supplements. Apparently, those omega-3 acids play an important role in making tears a bit harder to evaporate from the eye. If I had not known this doctor, I would have dismissed fish oil as another “snake oil” nonsense.</p>
<p>It must be the new contacts. My D has the soft lenses and they are so comfortable that people must wear them more than they should at one sitting.</p>
<p>With my old (hard) contacts, I couldn’t wait to come home and take them out!</p>
<p>Definitely see an opthamologist. I had eye irritation and thought it was makeup (like you). Turns out I had a growth on my eye ( on the white part) that was causing the irritation. Once it was removed it was such a relief to not have that constant irritation ( I had photophobia as well which was a pain).
Good luck - hopefully it’s an easy remedy for you!</p>
<p>Thank you- I hadn’t even realized that I was totally misspelling that word all of these years!! I have even had a lot of experience with specialists for myself and my husband and just never paid attention to the spelling- it’s a good thing to learn something.</p>
<p>Yes noct. I had one removed as an outpatient in the hospital where they actually did a removal and graft. ( they took a piece from the top of my eye under the eyelid). I had to be awake but numbed, but it wasn’t too bad. The worst part was the stitches from the graft poking at me until they dissolved. I would say I was bedridden for 3 days. It was well worth it though because being able to see in sunlight without grimacing and not having the feeling of being poked in the eye constantly was a blessing. LOL</p>
<p>The other eye I had done about a year later. It wasn’t as bad as the first so no graft and and much less painful. I was good to go in 2 days. </p>
<p>If you are really bothered by a pterygium, I would recommend removal wholeheartedly.</p>
<p>So, I broke down and called my ophthalmologist today. They said I should see an optometrist. I said it wasn’t a vision thing, it was a burning and itching thing and she said an optometrist could diagnose and treat whatever it is and that I should only call them if I need eye surgery. Interesting. Anyway, there’s an optometrist in walking distance, so I went ahead an made an appointment there.</p>
<p>That is weird. When I called our ophthalmologist about D’s dry eye problem, I even asked if that was the right place to take her, and the receptionist said yes. Our medical, not vision insurance, covered the visit. Could it be that your doc specializes in eye surgery and does not handle any other problems? May be the doc does not take your medical insurance?</p>
<p>Dunno. They didn’t even ask about insurance. (I have a very high deductibe, so I’m used to paying out of pocket for everything anyway.) The optometrist could fit me in today and it’s only a 10 minute walk, so I figure no harm in giving it a try.</p>