<p>Well, good luck with that. I have always been advised that an optometrist can help finetune your eyeglasses prescription and perhaps evaluate certain medical conditions but that for serious diagnosis and treatment, you need to see an ophthalmologist. In fact, since I don’t wear glasses, I’ve never even visited an optometrist myself – but what with serious dry eye, numerous bouts of conjunctivitis, and several bouts of herpes in the eye (nasty – don’t ask), I have a close relationship with my ophthalmologist.</p>
<p>Very Happy, I had the same thoughts. I guess I’ll see in an hour. I hope it’s something easy to diagnose. I have this nagging (and not unfounded) feeling that I have autoimmune issues, and I can’t imagine that an optometrist could diagnose anything like that.</p>
<p>Let me get this straight, you are a JD? At first I thought you were having trouble advocating for yourself over the phone…now I am perplexed. Is this in an urban area? You waited this long and now you are trading down?</p>
<p>Um…yeah…because there is an optometrist in walking distance and he can see me this afternoon. If it’s some little infection for which he can give me antibiotic drops or something, problem solved. If not, I’ll get a referral to a different ophthalmologist.</p>
<p>In case anyone cares, I’m back from the optometrist. He said that my eyes are so dry that tiny bits of my cornea are flaking off (dryness caused by the LASIK I had a few years back). He gave me drops. We’ll see.</p>
<p>The freaky thing is that the last time I saw this guy was in 1986 and he still remembers me and a conversation we had.</p>
<p>Missypie–D’s ophthalmologist also suggested Refresh plus Lubricant Eye Drops in the handy single use size once her dry corneas were rehydrated. It took a long time for hers to come back to normal, fyi.</p>
<p>Did the drops include a corticosteroid or not? Opt’s drops included corticosteroid (to reduce swelling), ophth’s did not. We went with the ophth’s drops.</p>
<p>Missypie, you really want to see an ophthalmologist. What you’ve got was what my primary symptom was back in 1988 (goodness – 20 years ago!!) and, without proper care, I would have had some permanent vision impairment. In addition, the dry eye was the first time the antennae were raised regarding autoimmune problems. I think your best bet is to see an MD, even if he only confirms the treatment that the optometrist prescribed. Better safe than sorry. It’s your eyes.</p>
<p>The optometrist/opthalmologist difference varies from state to state. In some states, optometrists do more than in other states. When we lived in MA, I saw an opth for everything; here in WA I see an opto for everything.</p>
<p>It’s very thoughtful of you to ask, VeryHappy. After taking the eye drops for three days, I developed almost every side effect on the list. So now, I’m off the drops, my eyes make me look like a ghoul (there’s only so much I can do witih makeup!) and I’m dealing with the side effects. I was covered in hives all weekend, which makes me think “autoimmune issue” all the more. And of course, I’ve gotten very busy at work and there are so many meetings at school due to the time of year. But other than that, I’m perfect. :)</p>
<p>Not to alarm you as many of these instances are self limited and not genetic, but one of my colleagues has a mother with autoimmune disease, sister with iritis and developed scleritis–this cleared when she went back to using glasses instead of contact. Suggest that you visit a rheumatologist as well as an academic opthalmologist. that way you have all of the bases covered in case of a flare.</p>
<p>I had similar symptoms several times last summer. Went to an eye doc, who gave me a cream/drops (no contacts for 2 weeks).</p>
<p>I pretty much pinpointed it to my high spf sunscreen (or if I use a lot of moisturizer around my eyes). What I found really helps (& this was recommended by the eye doctor): at night, I wash my eyes with a little bit of Johnson’s baby shampoo on a face cloth. Then rinse well.</p>
<p>If I have the beginnings of irritation now, I immediately do this and it disappears.</p>