Eyes

[jennfran]

Hi guys. I have replied to some posts about eyes which made me have some questions, if you could help.

First let me start of saying I went to another Derm as I did not like the first one and really not sure about this one because of what he said to me. He looked at me and said it does not look like you have rosacea, not bad at least. I said ok, he pulled out the phamplet on rosacea and said this is what someone looks like that has pre-rosacea and then showed me a picture with severe. He said you are not even close to pre-rosacea. I said with all due respect Sir but that picture shows someone with pre-rosacea with acne. I do not have the acne rosacea, I have broken blood vessel kind. He said, yes but do you see the redness on her face, I said yes, he said you are not even close to that. Anyway I dropped it, then told him but my face burns so bad sometimes I have to splash cold water on it. He looks at me funny and says well rosacea patients do not have burning that bad. :? I was like, HELLOOOO, yes they do. He said maybe this symptom is from your nerve disorder but then says to me you probably have ocular rosacea. I said well if I have ocular rosacea then you can bet the burning on face is from rosacea. GEEZZZZ and I don't even have a med degree but the two go hand in hand I am thinking.

So to the eyes- My eyelids will swell a little little bit and get red but my eyeballs do not ever do anything but feel dry. I am and have been taking zyrtec and zantac to help the swelling, which has stopped the swelling completely, ALTHOUGH this could be because I do not have the heat on inside due to summer. I was getting it bad in the winter. My flushes are just very faint now so do not know if this is because of zyrtec or inside heat gone, but the problem now is my eyes are becoming more dry due to the zyrtec(anti-histamines). I am using drops but am now wondering if I should stop the zyrtec because it is making eyes dry and could make ocular rosacea worse or should I keep taking it because it helps with the flushes and swelling? I am using wetting drops and that helps the eyes some. Also, is it possible to have rosacea on the eyelids but not on the eyeball? If someone could please give me some information, I would appreciate it. These Dr.'s keep looking at me like I am crazy when I say I am worried about rosacea. They are like why, you dont even look it and it is very treatable. I told the Derm about this website and he said, Jennifer these people have it bad, unlike you, you need to stay off of website because they are scaring you. I was so upset with him by what he said, I told him, yes those people do have it and those people you are referring to actually have given me the most advice any Dr. has and if more Dr.'s helped "those, us people" then we wouldnt have to be on a website. My husbands eyes got huge and was a little :oops: but by then I had it. Sorry to vent but I am frustrated!!!!..Thanks for listening..Jenn

[PA Dancer]

Hi Jenn,

I am totally understanding your situation with the doc's being idiots and the ocular rosacea.

Yes, antihistimines are VERY drying. They will dry our every part of your body, (if you know what I mean) if you are on the long term.

I have ocular rosacea too. I have for years. There are days that I wake up in the morning and my eyelids look like someone injected them with fluid, then after an hour or so of waking up, they go back to normal.

I notice this happens when I go out to a club or bar where people are smoking. (I'm a smoker too...and I am sure it doesn't help.) And it will happen if I don't get all my eyeliner off before I go to sleep.

For the most part the eyes lids are under control. When I shower, I am sure to take the wash cloth and scrub the lids. Another thing I have done when it was really bad was diluting Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo in my hand ad using a Q-Tip and lightly scrubbing the lids side to side, and from the lashes follicle rolling the Q-Tip outward. (as if to put mascara on).

If you have a magnifying mirror, you might see "crustys" inbetween the lashes. My eye doctor told me to be careful about being to forceful and that warm water will loosen it.

I admit, I have been lazy about doing this.

Other things I do, is wash the lids before I go to bed if I have been out.
I have cotton dustmite covers on my pillows, which help with my allergies.
I will also do hot water soaks. I take a wash cloth with hot water, wring it out, and hold it on my eyes for a few minutes.

Back in 2002 or so, I had a Chalazion removed. I was told it was from blocked tear ducts. And another time my eye doc injected them with a steriod saying it would help them go down...didn't work.

My eyes get dry like yours do. I was out trying to find a natural tears drop for those dry days, but I am such a chicken about trying new products I didn't get anything.

The eye surgeon who took out the Chalazion wanted to put my on some kind of topical eye antibiotic that I would smear on before I go to bed. I didn't go with that either.

Just a note that I have found out. Dermatologist know nothing about eyes, and ocular rosacea. If you have a eye care center in your area, I would suggest calling them first to see if anyone has any experience dealing with ocular rosacea. Then politely ask if it would be possible to talk to that doc.

I wish you the best,
Ann

[jennfran]

Thanks Ann! Yes I have an appt. next Tuesday with eye Dr. I have been doing the lid scrubs also. I just do not know if I should keep using the zyrtec for the eyelid swelling and nose puffiness or get off it for the drying of eyes. The drying does not bother me to much, it is not that bad, I just do not want to cause future harm to eyes, if it will. Nothing so far is wrong with my eyeballs, just the lids. I just do not want to cause the white of eyes to go red.
Thanks..Jenn

[PA Dancer]

I've had Rosacea for years, along with ocular rosacea, and blepharitis, and I don't even worry about my eyes getting that severe.

I think it's the same kind of worry that you have with rosacea and getting a bulbous nose...it just doesn't happen to everyone, ya know?

Anytime I have something going on with my eyes...I am at my eye doctors driving him crazy. :D

There are some docs out there who just don't know enough because they don't treat what we have all the time or they didn't specialize in it.

Keep after your docs and doing the research. Stick with medical pages that have .gov after them like NIH, and medline. There are pages out there with a lot of bogus info on them, and I used to scare myself silly looking at them.

If your docs aren't cutting it...find another one. Call first, express your concerns, and see if they are willing to be pro-active in helping. I had to go thru that, and whenyou find the ones that want to help they will drive you crazy trying to figure out what's wrong.

good luck!

[Melissa W]

Hi Jenn,

I agree with PA Dancer. Find a doctor you like and feel will work with you. Above all else they must be open minded to your suggestions and info you bring them.

As for your eyelid swelling I would try cool compresses. That should help with your lid swelling and give you relief.

Hang in there!

All the best,
Melissa

[drummond]

Hi guys. I have replied to some posts about eyes which made me have some questions, if you could help.

First let me start of saying I went to another Derm as I did not like the first one and really not sure about this one because of what he said to me. He looked at me and said it does not look like you have rosacea, not bad at least. I said ok, he pulled out the phamplet on rosacea and said this is what someone looks like that has pre-rosacea and then showed me a picture with severe. He said you are not even close to pre-rosacea. I said with all due respect Sir but that picture shows someone with pre-rosacea with acne. I do not have the acne rosacea, I have broken blood vessel kind. He said, yes but do you see the redness on her face, I said yes, he said you are not even close to that. Anyway I dropped it, then told him but my face burns so bad sometimes I have to splash cold water on it. He looks at me funny and says well rosacea patients do not have burning that bad. :? I was like, HELLOOOO, yes they do. He said maybe this symptom is from your nerve disorder but then says to me you probably have ocular rosacea. I said well if I have ocular rosacea then you can bet the burning on face is from rosacea. GEEZZZZ and I don't even have a med degree but the two go hand in hand I am thinking.

So to the eyes- My eyelids will swell a little little bit and get red but my eyeballs do not ever do anything but feel dry. I am and have been taking zyrtec and zantac to help the swelling, which has stopped the swelling completely, ALTHOUGH this could be because I do not have the heat on inside due to summer. I was getting it bad in the winter. My flushes are just very faint now so do not know if this is because of zyrtec or inside heat gone, but the problem now is my eyes are becoming more dry due to the zyrtec(anti-histamines). I am using drops but am now wondering if I should stop the zyrtec because it is making eyes dry and could make ocular rosacea worse or should I keep taking it because it helps with the flushes and swelling? I am using wetting drops and that helps the eyes some. Also, is it possible to have rosacea on the eyelids but not on the eyeball? If someone could please give me some information, I would appreciate it. These Dr.'s keep looking at me like I am crazy when I say I am worried about rosacea. They are like why, you dont even look it and it is very treatable. I told the Derm about this website and he said, Jennifer these people have it bad, unlike you, you need to stay off of website because they are scaring you. I was so upset with him by what he said, I told him, yes those people do have it and those people you are referring to actually have given me the most advice any Dr. has and if more Dr.'s helped "those, us people" then we wouldnt have to be on a website. My husbands eyes got huge and was a little :oops: but by then I had it. Sorry to vent but I am frustrated!!!!..Thanks for listening..Jenn
Say jen please may i ask you a question which is can you sweat and if you can actually also sweat from your rosacea areas on your face. I would like to know how you feel about the idea of sweating, as most rosacea people tend to be offended even having suggesting the idea of sweating to them. When I myself had eye problems I would make a point of sweating well for thirty minutes every morning after I had awakend.

This helped to bring moisture to my eyes and i was really fine for the rest of the day. I call this the guy fawks sweating system although it sounds bizzare the relife I got from it was comforting. I still make a point of sweating every morning even now, I have vege curry four times a week and the times i don't eat a curry i just have eight fat free chilli coated rice crakers at teatime which helps to make me sweat in the morning.

Eyes are a really bad side effect of rosacea not only is it debilitating but a major worry as to how it could progress. Acid drinks like red wine and coffe are especially a contributing factor and drinking too much on an evening after the main meal. I found that after my tea i should not drink after 8pm then only in the morning no matter how thirsty i got, this method reduced my blepharitis by eighty percent.