Question
29 y/o Male with chronic left eye irritation. Perfect vision. No Problems with right eye.
I did have an eye injury in Marine Corps from a small sliver of metal about 6 years ago. The Metal was removed, but evidently left a small scar on the lens of my eye. I got out of the military and went to college, but was irritated with my left eye the whole 4 years. I don't know if the scar is part of my problem or not, but here are the rest of my symptoms:
-Eye is fine in the mornings for the most part.
-As the day goes on it feels dry and stings.
-There are stringy strands that appear in the eye and eventually end up in the corner of my eye if I don't pick them out first.
-The left eye does not drop tears onto my face like the right eye does when crying.
Eye Doctor said blepharitis a couple of years ago, but treating it as such does not help.
Would you please give your opinion on what is wrong with my left eye.
Ron
Answer
Without seeing you this will be difficult, but let me throw out some ideas:
- the stringy strands are a hallmark of ocular allergy. Now by the other symptoms I am sure allergy is not the only problem, but may be part of it. Try cold compresses and an over the counter anti-histamine drop (ask the pharmacist.)
-the injury from 6 years ago makes me think you may have recurrent corneal erosion - the top layer of the cornea did not heal properly and sometimes the epithelium wears off and exposes the very sensitive nerves beneath it. (however, recurrent erosions are usually worse in the morning) This would need to be treated, preferably by a corneal specialist.
-just plain dry eye. (the stinging and burning) for this I would first try putting in artificial tears every hour or so for a few weeks. If it helps, back down the frequency to see how far you can go between drops to stay comfortable.
-the left eye not tearing makes me wonder if there was more damage from that injury that somehow affected the tear glands. But that sounds far-fetched.
-the fact that you had blepharitis makes me wonder if you might also have meibomian gland dysfunction (also called posterior blepharitis) It is very common and often gets missed by an eye doctor not specifically looking for it. This would have to be diagnosed and treated by an eye doctor.
I would try the anti-histamine drops and artificial tears. If that does not help, try to see a corneal specialist - or someone who specializes in dry eye conditions. They could prescribe better allergy drops than you could get over the counter, check for recurrent erosion and the meibomian gland dysfunction and treat accordingly. There is even a prescription drop for dry eye now called Restasis that might be of some help, depending how the exam goes.
Good luck with solving this problem.
