Hi, I am 27 years old and sadly I took two rounds of accutane when I was 20-21 years old and ever since then my eyes have been very red, dry and sensitive to light. I was diagnosed with Blepharitis shortly after finishing my accutane and the doctor had told me to do warm compresses and followed by Ocusoft lid scrubs. I honestly don't know how long I did that (probably for a few weeks if that) and had to stop becuase my eyelids were so dry and I was frustrated because I wasn't seeing any results really. I read about othe people whos eyes have been ruined due to accutane and pretty much just gave up. I did compresses here and there but never religiously, thus in all this time I have never really actually tried to treat the Blepharitis.
Fast forward to now. I've been doing more research and after actually having a better understanding of Bleph I see a bit of hope. Currently my eyes are always red, I have permanent veins in them, and I can't wear contacts more than an hour (really like 10 minutes, but i just keep putting drops every 10 minutes. Only wear them while playing sports). My eyelids are not red and don't really look swollen. From time to time I will get bumps on the portion of the eyelid that releases oils when you blink so I know that I still have a Blepharitis problem. The thing is when I take both index fingers and stretch out my upper eyelids by the lash line there is large bumps at the base of the eyelashes. I am guessing this is the Staphyloccocus bacteria?
Symptoms:
- Dry eyes
- Sensitive to light
- Randomly my eyes start to burn here and there (discomfort isn't much of a issue for me though. Mainly redness)
- cant wear contacts
- Rarely do i see any oils excreted from the MG glands on my eyelids
Currently:
- Compresses/massage morning and night
- Ocusoft Plus lids scrubs morning and night (started today)
- Taking Theratears (since 3 days ago)
- Restatis (been on it for 2 months)
I've decided to recommit myself to treating this issue because I've realized there might be a small chance I can overcome this. So I have a few questions...
1. How long does it take to kill the Staph bacteria on the eyelids?
2. Am I doing enough or is there anything else or better I should be doing?
I was in your position where I felt Blepharitis had taken over my life. Hospital eye doctor prescribed 6 weeks of antibiotics. Success.
My dry eye syndrome is a separate issue to the Blepharitis so I use Hylo Forte as often as I need in the day and if I wake at night. It's due to a malfunction in the cells on the front surface of my eyes.
Its worth pushing for the antibiotics but be VERY careful to use sunscreen. When they said antibiotics would make be prone to sunburn I didn't realise they meant 10 minutes outside would make me feel I was on fire. Buy the highest factor and use it or you'll add another problem!
Thanks for the reply. I just went to an Opthamologist and she simply examined my eyes through a magnifying glass and said she really didn't see much Blepharitis, but the bumps on my eyelids say something is wrong. The questions is should I goto a Dermatologist to find out what these bumps are? I do not have any discharge from the hair follicoles or any discoloring or anything like that. They are just white bumps inside the base of the hair follicle.
Might be worth seeing a dermatologist as you feel the original accutane is a factor.
its worth making an effort with the warm compresses. Be scrupulous in hand washing before you ever touch your eyes. Use disposable cotton wool pads in very warm water or use washcloths once and wash them on hot setting and dry quickly.
after the compress, gently massage your eyes and wipe them with Blephasol liquid or similar. I've changed to L'Oreal miscella gel eye make up remover ( don't use the miscella waters as they contain alcohol) it's very soothing and keeps eye margins clean.
Since the 6 weeks of antibiotics I've just had dry eyes and the Blepharitis has disappeared. I know it's never cured but I at least feel it's not ruling my life.
Have you seen my comments on the topic? Basically, the fix for my blepharitis was a daily shower with a therapeutic shampoo called Capasal, ask your GP, the shampoo was originally prescribed for seborheic dermatitis but after clearing that I noticed my bleph had also cleared, no problems for years now, perhaps I'm lucky, give it a try, only cost is a presciption which you will be paying anyway for useless bleph treatments. The shower MUST be taken every morning or it soon returns. Good luck.
check out the wet ones post by lynda79. You can use a q-tip wit a small square wrapped around it so it wont touch the other parts of your eye both inside and out. be very careful, make sure you're not allergic.
The registrar at the eye hospital told me that it's bugs on the eyelashes that cause blepharitis. If there's any ointment available that'll get rid of them that would be good, but I don't know of one.. I don't tolerate antibiotics, so I personally don't go down that route, and the registrar also said that as soon as you stop taking the antibiotics the bugs often come back anyway, so it's only a temporary fix.
Am making do with blephasol at the moment.
08kx250f if I were you I would go to the opticians or ask the GP for a referral to the eye hospital. They'll be better able to see your eyes, your corneas, etc and tell you for definite what the problem is.
I have been suffering with bleph for nearly 30 years, as far as I'm aware and what my doctors have told me there is no cure or remedy it is in fact a condition that you must live with, dry eye is a direct result of bleph as the MB glands are blocked therefore not releasing oil which prevent the tears from evaporating, hence dry eye. There is nothing causes the blockage it is simply a condition that some people have, warm compress and hygiene only relieve the symptoms but will never clear it, all the rest of the treatments discussed on hear, wet ones wipes, blephagel and tea tree oil for example are useless and will not cure bleph. If you have any eyelid infection then that is something completely different and is not bleph. Well at least that's the way I understand it unless anybody can come up with some other idea as I would be eternally grateful.
Pedro, there are many on here that have cured it with the wet ones they were not allergic. Remember, doctors are only human, can make mistakes. I believe it CAN be cured. Dena
Hi Dena, perhaps there has been a misunderstanding here , Bleph is not a disease or infection, it is a condition, whatever people on hear think they have cured it is not bleph but an eyelid infection, Bleph can not be cured because it is a condition. Pete..
Exactly, it is a condition like Eplilepsy, it cannot be cure but it can be controlled, with Epilepsy it is finding the right drugs, with Bleph it is immaculate hygiene. I have oily skin, that was root of the problem hence the scalp condition (if you scratch your head and find your fingernails full of grease then you need to wash your scalp) if your hair follicles produce oil so do your eyelashes so they need washing with the appropriate solution, I have named the one that one that works for me, I haven't had an eye problem now for many years.
Thanks for all the replies everyone. Does anyone have any comments on the photo of my eyelid? Does it look like I have Bleph pretty bad? Do the white bumps (from what you can see from the poor photo) look consitent with staphyloccocus?
