Dust allergy + LASIK severely affecting my eyes. How to treat?
April 8, 2015 10:40 AM   Subscribe

Side-effects of LASIK, plus a dust allergy, have made my eyes miserable. What are some effective ways to reduce irritation, inflammation and vulnerability of my eyes?

I have silicon plugs in my tear ducts. My doctor also recommended up hypoallergenic mattress cover and pillow cases. Are there any other things I can do so my eyes are so incredibly dry and inflamed, especially in the morning?

Aside from the LASIK dryness, anyone with allergic eyes found a miracle treatment?
posted by deern the headlice to Health & Fitness (11 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Doxycycline helped my eyes out considerably in dealing with a dust allergy.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:46 AM on April 8, 2015 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: How long did you have to take it?
posted by deern the headlice at 10:51 AM on April 8, 2015


I've found that applying vaseline on my upper and lower eyelids (into the lashline) before I go to sleep helps then to stay way less irritated while I sleep. It's especially helpful during allergy season or when the air is super dry.
posted by quince at 10:51 AM on April 8, 2015


Are you taking nasal steroids like Flonase? They help my allergic eyes a lot.
posted by thewumpusisdead at 11:01 AM on April 8, 2015


Assuming it's being caused by allergies, are you taking any allergy meds? I like Zyrtec for a one-a-day pill. And as thewumpusisdead notes, nasal allergy sprays (the steroid variety) may also help.

Also, washing all your bedding on HOT and cleaning your bedroom thoroughly may help more than hypoallergenic covers. (Doesn't matter if your pillow covers are hypoallergenic if you haven't washed your duvet this year.) I find my allergy load goes down whenever I get around to dragging everything (including my mattress pad and sometimes pillows) down to the laundromat to wash/dry. It just has to be on hot to kill the dust mites, so use your judgement on whether your current bedding can survive that.
posted by pie ninja at 11:05 AM on April 8, 2015


I take a pill a day for about 3-4 days where there is a flare-up, which is about once a month. It's a generic and pretty cheap. You might your eye specialist or a dermatologist about whether it might be helpful in your case.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:20 AM on April 8, 2015


I use an optical quality wax called Systane made by Bausch and Lomb that is great for dry eyes. I rub a tiny bit over each closed eye at night or whenever my eyes are dry and it's very effective. You can put the wax directly in your eye, but it will blur your vision. It only costs about ten dollars a tube and lasts for a very long time. Much more effective than eye drops. Available in most drug stores. I hope it works for you. Doesn't hurt at all.
posted by effluvia at 11:36 AM on April 8, 2015 [1 favorite]


There's a lubricating gel for eyes for overnight use, you can find it in the drug store with the lubricating eye drops.
posted by lizbunny at 11:40 AM on April 8, 2015


I found that using an air purifier in my bedroom helps wonders with my allergies. I thought it was BS but my dad convinced me a few months ago when I couldn't sleep due to a constant dry cough. I felt so much better in about a week.

There are about a million different models, and you could go crazy trying to narrow it down! According to The Sweet Home you want to make sure your model has a "True HEPA" filter, and a clean air delivery rate (CADR) of at least 300.

I ended up going with Honeywell HA202BHD (which I believe is called HPA2020BHD outside of Home Depot). It's basically the smaller version of the one recommended by Consumer Reports.
posted by radioamy at 12:30 PM on April 8, 2015 [1 favorite]


Tears Naturale II from Alcon is fantastic. That was what was recommended to me after my lasik about a decade ago.

It's essentially synthetic eyeball fluid (lacrima).

Warm it up under your armpit or run it under warm water to make dropping stuff in your eye more tolerable.
posted by porpoise at 3:20 PM on April 8, 2015


It isn't so much of a fix as a coping mechanism, but if you're using drops--a combination of meds is giving me really dry eyes lately and I tend not to notice until it's miserable, and then the drops help only a little. Setting an alarm to put drops in every few hours, suddenly it's much less of a problem.
posted by Sequence at 11:36 AM on April 9, 2015


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