Blepharitis curse

Posted , 4 users are following.

I was recently diagnosed with blepharitis and ocular rosacea. My eyes are easily irritated, get scratchy and I have ingrowing eyelashes from the right eye bottom eyelid, which can make it very painful to open my eyes in the morning. I also have large under-eye bags. Now I'm told to do the hot eye-mask treatment 10 minutes every day, followed by massage, followed by - at the moment steroid eye drops, antibiotic eye drops and moisturising eye drops. In the past I have always used an ice cold eye mask to try and reduce the eye bags, but now that I'm using a hot one every day, I see that my eye bags are swelling up. To moisturise my skin in the eye area I use La Roche Posay eye cream. I've been reading up about Butterflies Eyecare make-up, which seems to be suitable for sensitive blepharitis eyes. Just wondering, if anyone has been on similar treatment and what they do re eye bags and make-up? Am just feeling rather self-conscious... GP just tells me bags are part of the aging process...

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • Posted

    I feel your pain! I have been cursed by this as well for the past 8 years or so. There really is no cure but the best thing you can do is stay away from the ice. I used to use that to numb the pain and it made the situation much worse. The oil that is release through your eyelashes gets clogged when you use ice. Warm compresses or even warm water through out the day helps the oil flow and you will have less pain. Another big help for me is baby shampoo and warm water twice a day on my eyes. I also squeeze or pinch my eyelids while I am doing this to expel more oil. One last bit of help is taking 4 grams of Flax Seed oil a day. This helps lubricates the eyes more. Hang in there and know you are not alone.

    • Posted

      Hi JJ,

      Thanks for your advice. Whilst I also use a hot compress every night, I also have to use a cold one in the morning as I get huge under eye bags, which have worsened since the hot compresses. I don't use ice, just cold water or a cold tea bag. My phalmologist wanred me against using the baby shampoo treatment, as now they say that it doesn't agree with the eye's natural acidity level, or something along that line. I have read that some people use camomile tea, which sounds a good idea. I'll also look into the flax seed oil. Regards, Stefania

  • Posted

    Hi Stefania,

    I've had Blepharitis for a few years now and have learned a lot and how to control it. To keep it at bay I use the warm compress every night for at least 10 minutes. I just heat it up before bed so it doesn't become such a burden. I also have dry eye so I use Restasis twice a day. I also take special omega oil tablets (4 per day). I can get you the name if you want. Some people say you can't wear makeup but you absolutely can, you just have to be very careful. Never touch your makeup and your eye twice. Use one side of a q-tip to apply your eye shadow to one lid then turn it around to apply more. Also, for eye liner, paint it on the q-tip to apply it to your eyes, never touch the tip of the eye liner again once you've touched your eye. I use a lot of q-tips but very worth it. Also, if you wear mascara you need to buy the disposable wands so you are dipping a clean one into the mascara once then throwing it away. Hope these tips help. Good luck!

    • Posted

      Hi Bonita,

      Well, I cleared out my make-up and am starting afresh, together with disposable mascara wands. Good idea re the eye-liner! Many thanks, Stefania

  • Posted

    I'm so confused and i was just diagnosed and have been reading as much info as i can. My eye dr didnt tell me i needed to throw out my makeup. so is all of my eye makeup contaminated?

    • Posted

      Yes, to be safe throw any eye makeup away and start fresh. You can order the disposable mascara wands from Amazon and they are really cheap.

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