Eye Allergies – How To Get Relief From Itchy Eyes

DrLee

Allergy season is coming! In addition to the common sneezing, runny nose, and nasal congestion, many of us also experience watery, itchy, irritated, red, and swollen eyes.

Allergies are caused by normally harmless substances which are seen as a threat to the body, and cause a reaction in the immune system that makes the eyes red and watery. The most common airborne allergens are pollen, dust, mold, and pet dander. Allergies can also be triggered by preservatives in eye drops or certain components in other cosmetics.

If you suffer from seasonal allergies, you can take some preventative measures such as staying indoors when the pollen count is high, and using an allergen filter with your air conditioner. Wear wraparound sunglasses to shield your eyes from pollen in the air, and drive with your windows closed. More tips for allergy relief here

The release of histamine is part of the normal allergic response. Antihistamines reduce allergic reactions by blocking the effects of histamine. Oral antihistamines are useful for overall allergy symptoms like sneezing, sniffing, and congestion, but topical antihistamine eye drops will target the eye allergy and have fewer side effects like sleepiness, dry mouth, and dry eyes. If your symptoms are mild, over-the-counter allergy eye drops containing antihistamines may be enough to provide relief. There are also combination drops containing antihistamines, as well as mast cell stabilizers which prevent the reaction from starting (rather than trying to block it after it starts). Ask Dr. Lee to recommend a treatment that best suits your needs.

Contact lens wearers may suffer extra discomfort, because the lenses can attract and accumulate allergens and debris. If you don’t want to wear glasses throughout allergy season, talk to Dr. Lee about switching to daily disposables that you discard after one day to avoid build-up on your lenses.

Allergies are very uncomfortable and can last for months. Don’t suffer! Call to make an appointment at the first sign of allergies – getting an early start results in faster relief.

For temporary relief before your appointment, use a cold compress over the eyes for 10-15 minutes, and a few drops of artificial tears or sterile saline solution in each eye to help flush out allergens. Putting the drops in the fridge before instilling them provides additional relief.

DrLee

Unfortunately, this is something I see often. Parents don’t bring their children in for eye exams because the children never complain about things being fuzzy. They don’t realize there is a problem until years later, when they are checked by an optometrist. Vision problems, like amblyopia, are important to catch earlier so they are easier to fix.
There are often no “signs” or complaints about blurry vision because kids don’t know something is wrong.
Remember to take your kids to have their eyes checked! They are covered by OHIP for yearly exams.

Their first exam should be between 6 months – 1 year.

Click here to read more about how one mom was shocked by vision problems in her child who showed no signs.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alishia-osborn/how-i-failed-my-daughter_b_6398080.html

DrLee

I’ve been seeing a lot of people with dry, irritated eyes lately. It gets worse in the winter because the heat is on and the air is very dry. Avoid drops that “get the red out!” – These are just masking the problem and may make the redness worse. If you have eyes that look red or feel irritated, talk to Dr Lee so we can get to the root of the problem and offer some better solutions!

Read more for other common eye care mistakes that I see all the time. Girls, eyeliner on your waterline is a big no-no!

http://news.health.com/2014/08/11/eye-health-mistakes/

DrLee

Operating online is cheaper, but even Clearly Contacts has opened a few storefronts – they’ve realized how important it is to have your glasses customized to fit your face in order for the prescription to work well!

Also for the glasses to work well, the prescription needs to be filled correctly. A 2011 study evaluating online orders showed nearly half of the prescription glasses purchased online did not meet patients’ “visual or physical needs.” The study showed 28.6 per cent of the glasses contained at least one lens that failed a component of optical analysis (eg. failure to match prescription, failed impact testing, incorrect/added lens treatments, incorrect lens type single vision vs bifocal).
These things get inspected at an optometrist’s office before the glasses are dispensed. They may be sent back to the lab for correction, which is why your delivery gets sometimes takes a bit longer, but it’s worth the wait to ensure quality.

An experienced optometrist or optician will help you choose frames that work with your particular prescription needs, and make recommendations about coatings and lens materials based on your specific prescription. They require measurements to customize the lenses for the frames you choose, and in high prescriptions, even a small error can cause headaches.

Glasses are something that you have to depend on daily, so take the time to get them right!|

See here for an article about buying online from CTV News: Buying glasses online may be cheap, but not necessarily safe, doctors warn

DrLee

Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends!

This is something I found last month, and it serves as a reminder to not take our vision for granted. Be grateful for your eyesight and your ability to see all the sale signs this weekend! Be grateful that you don’t need to rely on your other senses, because all the extra hustle and bustle would be very confusing for your ears. Be grateful for this amazing sense which allows you to gather information about the world around you, and remember to take care of your eyes.

Tod and Justin Purvis suffer from choroideremia, a condition which causes progressive blindness. It starts with difficulty seeing at night, and causes tunnel vision, which eventually extends to your central vision. 6 years ago, they took a trip across America to gather memories before going completely blind. They filmed the experience, which you can watch in their documentary, Going Blind. Tod Purvis went on the internet community Reddit to answer questions about his trip and what it is like to go blind.

Here are some interesting descriptions of his vision, from Tod Purvis:
“It’s hard to describe nothing. It’s not black, it’s like if you were looking through a tunnel, and the walls of the tunnel were made of mirrors and it reflected what was at the end of the tunnel”

“It’s all on the outside, I would say it’s blurry/fuzzy. Honestly there’s no such thing as BLACK to a blind person. There’s just nothing. It’s very hard to describe. One of the best scenes in a film, is in the film BLINDNESS, a children (who’s blind in the film) walks into a desk, that the audiences does not see and then it pops into view. That moment is EXACTLY how we see.”

“Close, [wear] sunglasses and smeared them with vaseline, and wore them all the time that would be kind of like it. [sic]”

“My vision was fine as a kid, I really didn’t notice it until my mid 30’s where I noticed the losing the outside and the night vision. Justin noticed it much earlier than I.”

Additional descriptions of vision loss from other users:
“Try this: Close both eyes, then hold your left eye closed, open your eyes and look out your right eye while keeping the left one held closed. Notice how your left vision just vanishes, but it doesn’t go black, it just doesn’t exist anymore. Try it with the other eye too.” – user KernelTaint

On why they took the trip:
“But we took the trip to put the memories in our brain where we could always call them up even if we completely lost our sight. There is an amazing scene in the film about a man who is almost totally blind who calls up his memories in order to live a full ‘visual’ life.”

The most beautiful places they visited:
Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, Glacier Park in Montana, Grand Canyon

Their film’s main message:
“”No matter what your situation … live your life to the fullest.”

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See the rest of their responses here : Choroideremia Ask Me Anything (NSFW)

They also created an award winning documentary about their experiences which can be found here: Driving Blind

To help support those with Choroideremia, you can donate to the causes listed here: Choroideremia.org and here: Blindness.org

Eye Allergies – How To Get Relief From Itchy Eyes

A Child’s First Eye Exam Should Be At 6 months

9 Common Eye Care Mistakes

Buying Glasses Online Not A Good Idea

What It’s Like to Go Blind