3d bloodshot eyes illustrationA few weeks ago, I woke up to find my eyelids stuck–as if glued shut–to my eyeballs. When I attempted to open them, the sensation was more or less that of ripping off a BAND-AID®; not very pleasant. Although I have not yet seen an optometrist for a professional diagnosis, what little research I have done on my own via Google and WebMD has led me to believe that the itchy red sensation is that of dry eye syndrome; probably closer toward the advanced stages.

Factors contributing to it are likely:

  • The length of time I spend sitting in front of a computer, television, cell phone, and handheld game consoles where its easy to forget to blink; a growing trend for just about every American, I assume.
  • Mild allergies exasperated by the hot, dry, dusty climate of Eagle Mountain, Utah. Especially the part of town where I live which is all new homes and there are huge tracts of undeveloped land full of weeds for the time being.
  • Irregular sleeping patterns; depending on the day, you can sometimes find me up in the wee hours of the morning burning the midnight oil. A phenomenon well known by many entreprenuers.

So, I suppose that night my bloodshot eyes had progressed to coagulating.

Rather alarmed, and fearing the long-term effects on my vision, I began investigating a home remedy that might alleviate the problem. I tried the Visine Tears® Lubricant Eye Drops, and while those helped, the relief was somewhat temporary and a regular dose was required at least every 1-2 hours.

Long story short, eventually I read something that suggested I break out our Air-O-Swiss® Ultrasonic Humidifier we got from Bed Bath & Beyond about four years ago. Just placing it in the room didn’t really seem to make a difference at all, but once I set it on a chair next to my face and aimed the steam nozzle right at my eyes–instant lasting relief! After only 4-5 days my eyes feel fully recovered and the sclera are looking their healthy pearly white again.

Isn’t it wonderful that we have the Internet and can even self-diagnose and prescribe remedies without the cost and hassle of driving out to see a doctor–not out of thrift, but simply convenience? I would venture to guess a growing number of Americans are feeling the same. I wonder what consequences this will have on the medical industry?

Anyway, ever since then, I’ve noticed others with the itchy red eye look. Giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming they’re not blazed, I recommend my handy new solution to anyone.

UPDATE: There are several things wrong with this idea. For one the humidifier instructions specifically say not to aim it at your eyes. Another reason is my humidifier is an ultrasonic one and I was filling it with our hard water from the tap which results in powdery white calcium dust all over EVERYTHING–it gets into electronics and ruins any type of optical CD/DVD drives by getting inside the drive and covering the lens so it can no longer read. If you had some type of fuzzy CD that you could stick in there to spin up and dust off the lens that might fix it, but I haven’t taken the time to look and it busted 3-4 of my drives because I had it on in the computer room. It even floated out into other rooms like the front room where my Nintento Wii is and caused a little bit of reading problems there too. I would not be surprised if the calcium powder was not also getting into my eyes.

I haven’t had this problem for months now. Looking back, I think it was a combination of late nights, sleep deprivation, staring at the computer screen in the dark, the dry desert climate here in Utah, the possibility of one of my heating/air conditioning vents aimed as to direct an air current across my face while on the computer, a large box fan that I turn on sometimes making that current effect worse further drying out my eyes, and frequent visits to some relatives whose house is clouded with cigarette smoke casino style. I have taken steps to mitigate all these factors including lubricating eye drops specially formulated for computer users and have not had another episode of dry red bloodshot eyes since.

Don’t try the humidifier thing. It was a temporary alleviation and the problem kept coming back. I don’t think it was what helped me in the long-term.

ANOTHER UPDATE: My dermatologist diagnosed me with ocular rosacea, and my ophthalmologist confirms this bacterial infection is the cause of my dryness currently. Besides the dryness of my eyes, it began to manifest itself on the skin around my eye as red blemish with tiny bumps that slowly began spreading around my eyes. Whether it was a result of aiming a humidifier at my eyes or not, using non-purified questionably clean water from Eagle Mountain no less, I am not sure. It has been six months and I am still trying to get rid of it using a large dosage of antibiotics and topical steroid creme. Very frustrating.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: I went to see a Dermatologist and an Ophthalmologist. I was prescribed Azasite by the eye doctor which is anti-biotic eye drops, and 500mg Erythromiacin an oral anti-biotic. After 2-3 months, this whole mess finally cleared up. I still get dry eyes sometimes, but not quite as bad. It’s mostly because of my dry climate, lots of weeds/dust/pollen where I live, and staying up too late working on the computer. I find if I go to bed by 10pm, drink lots of water, and use Optive eye drops (not sodium-based, more oily so they last longer) it is under control. Here are my suggestions based on Internet research for what it is worth:

  • take vitamins once a day (Vitamin B2 is important)
  • keep applying Optive eye drops
  • drink water until pee is clear
  • apply cold ice pack to closed eyelids (will reduce swelling of veins)
  • buy humidifier + distilled water and run it in the room
  • go to bed early not late at night
  • change filters in HVAC
  • try an antihistimine like claritin in case its allergic reaction

UPDATE MAR 2011: I have a dual monitor setup. I was using a very small desk that made it so my face was relatively close to the screens. Reading into ergonomics I realized my eyes were straining in the movement from far left to far right looking at both screens so closely. I rearranged my desk so that my eyes are at least 31″ away from the monitor, and centered between the screens. This helped. I also started getting more rest and going to bed earlier and that helped too. When the eyes were red the Optive and ice packs did help. The humidifier may have helped. I also changed the filters in my home office HVAC, which was something I had been putting off. All these things seemed to contribute to recovery. In the past few months I have only had to use the eye drops once a week or less. Pretty good.