How to combat irritated allergy eyes

My eyes love to look at Spring, but my eyes suffer for it… big time.

For the past several weeks I haven’t been able to wear my contacts nearly as long as I would like to each day and, almost every morning I have been waking with my eyes crusty and sometimes sealed shut. YUCK!

I thought maybe it was a contact lens issue, but then I remembered that this happens every Spring and every Fall… and then again in the summer when we travel to Vermont and all the flowers bloom there.

I had been taking my allergy medicine religiously, and my nose was happy, but my eyeballs were still miserable. I was puzzled.

That’s when I decided to take some real action and I finally called my allergist.

And I am so glad that I did!

He explained that the eyes have a type of barrier from the rest of our body’s systems and that traditional allergy medicine for the rest of our bodies will not help our eyes.

He told me to wash my eyelashes with mild tear-free shampoo each morning and night, apply allergy eye drops and then, at night, also coat my lashes with a bit of Vaseline. Doing this during allergy season will get me back on track and nearly itch-free.

The wash will keep my lashes clean and able to do their job of collecting allergens and keeping them from my eyeballs. The Vaseline at night will keep me from rubbing my eyes. (Rubbing your eyes introduces bacteria to your eyes. At night we rub our eyes as they itch without realizing it. This bacteria multiplies and grows and that’s how we get crusty eyes overnight. Yuck!)

My allergist prescribed an eye drop for me, but said there is also an over the counter allergy eye drop that many find to be effective.

He also went over the procedure for the wash:

1. Place a small amount of baby shampoo (anything mild and tear-free) in a large clean bowl. Add warm water.

2. Dip a clean washcloth into the mixture and then wring it out.

3. Fold the washcloth in half.

4. Wipe one eye with one side of the cloth. Wipe the other eye with the other side.

5. Toss the washcloth in the laundry and do not reuse it. Get a fresh one for morning and fresh one for night.

I hope this works for you… I have already found it to make a huge difference for me!