Eye Allergy

[ny biker]

Unfortunately this will only muddy the waters for you, but my vast experience with contact dermatitis has shown that an allergen will usually cause a reaction everywhere that it touches me, but not always.

Years ago when sunscreen still contained PABA, it would cause an itchy rash on my forearms, but nowhere else.

More recently I had a a patch of red, itchy, scaly skin on the browbone and eyelid of my left eye. Only the left eye. Eventually I determined it was caused by the Almay eye makeup remover I was using. And I used it on both eyes, but it only caused a problem around the left one.

So if your problem is contact dermatitis, then it might be caused by something that is not only coming into contact with your eyelids. It might be contacting you elsewhere but only causing a reaction around your eyes.

Now, having said that, since you mentioned pillowcases -- have you tried a different pillow made of different materials than the one you use now? Like maybe switching from poly- or down-fill to memory foam? You can also try to rule out or confirm that the cause is related to your pillow/mattress/etc. by sleeping somewhere else for a few nights, like in a recliner in the living room if you have one and can get comfortable enough.

[tulip]

Maybe you have an allergy to some product that your new cleaning lady used.

[limewave]

Must have been an allergy. After two solid months of swollen, red, flaky eyelids (I looked seriously diseased) it's cleared up over the weekend. Weird.

[malkin]

That must be quite a relief!
Glad to hear it has left you.

[limewave]

Okay, so after two days of symptom relief it came back strong. ugh. Another doctor told me to use Aquaphor. That seemed to alleviate the symptoms, but again, that only lasted for a day or so.

SO, I just went to my naturopath doctor. She gave it a good look over. She is confident its a yeast infection, not allergies. She said she can actually see the yeast.
Treatment: A small variety of oral supplements to help kill the yeast, no dairy or added sugar, use teatree oil hair and facial products. Put coconut oil on eyelids at night before bed.
We will see if this works!

[Sky King]

wow, interesting, keep us posted. just hope you aren't allergic to coconut - like me

I am extremely allergic to Sagebrush and rag weed, both of which are in full bloom. I gave up years ago and do use nasonex - 2 x's a day through the month of Sept until the first hard frost. I also take a really old drug - rynatan - dirt cheap generic. Between the two I can now actually enjoy fall. I figure I am not on the steroid for that long so am willing to do it.

[OakLeaf]

In the past I've had good luck treating fungus infections with topical probiotics. If you're allergic to milk you probably don't want to use dairy yogurt, but maybe some unsweetened non-dairy yogurt or just open up a probiotic pill and suspend the powder in water to apply?

Good luck, anyway, that sounds miserable.