Ocular Rosacea
Rosacea is a common skin inflammation suffered by approximately 14 million Americans. It commonly affects the face but the chest and other body parts may be involved. When this affects the eyes, it is called ocular rosacea. Patients with ocular rosacea often might feel uncomfortable as if they feel a tiny foreign object is in their eye.
The exact cause of the condition is still unknown but experts associate heat, very cold temperatures, menopause, emotional stress, genetic disposition, environmental factors and others to trigger its occurrence. It was found out however that about 58% of people suffering from rosasea display these specific rosacea symptoms around their eyes.
What one suffers during an attack of ocular rosasea will be different from another person as no two people experiences the skin inflammation in the same manner. Commonly though, to be diagnosed, one has to display at least some of the following symptoms: red, burning and itchy eyes and feeling of grittiness or sands in the eyes. Blepharitis, where the eyelids may be inflamed, crusty, swollen and itchy, also occurs.
Moreover, patients with severe ocular rosasea display inflammation of the iris (iritis), conjunctiva (conjunctivitis), and cornea (keratitis). These three causes the severe pain, sensitivity to light and blurry vision experienced by the patient. Some would also grow styes or bumps in the eyelids.
Good thing that though these symptoms affect the important organs responsible for the sense of sight, there are treatments to manage them. Your Doctor can often prescribe you a good antibiotic rosacea cream that can be applied depending on your reaction to the drug. Most physicians will also prescribe oral antibiotics which are mostly long acting tetracyclines like doxycycline. They may as well advice removing eye debris and oil secretions with moistened Q-tips and increasing fluid intake to counteract eye dryness.
Furthermore, there are good rosacea skin care methods that handle specific symptoms of ocular rosacea. For the dry eye syndrome that is often felt by those suffering rosacea, it may be healed with artificial tears. If this will not work out, radical treatments may be done like blocking the tear drainage ducts temporarily with silicone or closing the duct permanently using punctual cautery.
On the other hand, styes may be controlled with warm compresses as frequent as four times a day. In situations where the bump in the eyelid (sometimes called chalazia) persists for about a month, drainage may be done as necessary.
Eye hygiene is also very important and needs to be reiterated. A simple home remedy to ease blepharities involves two successive 5-minute hot water compresses using a clean washcloth. After that, scrub the eyelid with a cotton swab soaked in an equal part mixture of baby shampoo and water. Use a different cotton swab on the other eye before rinsing with warm water.
Ocular rosacea is a troubling condition but it can be cured. It only requires patience in adhering to the treatment regimen.