Red eye and irritation

A red eye can be many things, from a sleepless night to something worth looking at today. The difference is not how red it looks, but what comes with it.

Call or go to the emergency room if there is

• Severe pain in the eye — not discomfort: pain.
• Sudden loss of vision, or vision that blurs badly all at once.
• An injury to the eye, or something that got in and will not come out.
• Intense light sensitivity.
• A pupil that looks different from the other eye.

For any of these, call the office by phone or go to an emergency room. Do not use the website form: nobody reads it instantly.

Book a visit if

• The redness has lasted several days and is not easing.
• There is discharge, or your eyelids stick together on waking.
• It comes back periodically with no clear reason.
• You wear contact lenses and the eye turned red. This one is worth looking at soon.
• It itches a lot and you suspect allergies.

What to expect

1. What happened and since when. The account tells us more than the appearance.
2. A check of the eye surface and the eyelids.
3. An evaluation of the tear film, because dryness is a frequent cause of recurring redness.
4. An explanation of what we found and what makes sense to do.

What not to do

Use leftover drops from another time, or ones that worked for someone else. Drops that "take the red out" do it by constricting the vessels of the eye, and when you stop, the redness usually comes back worse. If you have had a red eye for days, what you need is to know why.

Request your appointment online and we will call you to arrange the day and time.