Allergic or irritant conjunctivitis?

[Ballsy1]

Hi!

I am a young female (20s) who has been experiencing "allergic conjunctivitis" for the last eight months.

I have been cleared for thyroid issues and autoimmunue diseases by my GP. My total serum IGE count is 74 (normal is less than 120

I have had allergy testing done but they are not congruent... Blood I am allergic to dogs and cats (I get rashes to dogs which I knew before hand) and nothing else environmental. And skin I'm allergic to dust mites and birch/popular but not dog or cat.

I have never had issues with allergies before and do not experience any respiratory symptoms other than reacting with hives when petting most dogs. Cannot be cats as I do have one and have no friends who do. Could be pollen tho it started in March and its still snowy here in Alberta and could be dust mites though I was told they dont usually cause issues in AB because its so dry (I keep the humidity in my house less than 50% constantly).

I did have a hypoallergenic dog for a year and a half before my eye issues started acting up. She is staying with family now.

So in March, my left eye
started becoming red. I went to my GP who prescribed antibiotics which did not help. I was referred to a specialist who said it was allergic conjunctivitis and gave me topical antihistamines. I took them for about three weeks but nothing seemed to help. I went to another specialist who said I had viral conjunctivitis and he gave me Alrex eyedrops. I took those for two weeks and my eyes cleared up. However, after coming off they turned red again. At this point, I didnt use any medication for three weeks to see if if was just rebound redness. My eyes got worse. They stuck together when I got up in the morning and my eyelids started cracking in the corners. So when it did not clear up in three weeks, I went back to the same specialist who gave diagnosed me with viral conjunctivitis. He then gave me the diagnosis of allergic conjunctivitis and then gave me Alrex again for three months. When he diagnosed this, I got my family to look after our dog, cleaned the house reaaally well and dust mite proofed our bed. I also quit using makeup and acne products and switched to hypoallergenic products without fragrance.

I am now tapering off the Alrex and my eyes are less red but I still have symptoms including heavy eyelids and eye pain. The redness is better but still pink.

So with all this background information, my specialist is sure it is allergic conjunctivitis. When I first starting getting red eyes, I just starting wearing cream at night and benzyol peroxide just on my chin for acne. I stopped this practice at the same time I switched to hypoallergenic and got rid of my dog. Unfortunately, since I got rid of my dog and stopped using the acne products at the same times, I can't identify which action would have helped alleviated my eye redness. I believe my eye redness to be caused by my acne products as i was also experiencing eyelid eczema, though my specialist is convinced its allergic. Any thoughts? The reason I ask is because I would like to know which triggers to avoid.

Thanks