Eye mites and eczema, how long does it take them to go away after treatment?

[twistr25]

This has been going on way longer than it should have, but I have some patchy red spots around mainly my left eye. They tend to itch a lot and can get scaly on occasion. I have gone to my dermatologist who diagnosed it as eczema and gave me a steroid cream. I do not have this any other place other than near my eye. The first round seemed to work some, it lessened on my left eye, but then started appearing some on my right eye. Long story short, I went back a few more times, got different creams, and same-ish result. My sister had an eyelash mite infestation and it got me thinking I could have a similar issue. I went to my eye doctor and she said my eyelids were inflamed, but did not see any mites. She prescribed an antibiotic in case they had created an infection. After the first week of taking the medication, I noticed a huge improvement. At the end of the week, I started noticing some redness and itching again and was told to take another dose, this was last week. Over the weekend, under my eye seemed to truly regress and is back to itchy and super red.

All that to ask, if I eventually kill the infection (assuming that's what it is), how long would be reasonable to assume the red, itchy, patchy skin will go away? Would I need to go back to the steroid cream? I have never had this type of issue before and seems super stubborn to get it to go away.

[JohnHaganMD]

The eyelid mites you are talking about are called Demodix. They are unusual and not hard to kill. What you likely have is ‘blepharitis’ which is a chronic problem that you control not cure. I suggest you see an Eye MD ophthalmologist that specializes in cornea and external disease.

[twistr25]

Does this usually appear out of nowhere? That's one of the things I'm struggling with most, nothing around my environment has changed, it just appeared. I'm 33.

[twistr25]

One more note, the red patches, at least don't seem to be, associated with my eyelids which I understand is where blepharitis occurs. The red patches are on my eye brow and where "baggy eyes" occur.

[JohnHaganMD]

This is a problem that cannot be diagnosed without a medical eye exam by Eye MD ophthalmologist. See one if you have see one that specializes in cornea and external disease

[twistr25]

Understood, thanks for the responses.

[JohnHaganMD]

You are welcome best of outcomes