Is it possible for my long term red in eyes to go away?

[Katie_1119837]

About six months ago I noticed I had a lot of noticeable veins in my eyes. My right eye has more prominent red. I haven’t worn contacts for two months but I wore them for 17 years before then. I just got lasik about a month ago. My optomologist said I have a bunch of bumps under my eyes and most likely developed allergies over time and will take time for it to get better. My question is, will the redness go away or at least be reduced at some point? I’m using preservative free eye drops daily, an antihistamine eye drop for allergies, and started restasis after the surgery.

[NightHawkGuy]

I bought a bottle of the new Lumify eyedrops at a local Target store over the weekend (used a $2 off coupon from their website too).

I tried a drop in each of my eyes last night and the redness did go away nicely in a couple minutes, however some redness returned an hour or so later I'd say maybe about 1/2 of what it was before so didn't last 12 hours as claimed at least for me.  I'll try it some more over the coming days and see if that changes.

Also I believe it did affect my pupil size slightly.  Made the pupil very slightly smaller at night enough to prevent the half circle around some lights I can see in my eye with the Tecnics monofocal toric IOL when my pupil at night is at its max size. So that was a nice side effect.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Ask your ophthalmologist if you have GPC (giant papillary conjunctivities) which is an allergy to contact lens wear that causes bumps under the eyelid.  If so ask him/her about opticrom for treatment of GPC.   Google and read about.  More likely you have dry eyes. Probably why your contacts started bothering you and lasik can make dry eyes worse. Go to my website and scroll through the blog posts and read the updated article on dry eyes.  Restasis is wonderful but will take 3-6 months to begin to work.  Be sure you use the vials not the multi-drop bottle which is hugely more expensive.

[Katie_1119837]

Thank you, I’ll ask about it GPV. is zaditor an alternative to opticrom? I’ve been using zaditor for a few weeks now. I suspected dry eyes too but drops (only using the vials) don’t seem to reduce any redness. If the main culprit of the red is due to dry eyes and it’s been somewhat chronic, is it possible for the red to go down? Or only possible to help prevent it from getting worse?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Zaditor is a leading over the counter allergy eye drop. Doubt that is your problem.  Most likely pre lasik dry eye and post lasik worse dry eye.  There is a new OTC drop for redness that while it doesn't lubricate the eye releives redness without the 'rebound redness' that Visine and Murine cause. It's called Lumify.  Opticrom is for GPC not season allergies or dryness.  Since you no longer wear contacts the GPC will eventually go away.  Your best bet if dry eyes is long term restasis.  Another product you might read about xiidra is not any better but hugely more expensive.

[NightHawkGuy]

That new Lumify eyedrop looks interesting. I read about it at the lumify manufacturer website and the active ingredient is listed as brimonidine tartrate.  Is that the same as in Alphagan-P a glaucoma eyedrop?  Would lumify then possibly reduce IOP a bit and constrict the pupil somewhat like Alphagan-P does?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Because the main side effect of bromonidine (alphagan-P) is chronic redness it made no sense to me at all. What I am told by some of the Eye MDs that developed it are the concentration is much less and the basic molecule has been modified in a proprietary way so that the small blood vessels of the eye constrict but then don't get "rebound redness" the way Visine, Murine and other eye whiteners do. It will not lower the IOP  is will not constrict the pupil in the dark because it is so much more dilute than the glaucoma medication.