Sore, puffy, dry, red eyelids... Help needed, as my pharmascist is the definition of useless!

[onix600]

Apologiies in advance for this crazily long post- perhaps if I had forced my pharmacist to read all of this, he might have actually been helpful.....


For the last few weeks I have been suffering from incredibly sensitive eyes/eyelids which are red, dry and sore, similar to sunburn. I initially thought it was because of some cheap make-up remover wipes that I used to take off my mascara. Although I had been using them for a while, they soon started to sting and burn the area around my eyes whenever I used them. The use of any eye make-up other than mascara would result in a stinging sensation, which varied in terms of severity. Moisturiser and even baby-lotion would burn my skin. Since then however, I have been using some Garnier make-up wipes, made for sensitive skin and the problem seemed to get a bit better, although eyeshadow was still strictly off-limits. But then, last Sunday, my eyes had gone back to their previous state, of being very red and sore. I hadn't worn any make-up or used any products on or near my eyes at all on Sunday, so I'm confused as to what caused it to return.

On Monday and Tuesday, several people commented on the state of my eyes, especially the right one, which seemed to be in a worse condition. My eyelids were dry and painful to touch, especially in the corner and it was continuously weeping, until yesterday afternoon when it seemed to heal up to the point where it looked sore, but no longer felt it.

And then today- my awful eyes are worse than ever. While my actual eyes are fine, my eyelids are large,  puffy and as per usual- RED. My left one was expectionally bad, where it was almost hard to keep open. Since the day has gone on, they've somewhat improved, although they remain puffy and red.

One more thing- it may or may not be related but yesterday morning I woke up with a dry, red, sore patch of skin around the left corner of my mouth. When covered up with makeup, it's not so bad, but still notciable and sometimes itchy. I put on some E45 cream today, as I thought this would help, but I think it made it worse as it started stinging and burning almost immediatley. I never had this before, only since the problem has returned to my eyelids. Related, perhaps?

What is going on with my evil, crazy eyes?! I look awful, as I'm very pale and the contrast between my pale face with the random red patch near my mouth and my dry, puffy eyelids makes me resemble something out of a horror film... :( Any ideas of what the problem could be or how to fix it? Or has anyone else suffered similar symptoms? All help would be greatly appreciated. :)

Alex.

[chrissinibs]

Please can you tell me where i can buy the mario badescu control cream, have they stopped making it?

[achillea]

What a sensible, practical attitude you have!  Sure, different people react to different things,  but if something a product works for you--well, there's no arguing with that.

I hope your good results continue.

[rob7764]

Just wanted to add my experience with this.  I am a 43 year old man who up to this past year did not have any skin issues besides the occasional zit or blind pimple - honestly the only "product" I put on my face on occasion is Stridex (yup even at 43) as needed .  About 7-8 months ago I started to get bright redness around my eyes (eyelids, above eyelids, under eyes) - kinda looked like Alice Cooper :-)  Over time I it started to get very dry and scaly as well (never had pain or itch however).  I eventually saw my doctor about it who prescribed me a cortisone cream which worked for a little bit, but I was concerned about cortisone near the eyes.  I eventually saw a dermatologist who prescribed me something called Elidel (non-steroid replacement for the cortisone stuff).  It worked well till I stopped using it and the redness and dryness came back.  My dermatologist as well as my wife suggested to use a moisturizer (Cerave) to work against the dryness. Crazy thing was that I think I must be allergic to something in it because using Cerave alone my eyelids swelled - looked like I got punched in both eyes.  I stopped that stuff and the swelling went away, but the bright red around my eyes and dryness persisted.  Frustrated I searched the web and found this forum.  I read through all 260+ messages, and picked up on the fact that people were having good luck with the Mario Badescu control cream.  Figured I'd give it a try - got a sample at Ulta (very cool they do samples) and you know what - the stuff worked.  Redness and dryness went away. Right now I'm using a tiny bit in the morning and at night and so far so good.  My intent is to wean myself off it completely and see what happens, but I am impressed that it actually worked (my wife is amazed as well). Plus even though $30 an ounce isn't cheap, it's a lot cheaper than the Elidel ($80 per tube after insurance) and doesn't have the crazy side effects that cortisone and Elidel can potentially have. I know that Basalm of Peru in the Mario Badescu stuff is actually an allergen to a lot of people - the Paula's Choice makeup website my wife showed me thinks poorly of it. But ya know, it works for me.  Different people react differently to things (for instance, so far I don't get reactions from poison ivy :-).  But am happy to have run across this forum and suggestions.  I can only imagine the folks who've dealt with this for a long time and have empathy for them. Anyways hope the best for everyone having this issue, and will drop another note in a few months and see whether I can wean myself off this stuff totally as well (or whether I have a Q-tip disaster at some point in putting this stuff around my eyes :-)

[sharon481]

i have suffered from this for  years on and off will try what you recommended hope it works for me. sharon. i had a look online i cannot find it?

[Texca]

Actually I had experiencing the same problem right now but never give up searching proper cream even my husband told me that I'm wasting my money! Even antihistamine prescribed by the doctor not enough to relieve my face allergy around my face, eyes and neck! And I'm so upset about it! But never give up! Sometimes oatmeal with water and a spoon of aloe Vera helps  for cleansing but still on and off itchy and sensitive face with all moisturizer cream. Then I never remembered that I used prednisone tablet before when I had sun allergy ! Then a client told me about it then I went to medicenter I asked for it. Just for a day or two days my redness slowly healing and sensitivity of my skin lesser and I saw one cream helps me a lot " aloe Vera skin gel" that I'm using at night and prevex 200+ cream day time for skin protection against food, cosmetic and weather condition. Plus I went for blood testing and allergy testing . Hope this will help you guys .

[Spark12]

I'm not sure if this thread is still active but I thought I'd share a few observations from the posts.

I too have all the same symptoms listed in each post. I believed the cause of my reaction was allergy related. A reaction to either a moisturiser with a high SPF in it or pets. Ilater decided that it was multiple things - reaction to a new product, weakend immune system making me susceptible to allergens and possibly a fungal infection, caused also by lowered immune system and poor diet at the time (love my chocolate and dairy products!)

I think that dealing with these symptoms has to be an accumalitive approach - in other words, you may never know the fundamental reason for your flare up so treat for everything. I now have a flare up kit which contains a bottle of tea tree oil, athletes foot ointment, candida oral medication, vaseline and anti-histamines.

I haven't been able to definitely say what the problem is but I have identified some common factors - it flares up when I am extremely tired for a prolonged period of time, stressed, and when my diet has been high in sugar. I honestly think that these factors cause my immune system to weaken resulting in me being hyper-sensitve to allergens and infection. Added to the high sugar intake, infections like Candida are pretty likely. It is bad luck that I used a strong moisturiser I happened to be allergic to at a time when I had other issues underlying which had yet to come to the fore. When you look at the equation -

tired + poor diet x weak immune system + allergens = infection (candida/fungal). The irritation can also result in dermititis which would explain the patches of dry skin in other areas.

In all of these cases posted I would have first and foremost ceased using any new products that could have caused a reaction, taken anti-histamines to combat the build up of histamine in your system, apply an anti-fungal cream or tea tree oil to the area, address life style issues such as sleep pattern and diet - do these simultaneously. If after 2 weeks none of these things bring about an improvement then I would suspect that it's a stimuli induced reaction and you will need to figure out what the stimuli is.

The good thing about anti-fungal treatment for athlete's foot is that it kills any infection whilst simultaneously moisturising the area. Most eye damage is a result of drying and parching the area, but you also have to be careful not give any infection a nice, moist home to thrive in. So, athletes foot treatment is a good multi-purpose treatment to start with.

Hope that everyone is doing better as many of these posts are quite old.