Eye Trouble

About a week ago, my left eye felt as though a small particle was under the eyelid. I've had this happen before and felt it would probably come out why I slept. It didn't, although it was more of an annoyance. It didn't hurt, but I didn't like the feeling. I figured it was a hair, or some other particle that isn't abrasive, and it would take longer to finally work its way out. I tried washing my eye with an eye-wash solution in an eye cup, but it didn't change anything.

Saturday brought a different feeling. I felt a little pain, and when I touched that area of my eyelid, it caused pain. I told my wife, we loaded up, and went to an urgent-care facility to have someone take a look. 

The nurse practitioner placed a numbing drop, some dye, and looked to see if there was an abrasion or foreign object in my eye. They found nothing, but swabbed my eyelids for debris. With nothing found, they prescribed some antibiotic drops and recommend visiting an ophthalmologist if it became worse....it did. 

When the pain woke me at about 4:00 am Sunday morning, my eye was not only sore, light caused  the eye to adjust and it hurt like the dickens. I took some acetaminophen for the pain, and continued with the eye drops. My plan was to go to the doctor on Monday (if I could get an appointment) of go to an emergency room. If the pain became worse during the day, I'd bite the bullet and go spend way too much time in an emergency room and probably end up not seeing an ophthalmologist. It was bothersome, and painful, but it didn't become worse. Luckily, it was cloudy outdoors, and keeping my eye closed helped. I was wondering if going to urgent-care was that good of an idea. Where I had just a little redness before I went, my eye now looked my iris was swimming in a pool of blood.

This morning I called, found a doctor that would see me, and went to my appointment. I had no idea what was wrong, but knew only a doctor could make a good diagnoses. My wife, and I, left early, since it was raining and traffic could be terrible.

During the visit, the nurse examined my eye before the doctor came in. They couldn't find anything, and the light they used to examine closely caused pain like someone poking me in the eye. The doctor did the same, and to aggravate what already hurt, turned my eyelid up to see if there was something they missed. They didn't find anything and diagnosed iritis, which from what I've read, is a broad term for many underlying problems. The doctor also suggested it could be ocular arthritis, which can be something I'd have to live with, and could happen again. I was prescribed a steroid to add to my antibiotic drops and told to make another appointment ten days in the future, since the doctor would be out of town next week. That, and to return if the symptoms became worse. 

We picked up my prescription on the way home, and I started the steroids. After a few hours, I went to examine my eye in the mirror, and found something yellow by my tear-duct outside my eye. I wiped it on the end of my finger, went for the magnifying glass, and examined it with my wife. It appeared to be a tiny thin blade of yellow grass, or something similar, and very small. Judging how my eye is feeling much better, I'm thinking it was there all the time, all the manipulation of my eye lid finally loosened it, and the drops washed it from eye. I know it had been there since the beginning because the yellow was caused by the dye used for the examination.

So now, the redness is there, but fading quickly, light doesn't bother me anymore, and that feeling of something in my eye is almost gone. Whatever it was, and how it got there is a mystery, but I'm glad it's gone.