Blepharitis–Again

If you enter the word “blepharitis” into Google it gladly tells you there are about 418,000 hits. As soon as you see the sites cited you know it can’t be fun. The hits come from allaboutvision.com, mayoclinic.com, nih.gov and my favorite, agingeye.net… and you’re just getting started.

To hell with Google, I’ll tell you firsthand it’s no fun. Blepharitis is a word you never hear until it’s your belphars!

Individuals with blepharitis may experience a gritty or burning sensation in their eyes, excessive tearing, itching, red and swollen eyelids, dry eyes, or crusting of the eyelids. For some people, blepharitis causes only minor irritation and itching. However, it can lead to more severe signs and symptoms such as blurring of vision, missing or misdirected eyelashes, and inflammation of other eye tissue, particularly the cornea. – American Optometric Association

Over the course of the day I blnk more, causing my eyes to tear more while becoming more irritated and burning. After a full day of this the muscles in my eyelids (honest) begin to ache from overuse.

Drops don’t help. I am treating the condition with warm wet compresses. That’s the slow cure. Unfortunately, there’s no fast cure. Even worse, this sort of thing recurs! Once you’re susceptible it’s a lifetime curse. This is my fourth or fifth turn as “Blinky.”

It will go away (please), but until then it stinks.

One thought on “Blepharitis–Again”

  1. Geoff,
    Reading back over your old blog posts (what can I say? I’m a relatively new-comer to your spot here!) and I came upon a word I learned myself a year or so ago and it stinks! However, in my digging around online at the time I found a little tidbit of information which I opted to give a try due entirely to how darned simple it is! I’ve done it every single day since and have not had ONE recurrance! I’ll be doing this every day for the rest of my life!
    I now keep a bottle of Johnson’s baby shampoo in my shower and each morning during the course of showering to greet the day I put a bit in my hand and very firmly wash my eyelids with it. (The “no tears” portion of Johnson’s is why it’s my choice!)
    Give it a try and see if this works for you also!
    Good luck!

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