Patient’s Perspective

A Thousand Drops Later...

By Jennifer Blake, as told to Erin Murphy, Contributing Editor

My teenage son has had repeated eye infections and styes since he was about 7 years old. He’d get a very red eye, with or without a bump on his eyelid. Every time it happened, our optometrist prescribed a routine of warm compresses and drops or ointment. The problem always went away, but it would crop up again in 6 months or less.

The optometrist wasn’t too worried, and my husband and I didn’t worry either. It just seemed like an issue that happened to affect our son more often than it affects most people, and we figured that he would grow out of it soon. When he got glasses at age 11, we thought that would help because his eyes wouldn’t be straining, but the styes and infections continued.

The doctor explained that the stye or infection wouldn’t affect his vision, but it was still worrisome that he was having problems two or three times a year. And frankly, I was tired of delivering hot towels like a flight attendant and wrestling drops and ointments into the eyes of a kid who resisted me like a wriggling German shepherd.

But the problems persisted, and our optometrist ordered the same treatment.

A Different Diagnosis

Finally, at age 17, my son had an eye infection that just wouldn’t go away with the usual treatment. The optometrist was concerned and after three visits, he referred me to an ophthalmologist in the city.

The ophthalmologist told us that we needed to hit the infection hard with oral antibiotics and drops, as well as cleansing and compresses. He also told us…wait for it…that he knew the CAUSE of our son’s years of eye problems: an eyelid disease called blepharitis. It won’t go away, but we can manage it with cleaning and compresses so that he doesn’t get infections and styes so often in the future.

Imagine finding out, after 10 years of recurring problems, that this isn’t just some random thing. My son has a diagnosis and a treatment. There’s actually a possibility that he won’t have to deal with this so often in the future if he sticks to his regimen. Mind you, I’m still handing out the warm washcloths because heaven forbid he’d get them himself and I have to make sure he keeps it on his eyes long enough, but still, this is a very good thing.

Time for a Change?

To be honest, I’m not sure what this tells me about our optometrist. I’ve taken the whole family to him for years and we like him very much. But why did it take 10 years and another doctor to diagnose this problem? I’ve read that blepharitis is very common, so why would it be hard to diagnose?

This is something I’m really going to have to think about because we have some risks for other eye problems in our family history, and I want to know that our doctor is someone who will recognize the signs if they turn up. An earlier diagnosis of blepharitis could have saved my son some discomfort and saved my husband and I some headaches, but that pales next to the potential damage of missing a more serious eye problem. nOD