Hi all This is the first time that I have posted on this board. I have a question about the eye and herpes and Who to go to. I have herpes. I woke up one morning and the inside of my eye was red ( thought it might have been some irritation from contacts cause sometimes that happens). Not the corena, but the part in the corner that usually gets a little sleep in it. It looked like there was a little bump insied of this area, and it bothering me. Ok so I went to the Optometrist, explained to him that I had a cold sore about 1 week ago, and that I am usually very careful when caring for my evey and consious of washing hands and keeping them clean when handeling contacts, and I was concerned that I might have infected my eye.

He went through the whole nine very carefully sat and listened to my concerns ( he is a very close family friend) and said that the only problem that he may see is that there were a few hairs in that area of the eye that may have been causing the irritation and he plucked a few out and gave me some steroid eye drops, and told me to use them for a few days 2-3- times a day and to come back if it did not inprove. I don't fell the anything now ( as far as pain or anything) so I am thinking that mabye it was the hair that he plucked out but it seems like I still see the follicle or something there my other eye kinda looks the same but I have never had any problems ( and there was not as many little hairs in this right eye either)

So the question is... if it was herpes would he have been able to identify it, vs going to an opthlimologist with the same problem??? :confused:

Hiya :wave:
Yes your optometrist would have spotted the Herpes outbreak in your eye if it had been that. It is diagnosed by a slit lamp examination. But if you are worried these are the symptoms of an outbreak in the eye:-
Pain
Red eye
Tearing
Light sensitivity
Irritation
Decreased vision (depending on size and extent of outbreak)
Hope that helps.
Aurora :angel:

I always go to an opthlimologist, they can treat eye diseases and can perform surgery on the eyes. Optometrist have less eye medical training then an opthlimologist. I go to mine every 6 months because of histoplamosis, and at one time every month for about 3 years. I don't want to scare you, but be careful taking steroid eye drops, they can cause cataracts and glaucoma. That is how I ended up with cataracts, or so they believe.

Just for your info, you don't need to touch your eye for herpes to break out there. The herpes virus hangs out on a nerve when it's inactive, when it's activated through stress, sunburn, etc. it can "walk" down the nerve towards the eye or the mouth. I too second the opinion of seeing an opthamologist as they can actually diagnose it correctly. Because there are long term problems associated with herpes outbreaks in the eye, the next time you have so those symptoms - get it checked out. And until you do, avoid any kind of eye drops, they can make any damage to your eye worse.