I saw a nurse practioner back in July and had her look at my eyelid. She diagnosed blepharitis and gave me a steroid cream to put on it.

I used the cream once, but it burned badly, so I never used it again.

Everything I read about blepharitis describes it as either on the eyelids where the eyelashes are, or on the part of the eyelid that touches your eye.

The irritation on my eyelid is in the backmost crease of my eye. The place you can't see when your eyes are open. I occcasionaly have sore spots on the outer corners of my eye, but it never lasts long.

This started on my right eye, went from the outer edge of the crease slowly to the inner edge, and then disappeared. Then it showed up on my left eye and currently the whole crease is inflamed- and scarring is occuring.

I just assumed the whole thing was due to political stress :rolleyes: and mostly just ignored it for months. But now *that's* over, It should be gone now! So I've been doing hot compresses and lid scrubs with cotton balls for the past week, and for a few days it was better, but now it's getting bad again.

Does this really sound like blepharitis to you? Or should I get a second opinion from a real doc?

It sounds like it could be blepharitis, but since it is still bothering you, I think it might warrant a trip to an opthomologist rather than relying on a nurse practioner's diagnosis. I no longer will seek help from a regular MD who does not specialize in the eyes. Not sure why really, as all the opths I've consulted haven't been too much help. :rolleyes:
Anyway, if it is indeed blepharitis, you can't really afford to stop the compress and lid scrubs after a week or so. I've noticed that when I do, my eyes worsen too. Gotta stay on top of it for the long haul. Good luck


Amy

I showed it to a doctor of optometry a month or two before I saw the nurse practitioner. He said he'd never seen anything like it before :rolleyes: and didn't even charge me for the visit, since he couldn't help me.

I haven't tried an actual opthalmologist yet. I didn't realize there was a difference until just now when I called the eye doc I saw before and asked his office what the O.D. after his name stood for.

I do get scales on the crease of the eyelid.... so I guess it must be blepharitis even if the location doesn't really match the descriptions I've read online.

I get crusty stuff in my eyebrows sometimes too, and on my scalp. From what I read, this is related.

I was diagnosed with blepharitis once. I was told it was an infection of the eyelashes. I coudn't see anything on them, but remember it was VERY uncomfortable, and painful. It hurt everytime I blinked. My opthalmologist simply had me close my eyes tightly and gently scrub with a wet washcloth and a mild soap. (Ivory, or something like that) I did that twice a day. I don't remember how long, not more than a couple weeks, I think. That took care of it. Good luck.