I have this really annoying problem throughout my life. Every morning when i get up, my eyes are filled with mucus and sometimes crust that i always have to pick out in the morning. In addition, i usually find myself picking out mucus throughout the day.. IT is extremely annoying. I don't wear contacts or glasses. In fact, i was examined to have perfect vision. However, i suffer from that mucus thing and it is embarrasing. In addition, my eyes more often than not appear to be reddish and kinda irritated. :-(
My older brother doesn't appear to suffer from that at all. My sister seems to suffer from it.
have you been evaluated for other forms of inflammation in the anterior of the eye? some conditions are either under-diagnosed or misdiagnosed. hopefully it isn't anything serious maybe as simple as an allergy. take care and good luck with your peepers.
Most likely it is just an allergy (I am the authority on this! ) It sounds to me like an allergic blepharitis. You should really go to an ophthalmologist and get it checked out to be sure. Check out this site for more info on that and other eye problems in general. [url="http://www.oculartimes.com"]http://www.oculartimes.com[/url]
Most likely they will give you an allergy drop like Patanol, and unless your problem is really really severe, that will get rid of it. Also, try using some preservative free artificial tear drops a few times a day. That may help with the mucus. If you use a hot compress when you wake up, that will get rid of the crust and the mucus.
What color is the mucus? If it is anything other than white or clear, you should get checked out just to make sure you don't have something like pink eye. Blepharitis can also be bacterial. In the case of that or pink eye, you would just need to use an anti-biotic drop for a week or so. Get yourself checked out just to make sure.
The color of the mucus does count. If its clear, than its probably not an infection, like blepharitis. It could be dry eye syndrome. Many doctors misdiagnose this. I'm 28 years old and I've had dry eye for about five years now. I have mucus in my eyes throughout the day. One thing that you cannot do is stick your finger in your eye and pluck the mucus out, you have to blink you eye until it flushes out. If you pluck it out you create more mucus and scar your eye. You will automatically get less mucus. If it is dry eye, you might want to consider using bion tears (an artificial tear drop) and taking a dietary supplement such as Hydro Eye (which helps some people)
Hope this is helpful
[This message has been edited by moderator2 (edited 10-20-2002).]
The mucus is always there, it just comes out more when your eyes are wet. It's probably in the corners of your eyes and you don't notice it, and then when you wash your face it comes out. How does "plucking out" the mucus create more mucus? If I have a lot I usually just gently take a q-tip and try to pull it away from the corners of my eyes. Or if it is under my lower eyelid I will just try to very gently touch it with the q-tip and then it all comes out as one big string. Usually if it is in the corners or underneath the lower lid, it is wrapped around the entire eyeball, and when I start to wipe it away the whole thing unravels like a ball of yarn and just comes right out! Sometimes I get ones that are one or two inches long (so they are literally wrapped around my entire eyeball). Eeeeewww. And it feels like somebody is tickling my eyeball when I go to wipe it away. If I don't clear them away then I feel like something is in my eye, I get pain, and my vision gets very blurry.
Use a hot compress 2 or 3 times a day for 10 minutes or so, especially right before you go to sleep and when you wake up. That will help get rid of some of the mucus. Just don't make it too hot!
[This message has been edited by purple2067 (edited 09-26-2002).]
Don't pluck the mucus out of your eye. the more you disturb the delicate tear film, you create scarring and more mucus. Trust me, I went to a specialist in Boston. You'll notice that when you pluck out some mucus, more of it appears right after you've plucked it out. Don't touch your eye or put any Q-tip or anything in it. Try it, and you will see a good portion of the mucus disappear. Trust me.
Yes but the problem is that when I get mucus in my eye it feels like there is something in there and it hurts! I cannot see when it is in my eye, and it usually does not come out on its own because it is so thick. I don't actually touch the eyeball, just the mucus. It cakes together on my eyelashes sometimes, and I cannot open my eyes. I will try to refrain from taking it out and see what happens, but it irritates my eyes so much when it is in there that I cannot just leave it alone. If I am in the ophthalmologists office and he sees some mucus, he usually pulls it out for me because it gets really irritated otherwise.(granted, he knows exactly how to remove it without injuring me, but I have been doing it for a long time and he sees no evidence of any sort of scarring or marks on my eyeballs except for the specks on my corneas due to the dryness). Like I said, I don't go poking around in my eye with a q tip or anything else, but if the mucus is really bad I just pull down the lower lid a little bit and just touch it slightly and it all comes out when I pull it, like a big ball of yarn that has wrapped itself around my eyeball. The problem with leaving it in there is that most of the time it blurs my vision pretty badly. And no, when I take it out I do not get more right away.
But you may be right about disturbing the tear film if I touch it too much, so from now on I am going to only get rid of it if it is coming out of the corner of my eye and I can easily pull the rest of it out. Although, for me, it is more like "what tear film?" The thing is that I put ointment in my eyes and I have to pull down the lower lid to do that, and if there is mucus in there then the ointment won't stay in, so I have to wipe it away.
Eye Mucus and curst!? and always red. 
) It sounds to me like an allergic blepharitis. You should really go to an ophthalmologist and get it checked out to be sure. Check out this site for more info on that and other eye problems in general. [url="http://www.oculartimes.com"]http://www.oculartimes.com[/url] 
