Iritis and Abrasions Make For One Hell of A Fun Week

So last week I was on vacation and went back to work Sunday. I put my contacts in because my right eye felt fine despite the little problem I had after the teeth extractions on Wednesday. By the end of my shift, which was only five hours, I noticed my eye was starting to hurt a bit. Oh great, I thought. Here we go again. Ironically when I got home and took my contacts out my eye felt and looked worse. I tried putting ice on it but it was tearing a lot and by 8 that night it looked like this:

Now you can't really tell in this picture, but what was really strange to me was that my right pupil was a lot smaller than my left.I was debating whether to go to the ER or wait until Monday morning to go see my eye doctor but I was persuaded into going to the ER. I've had several eye problems before, but none like this. I had a headache right over my right eye. My boyfriend took me to the ER and I was in and out in less than two hours. I tell you, they don't mess around when it comes to your eye. I was seen immediately but unfortunately the ER physician didn't know exactly what was the problem. I was supposed to follow up with an ophthalmologist Monday morning and was given an antibiotic eye drop called Vigamox. Thinking back, I'm not sure I made the right decision to see my optometrist instead. Believe me, he's a great guy, but he's not an ophthalmologist  who can do certain tests and surgeries on the eye. He still said he could take care of the problem.

Monday: Went to see eye doctor and was given certain drops to put in the eye.I didn't have to go to the pharmacy to fill the scripts from the ER because he gave me samples. I put them in my eyes and was told the pain should subside by Wednesday. So that meant I was out of work until Wednesday and I wasn't supposed to come back unless I was still in pain then. I was never told that I had Acute Iritis, but that it was my diagnosis was on my receipt from the paying for the visit.

Tuesday: Eye starts to look better and feel better but all of a sudden takes a turn for the worse. I insisted on going back to my eye doctor because I notices my vision in my right eye is very blurry. My eye is dilated again, but for some reason it takes several attempts, when normally whatever drop they use dilates it right away. I felt something was not right, especially when he put certain drops in my eyes that felt like acid, when they are definitely not supposed to hurt. It turns out it was a stronger steroid eye drop but when I got home I could barely get it in my eyes because it hurt so much. I also kept getting sharp, stabbing pains on my eye and it felt like something is in it. I wouldn't be returning to work on Wednesday.

Wednesday: I got up and insisted my grandmother take me to see him. It was looking better but still extremely painful. This time he looks in the eye and finds a large abrasion, which is causing the pain. Oddly enough, it wasn't there when he examined it Monday, or it was dormant because of the Iritis. But the steroid drop, although necessary to calm the white blood cells in my right eye, was making the abrasion worse. I was told to stop the steroid drop and take Vigamox for the day and to return on Thursday. So, no work on Thursday but my eye did start to feel better.

Thursday: Good news! The abrasion was much smaller than it was Wednesday. I was still to continue with the Vigamox only, but to do the steroid drop twice a day Friday and Saturday. Good thing I had Friday and Saturday off.

Friday (today): Hardly any pain or redness in the eye, however my eye has remained dilated since Tuesday, so it's still extremely sensitive to light. Here's what it looks like today:

 

I still wasn't able to drive today, but I'm really hoping the dilation goes down by Sunday.

Now I have to wonder why I keep getting these eye problems. Is it because I normally wear contacts and my eyes are more susceptible to eye problems? Or is there another reason that my eye doctor hasn't found yet? He never said I have to stop wearing contacts but after having on and off eye problems for the last few months, it makes me wonder. He did believe that this current episode could have been caused by the extractions last Wednesday and not getting an antibiotic afterwards. One good thing was that he only charged me for Monday's visit.Maybe it was all related to the teeth, even before they were extracted. But now I feel funny about this guy pulling the rest of my teeth when it comes time for my bottom denture.

So that's why I haven't been around this week. Most days were spent napping and keeping ice on the eye. Fun.