Last night I had a strange eye problem. It’s sort of continuing today, but isn’t quite as bad.
Wednesday evenings we take our puppy to her intermediate dog training classes. Usually when I go I put in my contacts and put on some makeup. These days, since I’ve been home sick (for over two years now!) I don’t really wear make up daily. Only two or three times a week at most when we’re going out. I’ve also tended to wear my glasses when I’m at home because I’ve always found them to be much more comfortable than wearing contacts.
So we went out for about two hours and when I got home I went upstairs to take out my contacts. Chris and I then put together a quick dinner and ate it while watching TV.
As we were eating I noticed that my eyes were bothering me quite a bit. I’d cleaned my glasses earlier in the day, but I grabbed a tissue and gave the lenses a wipe just in case they had a smudge on them.
That didn’t help. My vision seemed to be a bit cloudy. Almost like when you walk into a smoky room. You can still see everything but there’s this haze throughout the room.
I also noticed that my eyes were starting to feel a bit irritated. They had that tired burning kind of irritation.
Once dinner was finished I went upstairs and washed my face. After that, if anything my vision was worse. Not only did everything seem a bit cloudy, but my vision was also becoming somewhat blurry.
I got out the Windex and cleaned my glasses again. I even had Chris take a look at them to be sure there were no smudges. I also went upstairs again, washed my face once more in case it was makeup that was irritating my eyes and I put in some eye drops. The eye drops were “fresh tears” the kind that you use when your contacts are drying out and bothering you.
The funny thing was that you’d expect my eyes to be red and irritated looking for all the trouble they were giving me, but they looked ok. The whites were whites with not even the tiniest reddened areas.
It was a really weird feeling. I could watch TV but it was irritating since everything was kind of cloudy and blurry. Forget about checking my e-mail or doing anything on the computer though!
I guess my eyes started to get a bit better around 12:30 or 1 a.m., but they were still bothering me when I finally went to bed.
My eyes still weren’t normal this morning. I didn’t sleep well overnight and got up too early. So I took a nap for a few hours in the late morning. My eyes are a lot better now, but again, still not back to normal vision.
So now I’m wondering what the heck is going on. At first I thought it was because my contacts had irritated my eyes or maybe even my makeup. Now though I’m not sure. Maybe it’s allergies or a migraine symptom? I do have a slight headache today. Perhaps this proves I need a holiday? Maybe one of those beautiful St. Thomas villa rentals might do me good!
Have you ever experienced something like this? In both eyes at the same time?
Hi Tricia,
Hope you are feeling better today. Thanks for visiting and trying to ID my little seedling. Picture not too good and you probably strained your eyes trying to see it! Think you’re right, it must be a vine of some kind or other. Azalea doing fine. Will be posting on its progress. Stay well.
PlantBuddy.
I found your blog through a web search on the term “cloudy vision”; I have been experiencing what you describe for the last couple hours. I thought I would do some internet research before I called my doctor. Did your eyes get better?
Kimberly
I’m experiencing the same thing, due to contact irritation, I’m sure. So I guess it is just temporary. I was a bit frightened because my family has a history of cataracts, even though I’m WAY too young to be experiencing that. So wish I knew the outcome of your story, but seems that everything will probably be okay.
tricia,
having the same exact problem… did you ever figure out the problem? would love to get the verdict. thanks, doug
Tricia,
Please let folks know how this was resolved. I imagine this post is being found by a lot of folks.
-Adam
Adam this hasn’t really been resolved. That was the last time I wore my contacts.
Obviously it’s a reaction to either the proteins on my contacts (likely worsened by my allergy to my dog), the contacts or one of the contact solutions I use.
I really should try putting on a fresh pair of contacts and see what happens, but after that reaction (it took a few days for my eyes to go back to normal) I really don’t want to try contacts again.
BTW my allergies are always worse from spring through fall, so maybe if I do try contacts again I’ll try it in the dead of winter. I mean, we got our dog in Nov 2007 and I was able to wear my contacts with little problem into March and then the eye problems started. I’m sure that coincided with some of my other allergies starting up again thanks to pollen in the air etc.
hey tricia, about a year after your last post… have you found any solutions for this yet? I’ve had this same problem for a couple years now. I sometimes manage to get the blurry globs out of my eye by looking closely in the mirror and touching them lightly with my finger (they stick to your finger so you can actually sometimes get them out that way).
another article I found (in the search that brought me to this one) says that it could be from “chronic dry eye” and the girl describes this horrible-sounding prescription medication they gave her to treat it (she doesn’t even mention if it works, but I’m desperate enough to give almost anything a shot).
anyways, let me know if you’ve found something better.
Ashley my cloudy vision seemed to be caused by allergies. I had to stop wearing my contacts! The cloudy vision was just the first symptom … it evolved into severe eye pain and swelling. In fact the last time I tried wearing contacts (April 2008 I believe) my eyes teared, burned and swelled up immediately upon putting one contact in!
We got a dog in November 2007 and I’ve always been allergic to dogs. Even so – I wanted one and I started talking allergy meds daily (anti-histamines like Claritin) when we got her. But I guess having her around upped my sensitivity to a lot of things … my eyes were the first to start reacting and since that time I’ve developed allergies to two drugs and foods like Shrimp and it seems that something in sausages gives me hives …
Tricia,i had the same problem… did you ever figure out the problem? Or have you got a solution to that?
Extend your life – Please see the two comments that I left above – I’ve answered this as best as I can. I think it was allergies.
Hi Tricia,
I’m experiencing the same thing with my eyes. Did you ever find a way to get rid of the cloudiness? Is the cloudiness in fact due to allergies? Was it both eyes? My eye got cloudy after a recent allergy flare from mountain cedar (what I am highly allergic to). I even saw dr. and nothing was wrong so just presuming it’s allergies.
Hi Tricia, I hope you fine now. I am experiencing to but the cause of my cloudy vision are the pool chemicals in our pool because I swim frequently. The doctor give me some eye drops and now I am fine. I just can’t go back to swimming :(…
The cloudy vision “thing†happens to me as well. I’ve been meaning to go to the eye doctor, and get an examination. Have you ever swum for a while underwater in a chlorinated pool? When you emerge, there’s that cloudiness on the periphery of your vision. That’s a lot like how mine is except without the subtle chlorine sting.
I have had similar symptoms to those described above. I went to the eye doctor and had an extensive examination. They could not find any underlying cause in my eyes. What I now suspect is the cause are two factors (there may be more) 1. Allergies 2. Stress – by relieving symptoms for both factors the cloudy vision goes away. If either condition gets worse expect to see even more symptoms arise, including optical migraines.
That happened to me something, when I got the evidence they saw he was allergic to contact lenses, where a plastic material that does not remember his name, I always thought that was not allergic to anything and I’m allergic to a final type of contact lenses. When I change them I solved all the problems of vision. I hope you feel better.
Regards, Jose