What happened to my eyeball?

melting_doll

I'll start by addressing the obvious "go to the doctor" option. This is something that started today, so I'm mostly just trying to be pre-emptive. If it persists more than another day or so, I know what to do and where to go. I have a history of being a bit of a hypochondriac so I figured I'd ask for some outside opinions.

I've had a pretty bad cold all week. So like every other day this week, I woke up with a few extra...eye boogers than normal. At first what woke me up was a coughing fit, and then I rubbed my eyes. But my right eye would not seem to clear up. I even went to the bathroom and rinsed my face to clean it off. I went back to sleep for a few hours, and when I woke up my eye was itchy, red, and felt like it still had gunk in it, though I couldn't visibly see any. Throughout the day it's been kind of..teary and itchy. I've been avoiding touching it, and I keep washing/sanitizing my hands. I've warned my roommates to do the same. I've developed some allergies over the past few years and have experienced mild eye itchiness, but I guess my question is, how/when do I know it's not going to go away before I see a doctor? (And again, this started this morning so I'm hesitant to jump the gun if it's just an allergy.)

Oh and here's a picture.

Thanks in advance to those that may be able to help! (:

TychoCelchuuu

Either just an itchy eye or pinkeye would be my guess. But I know nothing of these things.

November Fifth

Could be conjunctivitis (Pink-Eye).

The doctor will give you some eye drops to put in it and it will get better.

Don't share any towels or pillows with your roommates until it resolves itself.

ceres

That does sound a lot like pinkeye, but it's pretty early. It could just be irritated from your cold, but if you can get to an eye doctor it's probably not a terrible idea to do so.

Esh

Pink eye will generally resolve itself in a few days. If it's still like that in 3 or 4 days, then I'd go see a doctor.

melting_doll

Thanks for all the info guys! I'll see if it worsens tomorrow.

Echo

Looks exactly like what one of my eyes did the last time I had a cold.

Hahnsoo1

The cornea of the eye is quite sensitive, and any number of factors can cause you to itch (the vast majority of them benign). You could have a tiny stye or pimple on your eyelid, or you could simply have some stopped up tear ducts. Usually it's just physical irritation of some sort. It isn't anything to be worried about.

Rhan9

It is possible that allergies caused that condition as well. I've had problems with my eyes due to allergies while sick as well as healthy, and the telltale signs are usually the redness, itching, and blurry vision with plenty of gunk. Using some basic anti-irritation eye-drops and taking anti-histamin tends to fix it up in a few hours. Eyes also get gunked up if they are dryer than normal, as the fluid covering the eyeball dries up and gunkifies. Eye-drops fix that too.

If the situation doesn't resolve itself in 3-5 days, go to a doctor, as it's probably an infection. You'll get either antibiotic eye-drops, or if the infection is bad enough, this sort of vaseline-like balm that you need to put under the eyelids with a q-tip or something like that. It'll fix the problem right up. Infection is probably the likeliest cause if the eyelids are persistently swollen.

I am not a doctor, just speaking from my past experiences with similar problems.

Hamju

The cold infection could easily have spread to your eye creating pink-eye. My wife just had this exact thing happen to her recently and the doctor said it was "classic" pink-eye. He gave her drops and it cleared up fairly quickly. It might spread to your other eye before it totally goes away, so I'd go see a doctor. You don't need to see an eye specialist.

JebusUD

There is pink eye and then the kind of pink eye from having a cold or some other illness. Basically you probably sneezed and then touched your eye, spreading the infection there, or maybe it just came though the natural tubes in your head.

It will go away when the cold goes away, but if it gets all snotty and worse where you can't see I definitely would get some antibiotics.

Demerdar

It's probably pink eye.

melting_doll

Well, here's an update: This morning my vision in my right eye was a little blurry, but the redness has gone down. It still itches like crazy but I have been refraining from rubbing it. I guess now I just need to play a little bit of the waiting game to make sure it's on its way out. I really appreciate everyone's input - I certainly hope it's not pink eye, but I'm still being very cautious. (: Thanks again!

[Tycho?]

Itching means it is probably pink eye. I've had it a couple times before; its more annoying than anything else. The "discharge" is indicative of pink eye as well. Try to keep it in only your one eye, wash your hands a lot. You can get drops from a doctor, though I think it will go away in a few days by itself anyway, though don't count on it.

Underdog

Hamju wrote:

The cold infection could easily have spread to your eye creating pink-eye. My wife just had this exact thing happen to her recently and the doctor said it was "classic" pink-eye. He gave her drops and it cleared up fairly quickly. It might spread to your other eye before it totally goes away, so I'd go see a doctor. You don't need to see an eye specialist.

Yep, I had the exact same thing happen to me the last time I had an upper respiratory tract infection. It basically spread to my sinuses and my eyes were leaking strings of mucous. It was pretty gross as I had to clean out the eye snot every so often. Went away when I finally got on some good anti-biotics though.