Allergies

Symptoms?
When allergies affect your eyes symptoms include eyes that are red, itchy, watery, and in some cases even swollen.

Today there are many medications on the market that can help prevent or reduce the symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis.  To know which one is right for you, just visit your optometrist and he will be able to tell you.  There is often a mistake that every red eye that has a little bit of itching associated with it is an allergy.  Dry eye actually can be made worse by preservative-containing anti-allergy medications that may be given very frequently.  That’s why it’s very important not to misdiagnose. 

77 million Americans suffer from dry eye

Of people age 55 and older, about 5% to 15% have experienced symptoms of dry eye

The number of cases of diagnosed dry eye has reached 4.3 million, passing both glaucoma and cataract surgeries in the US

Women account for 70% of the dry eye cases in the US

Today there are instruments that are available that can make the diagnosis of dry eye vs. allergy simple, accurate and fast.  Ask your optometrist for more details.