One of my eyes hurts

[Catalyst]

I have a strange 'pain' in my left eye. The right eye feels fine. It's a dull ache and also feels a bit like when a smoke gets in your eyes and stings a bit. But again, only my left eye. I've had a full check at the optician and they couldn't see any reason why it would be aching. The thing is, I know somebody who recently discovered they had a tumour behind their eye. So naturally my mind keeps going 'there'. I am NOT imagining the discomfort though. I've had it daily for at least 2 weeks. I am trying desperatly to think of sensible and realistic alternative explanations as to why I would only be having this discomfort in one of my eyes. Eye strain or allergies etc would surely affect both eyes? My eye isn't red, my eyesight is not affected, it is apparently not dry either (although it FEELS dry). It just aches and stings. I keep feeling the need to stretch my eye open too as I have the sensation that my eyelid is sticking to my eyeball a bit. Does anyone have any bright ideas about what could be going on? :shrug:

[Nicholebear]

Sounds like it could be dry eye. Try picking up some eye drops at the drugstore and see if that helps?

[anxietyoverload]

I have dry eye and my main symptom is foggy vision on a morning. Could it be hay fever related xx

[Catalyst]

Thank you both for your replies. The optician put something in my eyes and shine a blue light in them and determined from that test that my eyes are "lubricating well" and so not officially dry!i have bought some drops today anyway - went for ones that would also help if it's pollen related. It's still just one eye though. It seems to get worse and then subside a little throughout the day at what seems like random intervals.

[Thamm]

Do you think it can be related to your teeth?

[NancyW]

Would you feel better going to an Opthamologist?

I have some light flashes in my right eye, could have gone to an optician, but chose an opthamologist who is a retna specialist. I never had such an eye exam in my life... but I walked out of there completely reassured.

And that reassurance has stuck.

[help me 21]

Does your eyelids play up? I have dry eye and very bad anxiety and health anxiety. When I blink hard I can feel my eyelid sticking to eyeball maybe dry eyelids

[Catalyst]

It's interesting you mention my teeth, because although I don't have tooth pain I have been wondering if there might be something up near the roots that is causing the problem. I'm seeing the dentist in a couple of weeks. I can feel tender areas around my eye when the pain gets bad - like my temple, cheekbone and side of my nose-bridge.

I'll go back to the doctor if it doesn't improve and see what they say about going to an opthamologist, or some other route - but I worry that they'll just put it down to anxiety. I know I AM anxious about it, but the pain is real. If it all stems from tension then I don't know how to overcome it and break the cycle. I feel pain, I feel tense, it makes the pain worse, I feel more tense! :blush:

The optician said my eyes weren't dry, but I do feel like my eyelids stick a bit - especially in the mornings. I've been using allergy drops which help a bit with that, but the pain remains. There is a small sore patch on my eyelid, which got worse when I wore eye makeup on sunday (first time in a week). So I may have to ditch some of my older products and take a break from makeup for a bit.

Thanks for your responses.

[Catalyst]

Just wanted to update on this. The pain in and around my eye seems to have gone! :yesyes:

I think that whatever had been causing the initial discomfort - eye strain, hay fever, eczema on eyelid or maybe something that just got in my eye and irritated it - ended up making me rub and prod my eye a lot, causing pain. Once I made a conscious decision to not touch my eye at all, it slowly started to get better! I think the eye drops helped too though, because they relieved any irritation and helped me not to rub my eyes.