I had never heard of blepharitis let alone the fact that there were Ophthalmologists who specialise in this specific area until about 2 years ago when I let what I thought was dry eyes or irritation of the eyes get out of control by not getting it seen to.
For about a year before my diagnosis I was experiencing itchy and sore eyes which progressively got worse until there were days when it felt like I had glass in my eyes. It really started to have a serious impact on my quality of life from waking up in the middle of the night with my eyes hurting to increased difficulty driving at night. Blepharitis can really affect your eyesight, blurring your vision and I found myself constantly rubbing my eyes which now more than ever we are being told to avoid due to the risk of Covid-19.
I now look back to my last appointment with my optician who recommended that I should start using eye drops and start cleaning my eye lids on a regular basis as they weren’t looking too healthy and it looked like the start of blepharitis. I left without buying anything of the sort while also ignoring the advice he had given to me and in hindsight that was such a big mistake!
So fast forward 12 months later and because I did nothing to treat my condition and ignored my ongoing symptoms, I ended up in eye casualty. I woke up one Monday morning and my eyes were so swollen I looked like I had been in a boxing match the night before! I spoke with a specialist that day who informed me that I had a condition called blepharitis. My ophthalmologist gave me some treatment options and advised me that the most important thing for me going forward would be to have a daily eyelid hygiene regime. She recommended I use eyelid cleansing wipes to clean my eyelids and lashes while also using dry eye drops to keep my eyes moisturised and hydrated. I followed this regime for about 3 weeks and when my eyes started to look and feel better I stopped, thinking problem solved. This was another massive mistake and I ended up back with my eye specialist on numerous occasions having a number of treatments on my eyes in order to get my condition under control again.
So, from then on, I decided that I was going to maintain a daily eyelid cleansing regime which is certainly something that I should have kept doing all along! That is when I started using the Blephaclean sterile eyelid cleansing wipes for daily eyelid hygiene. What a difference it has made to my eyes and it takes literally seconds to cleanse in the morning and at night before I go to bed. It has really kept all symptoms at bay and I haven’t looked back since!
I just wish I looked after my eyes properly before things got out of hand and used eyelid cleansing wipes and eye drops when I was told to do so by my opticians initially. My advice to anyone would be regardless of whether you have problems with your eyes or not, look after them and take good care of them on a daily basis, as you would with your teeth. Don’t wait for problems to arise, you wouldn’t leave the house in the morning or go to bed at night without brushing your teeth! We really need to start thinking the same way about eyelid hygiene and that’s a fact. There is so little thought when it comes to our eyes and how important it is that we maintain our overall eye health. We really need to protect our eyes at all costs.
