# What's wrong with my eye? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 22, 2007, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091 "2007-09-22T12:07:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aceospades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Aceospades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aceospades)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091/1 "2007-09-22T12:07:19Z")
What’s wrong with my eye? Let me start off by saying that I plan to go see my doctor first thing on Monday. I just want to get an idea of what’s wrong with me. Two days ago (Thursday) my left eye started to hurt like it was sore. It wasn’t bad, so I just ignored it. Well here it is Saturday and its worse. Now my eye is red and swollen. It’s sore all the time and the soreness has now spread to behind my ear as well. Anyone have any idea what’s wrong with my eye? ---
**Author:** ![MyglassISfull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbce88/32.png) [@MyglassISfull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyglassISfull)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091/2 "2007-09-22T12:16:55Z")
Do you have or have you had an ear infection on that side? Has your vision changed at all in that eye? How is your balance? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091/3 "2007-09-22T12:18:48Z")
This doesn’t sound like something that can wait for a Monday appointment. Go to an urgent care facility now. Seriously I mean go now. It sounds as if something is building up pressure, and that’s not something to wait on. ---
**Author:** ![Aceospades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Aceospades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aceospades)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091/4 "2007-09-22T13:47:24Z")
[QUOTE=MyglassISfull] Do you have or have you had an ear infection on that side? Has your vision changed at all in that eye? How is your balance? [/QUOTE] no no and fine. it kind of looks like my eyelid is swollen and puffy. what feels sore is the corners and eyelid of my eye. the pain is manageable and other then looking like some one slugged me, there seems to be nothing else wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091/5 "2007-09-22T14:02:47Z")
[QUOTE=Aceospades] What’s wrong with my eye? Let me start off by saying that I plan to go see my doctor first thing on Monday. I just want to get an idea of what’s wrong with me. Two days ago (Thursday) my left eye started to hurt like it was sore. It wasn’t bad, so I just ignored it. Well here it is Saturday and its worse. Now my eye is red and swollen. It’s sore all the time and the soreness has now spread to behind my ear as well. Anyone have any idea what’s wrong with my eye? [/QUOTE] Problems with an eyelid can usually wait, and painful swellings are most often infections of various types. Problems with the eye itself, or tissues inside the bony orbit should not wait for diagnosis. Factors such as age, underlying conditions, visual changes and many others make even gross generalizations about possibilities unsound. Almost any symptom or sign can be a harbinger of some condition that ends up killing you, and I suspect that’s one of the reasons the Board is not a very good place to get real advice. “Probably just a cold, but it could be dengue fever, sure…” ---
**Author:** ![MyglassISfull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbce88/32.png) [@MyglassISfull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyglassISfull)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091/6 "2007-09-22T14:37:02Z")
[QUOTE=Aceospades] no no and fine. it kind of looks like my eyelid is swollen and puffy. what feels sore is the corners and eyelid of my eye. the pain is manageable and other then looking like some one slugged me, there seems to be nothing else wrong. [/QUOTE] Phew, it first sounded like it could possibly be meningitis or a brain abcess. The doc would ask about any neck stiffness or photophobia/phobophobia to discount a serious infection. Then again your eye could be at risk of being damaged :eek: , is there an optician close by? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091/7 "2007-09-22T14:48:45Z")
[QUOTE=MyglassISfull] Phew, it first sounded like it could possibly be meningitis or a brain abcess. The doc would ask about any neck stiffness or photophobia/phobophobia to discount a serious infection. Then again your eye could be at risk of being damaged :eek: , is there an optician close by? [/QUOTE] If you’re talking about “not quite an ophthalmologist but might be open on Saturdays” you’d probably want an optometrist - they have an OD and more training regarding eyes than an optician would. However, they’re still not medical doctors and can’t prescribe medications, but they might have a chance of at least determining how serious the problem could be. ---
**Author:** ![Aceospades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Aceospades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aceospades)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091/8 "2007-09-22T16:44:16Z")
i have to work all day today and most of tomorrow. is there any think i can do or over the counter medicine i can take that would help? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091/9 "2007-09-22T16:58:11Z")
[QUOTE=Aceospades] i have to work all day today and most of tomorrow. is there any think i can do or over the counter medicine i can take that would help? [/QUOTE] I’d take Harmonious Discord’s advice on this. The proximity to the brain makes it a big concern. Any discharges or sensitivity to light? My guesses- foreign body, cellulitis, viral infection I wouldn’t wait on this. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091/10 "2007-09-22T17:06:45Z")
Yanno, if I were your mom, I’d have you down at the ER right now. 😉 Seriously. Redness and swelling generally means “infection”, and “infection” that close to your brain, especially back behind your ear, where there are all kinds of cavities to host bacteria, is not something that can wait until Monday to get a doctor to look at it. The bacteria can spread with alarming speed right up into your brain, and then basically you’re talking “extremely serious medical condition, frequently in a coma”. It’ possible you have a condition called “periorbital cellulitis”, which means an infection of the soft tissues around the eye. [http://www.drreddy.com/periorb.html](http://www.drreddy.com/periorb.html) > [@](#): > > Usually a child with periorbital cellulitis starts out with a sinusitis or a pink eye. And usually the sinusitis or pink eye doesn’t spread beyond the sinuses or the outside of the eyes. However, if you see redness or (especially) swelling around the eye (which may or may not also include the eyelids), then periorbital cellulitis is likely beginning. > > There are actually two different kinds of periorbital cellulitis, depending on exactly where the infected soft tissues are. Preseptal cellulitis involves the eyelids and/or the soft tissues around the eyes, but not the eyeball or anything else in the orbit (like the muscles that move the eye so you can keep them fixed on something you’re looking at). Although the infection can spread to other parts of the face, the orbital septum (a membrane that separates the orbit from the soft tissues of the face) will help keep the orbit itself from being infected. Preseptal periorbital cellulitis is less serious, since it does not affect the eye and socket, but it can spread to the orbit. It is seen often in small children (usually under 5 years; I once treated a 1-month-old baby for it). Several different bacteria can be responsible, including Haemophilus influenzae (which all children should be immunized against by age 2 at the latest). Although some milder cases of periorbital cellulitis can be treated at home with oral antibiotics, I almost always start treatment in the hospital with IV antibiotics, and send children home on oral medicines when they have improved. I always draw blood cultures before starting these children on antibiotics: even though the cultures rarely show bacteria, if there are bacteria in the culture the lab will be able to tell me what the best antibiotic is for that child. But wait, there’s more. > [@](#): > > The main reason I admit children with all but the mildest cases of periorbital cellulitis is to make sure that they are not developing orbital cellulitis – infection of the soft tissues in the eye socket. Usually this involves the muscles of the eye, and the fatty tissue surrounding the eyeball which cushions the eyeball and helps it move easily. A child with orbital cellulitis usually has trouble moving the eyes, pain on trying to move the eyes, and trouble seeing (like double vision, because she can’t move the eyes easily enough to keep both eyes fixed on one object. In more severe cases, the swelling in the orbit may be so bad that the eye is actually pushed part-way out of the socket. Although it is difficult for the eye itself to be infected, it can happen with an orbital cellulitis, and a doctor looking at the eye with an ophthalmoscope may see swelling inside the eyeball, especially at the “optic disc” (the spot on the retina where the nerves and blood vessels enter the eye). To be sure that the orbit is or is not infected, you usually have to do a CT scan of the head: this shows swelling in the eye socket if it is there. Besides the possible damage to the eye itself, another big danger of orbital cellulitis is that the infection may spread along the eye’s nerves and blood vessels to the brain and its surroundings, producing meningitis. Since it is so dangerous, orbital cellulitis, even if only suspected, needs to be treated in the hospital with IV antibiotics. Uh huh. Like I said, if you were **my** kid, you’d be cooling your heels down in the ER waiting room right now. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091/11 "2007-09-22T17:09:43Z")
Print out Dr. Reddy and show it to your boss, then go to the ER. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-eye/420091/12 "2007-09-22T19:47:50Z")
[Moderating] I think you should take the advice you have been given and go see a doctor or go to an Emergency Room as soon as you can. This is a potentially serious problem, and you shouldn’t wait. You won’t receive better information than that here. I’m going to close this thread. Colibri General Questions Moderator