"is that the same as pink eye?"

We already knew that.

Actually someone I sort of know was in the hosp last weekend for pancreatitis, speaking of inflammation. Apparently the rubric for remembering possible causes is fairly awesome:

Gallstones
Ethanol
Trauma

S etc
M
A
S
H
E
D

ugh, had that last year. eye doc scraped the inside of my eyelid with a wooden stick to clear the shit out. fucking horrible seeing someone sticking something that close to your eye.

omg. I will lose it if they do that.

Acutally I once had a sm piece of plastic fly in my eye. I couldn't get it out and a layer of cells formed over it and a few days later the doc had to scrape it off my eyeball. That was pretty horrible.

this was the inside of my lower lid on my left eye. he said "look up. this might freak you out a little." on the inside i was thinking "how bad can this b-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" then immediately thought i was going to get blinded by some involuntary tic or spasm.

So it turns out I have two different types of itis going on - the reg old conjuntive kind and something more sinister called keratitis. It's so uncomfortable but the hourly (!?) application of the steroid drops they gave me will help. Boo.

Ok, now I'm convinced I had/have keratitis too (despite what that so-called doctor said - hey, we have the internet now, I can diagnose myself!), especially as the non-prescription drugs weren't terribly effective and here we are, on day 16, with it possibly starting to come back in the right eye.

My eyes get tremendously tired and achy in the evenings now - even after an evening not spent looking at a computer screen; they actually start to get heavy and close on me, before the rest of my body is telling me to go to bed.

hey, we have the internet now, I can diagnose myself

If the internet was right about every symptom I typed into some Web Doctor site, I would currently have gout, herpes, St. Vitus' Dance, gingivitis, and an ectopic pregnancy.

One hell of a party was it?

I think I had this around Memorial day. Both of my eyes were super pink, gummy, but didn't itch or hurt. It passed after 4-5 days. But they still get super dry at night and I get squinty while looking at bright lights. I never went to the doctor and just did the old teabag on eyes thing and eyewashes.

^^

Apparently keratitis can be bacterial which would require antibiotics or viral which would clear up on its own so maybe you had that.

MJ - can you get a 2nd opinion? The steroid drops have really helped and the inflamation and pain is already going away. I saw Docs yesterday before being sent to the opthamologist and the fact that my eye was aching was the red flag for them. If yours are getting achy it might be worth talking to someone else.

keratitis is inflammation of the cornea, rather than the conjunctiva. so you're shit is just all inflamed. it's not necessarily more sinister, but there can be more sinister causes for it than are typical with conjunctivitis. you hadn't worn contacts for a few days, and then your eye started bothering you?

No, it started bothering me while I had my contacts in. Doc said that some bacteria probably got under the lens which started the whole thing and it just escalated from there.

good, that means you don't have anything sinister going on like HERPES OF THE EYE

Ha - I know I saw that somewhere online. It sounds so nasty.

i think i have pink eye (viral) so i came home from work. what kind of otc drops do i get? i can't go to a doctor.

it'll go away in a few days on its own

i know that, but for the inflammation. i'll just guess at rite-aid

ugh, my left eye has been v. irritated and constantly tearing up for about 36 hours. should i bother going to the doctor?

and should i be using some kind of drops?

Bob Costas had pink eye and still hosted the Sochi Olympics

left eye has been v. irritated and constantly tearing up

it could be a scratch on your eye's surface.

should i bother going to the doctor?

well, it's hard to advise a person to blow off an eye problem as insignificant. good thing it's just in one eye, so you have a spare.