Wake up every hour in the night due to stabbing pain in one eye after vinegar exposure two weeks ago

[FreeS]

Hey people..

I would really appreciate some help with this issue if anyone been in the same situation as its making my life horrible right now.

Two weeks ago I was cleaning and got a splash of house hold 5% vinegar in my right eye. It stung a bit and I rinsed with running water, not right away, but within an hour. Woke up sore the next day, rinsed again with water. Next two days was bad pain, stabbing, so I went to the doctor. Got an anti inflammatory gel to use which didnt do anything. Pain got worse, went acute to an eye clinic next day. Doctor looked at my eyes and found no injuries or infections and told my the pain was due to dry eyes and I should use some artificial tears as much as possible. I did that, but basically without effect. I switched them to non preservatives now and use them approx 20 times a day, but still nothing. The pain is only in my right eye and mostly at a certain spot, problaly where the vinegar hit. The pain is quite bad, comes and goes during the day, but quite horrible at night and I wake up every hour of so and can hardly fall asleep again. Basically nothing visual to see, no redness or changes to the eye. Shouldnt I be at least seen improvement by now cause this is really affecting my daily life? Can this really be due to the vinegar or dry eyes or is something else going on?

I’m 40 year old, LASIK laser treatment many years ago, but no medical record, healthy and take no medicine. My left eye has no symptoms.

Every advice would be highly appreciated🙏

Best regards

[AlfredV]

I do know that corneal damage can be remarkably painful, and depending on the extent of the damage can vary in recovery time from days to several weeks.

Dry eye can also irritate the cornea and is capable of causing its own problems. It may be that it could also slow recovery of other corneal damage.

The only issue with what I've said is that I would expect an eye doctor to be able to identify any corneal damage that might have been caused, and also evaluate the level of dry eye you might have.

It may be worth a second opinion, but also I wouldn't lose hope that if you have caused some damage that it can heal in time.

[FreeS in reply to AlfredV]

I really appreciate your reply😊

I went to the eye clinic today and the doc did a more thorough examination and told me everything looked fine regarding anything serious, but the effected eye was very dry and my lower eyelid was a bit swollen/blocked. She told me the dryness prob caused the pain and prescribed drops, gel and showed me how to warm up eyelids to get the oil flowing.

I still find it hard to believe, that dry eyes can cause pain to that degree.. I had dry eyes a lot in the past due to LASIK and its usually just discomfort and not pain..🤔

After taking a powernap today I think I narrowed it down to, when im closing my eyes to sleep the pain comes sneaking after a couple of minuttes.. If I fall asleep the pain wakes me up an hour og two after.. Its really an insomnia state right now, that worries me and affecting my daily life, but maybe it need more time to settle after the execive clensing of the eyes with water after the vinegar exposure..

[AlfredV in reply to FreeS]

If sleeping is the biggest issue at the moment then a night ointment like Xailin Night might help. Daytime lubricants have little effect while sleeping whereas an ointment can offer protection for hours.

[FreeS in reply to AlfredV]

Thanks

It’s a good idea.. I see the ointment has good review and has no preservatives.. I am allready using a gel at night though and it dosnt really help.. I still get pain/irritation allmost right away, when I close my eyes..