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I have had watery eyes that ooz a white gunk since December. The doctors say that it is not an infection and have prescribed lots of different eye drops. I have tried different allergy medications both prscribed and over the counter and still haven't found relief. Recently I have stopped taking allergy medication and cut back dramatically on the use of the eye drops and ther has been no change for the better, however the symptoms have not gotten worse. It makes no difference if I wher my contact lenses or my glasses. I wake up with my eyes stuck shut from whateever it is that's oozing. It's gross. I need to find relief fast. Any Suggestions that I could pass on to my doctors would be greatly appreciated.

Optional Information:
Female , Age: 42

Already Tried:
alrex,lotemax,zylet, various others I can't remember, several types of over the counter eye drops, allegra, claritin, claritn d, clarinex , not wearing my contacts

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

Status: Closed Value: $8

Hello and Welcome to Just Answer,

I have been researching this because I had something similar long ago. I also woke up every morning with white gunky stuff in my eye and it was always matted together. This happened to me back in the 80's. I remember having to go to the eye doctor and he would flush out my tear duct once a week with a needle. It didn't hurt at all. I know it sounds like it would. I was pregnant at the time, so any kind of surgical procedure was out of the question. He wanted to go in and some how fix what was wrong with my tear duct after I had the baby. But right before I had my baby, I had a major headache and all of a sudden that tearduct felt like it burst and alot of discharge came out of it. I never had anymore problems after that. It was the weirdest thing. But I do know that dry eyes can cause this also. If I were you I would go to a eye specialist because it seems to me that there is something wrong with that tear duct. Alot of times the eye doctor can put in a little plug into the duct to keep this from happening. This is just a suggestion. Just thought I would throw this out at you because this seems like a tough question to answer. I hope I have helped.

Pam Russell RN

Reply to Pam's Post: 2 of the doctors I mentioned were eye specialists.

They just keep writing me prescriptions for diferent eye drops.

I read somewhere about taking a culture of the gunk to find out what it is. What do you think of that? Who do I go to for that my primary or my optmologist?

Hello again,

Yes I would definately ask them for a culture, because if nothing is working, then it has to be bacterial, unless the tear duct is just not working right, which that could be a cause. I am concerned that the doctors after several times of this did not take a culture. My suggestion would call the eye specialist first, and tell them that you would like a culture done since the medication is not working. If they don't want to do that, then I would go to my medical doctor. You need to request a culture and be persistent, because they can do one. Tell them that you do not want anymore medication until a culture is done. This could be some kind of staph infection. If it is staph, then only certain medications can help. If you call and ask both doctors and they refuse, let me know and I can figure out a way to somehow get you a culture.

Thank you and Good Luck!

Pam Russell RN

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