What differs Dry Eye from Ocular Herpes?

Question

I've been experiencing dry eye symptoms for around 3-6 weeks. Does this seem a bit too excessive for dry eye alone?

Answer 1

The herpes virus.

Answer 2

Ocular herpes will cause dramatically worse symptoms than dry eye.  Ocular herpes tends to present with 1) erythema (redness) 2) inflammation 3) irritation 4) photophobia (sensitivity to light) 5) pain.  So I doubt your symptoms of dryness are related to ocular herpes.

EDIT:  In response to your edit, yes dry eye can cause these symptoms but to have these symptoms I would expect your dry eye to be quite severe.  Most dry eye symptoms tend to be less severe than this and will respond temporarily to the use of ocular lubricants.  So, again I would be surprised if you have ocular herpes based upon the type of symptoms you have.