When I blink, my right eye feels like I'm wearing a soft contact lens, but I'm not. Any ideas?

Question

When I blink my right eye, I have the sensation that a soft contact lens is floating around on it. This has been going on for about a week. I have not noticed a change in vision. There is no pain involved, it just feels very "creepy". Any thoughts on what could be causing this? Thank you!

Answer 1

Sounds like you have a mildly dry eye.

First, as someone suggested, wash it! You can find bausch and lomb or ocufresh eye wash in almost any 'eye drop' section. Rinse in the mornings if you wake up with sticky eyes, or rinse at night if you're feeling discomfort as the day moves on.

Second, drop! Eye drops are an easy solution to mild dry eyes. However, you need to use caution towards what brands you buy. You definitely want to avoid anything preserved with  benzalkonium chloride- it's as good as killing corneas as it is at killing germs. Bad stuff.

The SAFEST bet is to use single-use preservative free vials. Many brands will say 'preservative free in the eye,' but if your eye is dry, you may not have enough natural tears to make the preservative disappear- so make sure it JUST says 'preservative free' and comes in single-use vials. Systane, Refresh Endura, Bion Tears, Thera Tears- all come preservative free.

Answer 2

Couple possibilities...

1) An eyelash under a lid, to the side.

2) Allergies causing some swelling of glands under the lids

3) Dry Eyes

4) Allergic reaction to a change in shampoo, laundry detergent, perfume, etc.

5) An ingrown eyelash

These a re few I have seen in years of practice, an eye exam might be warranted just to be safe

Answer 3

Elisabeth - get an eye cup and rinse out your eye and see if that helps.  I have allergies and get that feeling a lot.  I rinse my eyes with water or eye wash and that helps.

Answer 4

I do wear soft contact lenses, and have the same sensation when I take my contacts out sometimes

My eye doctor told me it could be because my lens was leaving some clear residue behind and I was feeling THAT mixing with my fluid in my eye.

Could it be that there is some residue (maybe from dirt or eye drops?) that is in your eye?