18 answers

Oh I Have a BIG Problem!

I'm going to start that originally I thought this was an embarrassing problem but now I'm not so sure it's not something more serious. Yesterday I woke up and noticed my face was really breaking out. It had been for a couple of days. In fact I had a huge "zit" on the left side of my nose about 3days ago that I had (of course who can resist!) popped and doctored and it was in the process of going away. So yesterday I decided I would put a clay mask on that I have used many many times. I rinsed my face and carried on about my usual day. Around 4 or 5 in the evening I noticed that when I would look downward I could see my face. I know that's a little vague but mostly when you look down you can't actually see your face beneath your eye.My glasses were sitting a little funny on my nose and normally those don't touch my face beneath my eye. I seriously thought they were bent or something. I don't wear them enough and I thought maybe I was reading in bed and bent them...By this time you'd have thought I would at least look in the mirror! So my husband get's home at 7 pm and asks about my eye. I look in the mirror and sure enough it's huge! I told him I thought it was my zit and it must've gotten infected (by my glasses or something).But it was just so big! I doctored the offending zit with alchol and applied Neosporin and when I went to bed and layed on that side of my head I could feel the wieght of my eye.
I woke up this morning and my eye is almost swelled shut. There is no pain, no discoloring, just a big, fat eye! I'm pretty sure nothing has bitten me. The only other symptom I have is that occassionally when I blink it's a little gooy, but my eye is not weeping or red. My eye doesn't feel dry. I don't think it's the zit anymore! My husband says that maybe I got a staff infection from messing with the zit and it's under the skin. But still...looking at the zit it looks like nothing now. And the swelling goes way beyond the area of the side of my nose. It's more in my eye and under my eye.
I would love to describe how huge my eye has gotten but it would be impossible. It's heavy and other than the pressure of the swelling it is causing me no pain at all.
I'm relatively new to the area and I have a doctor that I've seen once and I have a call into him. I'm wondering if it could be a clogged tear duct or something and I really don't know who to call. I'm hoping it's something minor because I don't have insurance! If you've had this happen or you know what this might be OR you just have some crazy wivestale for me to try (nothing that might affect my vision) then would you please help me?!

What can I do next?

So What Happened?™

It's staph. Cellulitis exactly. It's very dangerous this close to the eye and it would not have gone away had I not went to the doctor. I actually have to take two rounds of two different antibiotics (staph is very common and very resistant to the anitbiotics used to treat it)and go back tomorrow to make sure I'm responding to the antibiotics. Thanks for all of your responses but the reason I'm writing back is to tell everyone LEAVE THE ZITS ALONE! This is very common and it's horrible to wake up with this problem.

Featured Answers

I would definitely have it looked at, but I am allergic to Neosporin and it causes a severe rash and has caused severe swelling around my eye before. I would refrain from using Neosporin and see if that helps but I would still have it looked at in case it is a staph infection. That can be very dangerous.

C.,

Be very careful. Something very similar happened to my stepmom back in May and she ended up with a very serious staph infection. Wash continually and don't touch anyone unless you have to. Not to scare you, but my stepmom did nothing for 4 days and ended up in the hospital for 5 and very sick. Find a dr. asap.

More Answers

Hard to say exactly...I described to hubby who is med...he says that it could be one of two things...either Staph or bite of some sort...
Either way, just in case it is Staph, you need to go get it checked immediately to make sure. Staph (Staphalocaucus I think?) can take hold and spread rapidly inside of your body. People can die if not given antibiotics...and the right ones in time. Not something to mess with, esp near your eye, so go get it looked at and don't waste your time on Mamasource! Hope it gets better quickly!

I wouldnt mess around with that so close to your eye - you are worth what ever it cost - go to the doctor!!!!!

C.,

Be very careful. Something very similar happened to my stepmom back in May and she ended up with a very serious staph infection. Wash continually and don't touch anyone unless you have to. Not to scare you, but my stepmom did nothing for 4 days and ended up in the hospital for 5 and very sick. Find a dr. asap.

This sounds like something I had a year ago. I woke up with my eye swollen and though maybe I was getting pink-eye. Well it got huge fast and I had no discharge and it wasn't pink. I went to my eye doctor and she said it was an infection probably caused by bacteria from my mascara. She put drops in my eye and gave me a perscription for a bottle of the drops. It was noticeably better the next day and was all gone by day three. By the way the my eye doctor said it wouldn't have gotten better on it's own. Good luck!
A.

I had something similar twice and the doctor thought it was a spider bite -- probably got it while sleeping. Definitely have it checked out, but hopefully it's nothing major.

Hi C.!
oh my gosh! i would go to an eye doctor. i doubt they would charge very much to see you just for that. you poor thing!
it could also be a spider bite in stead of a zit!
i wouldn't wait and not go to the doctor. it would be terrible to lose an eye over this! and, if it is a staph infection it could be very serious..
good luck!!
J.

definitely not a stye (like you can see on the picture at the internet link that's only a small bump). Also not a clogged tear duct (can not swell that big, is only at the nose side.) Both things would never cause swelling on the upper eye lid.

Sounds a lot like an allergic reaction, with all the swelling. I would wait one day, if the swelling has not gone by itself I would contact a docter. Often you'll never find out where you're allergic to. Try apply cold compresses.

An infection has 5 thinghs how you can recognize them:
Red, Swelling, Hot, Pain, disfunction of the body part.
You've only the swelling, so its probably not an infection.

But if you're unsure, just contact your doctor. I'm only a optomotrist.

good luck, and let us know what happens next. I'm intrested!

I.

I would go to an Opthamologist as soon as possible, but it sounds like you may have a Chalazion. My daughter had one and her eyelid got so swollen that it looked horrible....though it didn't hurt her that much. We ended up having to clean her eye/eyelid with soapy water 4 times a day and holding HOT compresses on it after each cleaning for 15 minutes, continuing to re-heat the rags every few minutes. We did this for 1-2 weeks and it went away and has not come back. I hope this helps. The good news is there is no long-term damage to the eye from Chalazions. Take care. L.

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