Papillary conjunctivitis
I have a very strange situation going on. I have dry eye with a tbut of 5 in both eyes. It has never bothered me & I use lubricating pf drops to manage.
Anyways, last week I got some hot sauce fumes in my eye from putting my fingers under my eyes. I flushed my eyes as one turned red & burned. The next day, it was still bothering me so I used some “soothing” saline to help which actually made it worse (burning & red) due to the preservative (BAK) so I washed that out immediately as well. 2 days later, I went to the eye doctor due to my eyes feeling way more dry & burning when I blink. My tbut was the SAME with some tiny dry patches & I was told I have papillary conjunctivitis after flipping my lids. Told to use optase allegro drops & cool compresses. Just went to my regular eye doctor yesterday as I’m not feeling better, my eyes feel bone dry even when they’re shut. Was told my lids are lumpy & bumpy & that it’s stemming from an allergy or sensitivity since I don’t wear contacts. Also have demodex. I am now starting a short course of steroids but the thing is, did this happen overnight? Why did hot sauce trigger me? My eyes have felt sort of raw for more than a week. Have the papillae been there the whole time, & that’s what they think is bothering me when in reality it’s something else? I just don’t understand.
*edit to add, my actual eyeballs aren’t red whatsoever, you’d have no idea I’m even going through anything by looking at me