Any steroid cream used on the face is likely to affect more than just the facial skin. there is a lot of evidence to show that it can affect the eye too. In fact, prolonged use of potent steroid creams on the face has been shown to cause glaucoma and cataracts.
When I used steroids daily on my face (betamethasone), I had recurrent eye infections, as well as nasty herpes infections on my eyeball (Ugh!) and eyelid. I never made the connection between the infections and the steroids, but I think that the creams lowered my immunity, thus causing the repeated infections. Interestingly, now I have stopped the steroid creams, a good side effect has been that I have had no eye infections at all, or any cold sores on my face or around my eyes.
However, this brings me to the rather odd subject of eye goop! Let me make this clear, most of the time, eye goop is NOT infection. It is just a weird side effect of steroid withdrawal that occurs in some people. Although I am not a doctor, my theory is that just as the blood vessels in the skin are dilated and damaged by TSW, so are the blood vessels in the eye, causing swelling and discomfort just like in the skin.
My personal experience has not been too bad. In the very early weeks of withdrawals, I noticed that my eyesight was blurry. I would try and read text on the TV and it was all blurred. I thought I was losing my sight! I quickly made the connection with the TSW though, and the phase did pass after a couple of months. I can see fine now!
I have had the odd morning when my eyes have been swollen and gooey on waking. This disappeared as the day went on, thus showing that it was not infection, just a side effect of TSW. Here is a picture of my eye at its worst:
Here are a few comments from the google forum about their experiences with eye problems:
"They were literally oozing so much stuff
last night I just gave up and let it be. It was a sort of sticky goop
coming out and I was having trouble seeing. "
"We also tend to get lots of eye goop and hay fever-like symptoms, so in the beginning, I'd wake
up with my eyes crusted shut. Now after a year, my eye goop is almost
gone, eye puffiness is minimal, and my runny nose is a lot better. "
"I think eye puffiness is common. I certainly woke with puffy eyes for many weeks and my eyes were usually full of yellow goop. For some reason, this persisted much longer in one eye (my right eye), in fact, it has only been in the last few weeks that I have noticed that I am not waking up with a puffy right eye. I recall others saying something similar"
In conclusion, eye problems, including puffiness and discharge are completely normal during withdrawals. on a bright note, recurrent infections, such as conjunctivitis and herpes may become less of a problem once steroid creams are stopped.
6 comments:
I've been Off from TS june 4 and protopic Since june 13 and every Morning for the Last 3 days My eyes get puffy and eyelids are Flaky and itchy :(
any advice or products you used on the eye area during TSW? also having dry flaky eyelids here. Thanks
Hi Ingrid. To be honest, I found the best thing for me is not to mess with the area. The dry flakes tend to come off by themselves and reveal new skin. When I apply creams to these areas, it makes the skin ooze more.
If dryness is a major problem, i try a very thin layer of Vaseline, just to relieve the discomfort.
thank you!
hi, im been on tsw and mw for 4 months and a week now. the skin under my eyes and eye lids are very thin and so wrinkly and saggy. im wondering if this is permanent? i really hope not and would like an opinion on this, there doesnt seem to be much info online about skin atrophy
thanks
Sorry to hear about the hard time you are having, especially with the atrophy. It's so awful when it affects our face, as it isn't an easy thing to conceal and so many people judge us on how we look, unfortunately.
Healing times vary wildly and depend on many factors. The main factors are steroid potency and usage time. Also you must remember that different areas of the body absorb steroids differently, so your face would absorb a lot more steroid than your palms or limbs.
Mild users can heal in less than a year, although this is rare. It is more typical to heal between 18 months and 3 years. 4 months is still early days.
My usage was mild steroids sporadically during childhood, but I used moderate potency creams on my face for 15 years following a rash caused by cosmetics allergy. I am now in month 30 and my skin is almost perfect again. I will post some photos on the blog very soon.
The skin does return to normal and all traces of TSW will disappear eventually. The healing process is amazing, but frustratingly slow.
Be confident that you will heal and stick with this, even when times get tough, I can testify that it is worth it in the end.
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