One out of every 5 Americans suffers from allergies. An allergic reaction happens when the body mounts an unusual immune response to something that’s normally harmless.

Common Allergy Symptoms and Signs

  • Sneezing, often associated with nasal congestion
  • Coughing and postnasal drip
  • Conjunctivitis or “pink eye”
  • Itchy nose, mouth or throat
  • Allergic “shiners” (dark circles under the eyes)

Approximately 75% of allergy sufferers will have symptoms affecting the eye. The most common form of “treatment” is simply trying to avoid what’s causing the allergy. Keeping the home free of pet dander and dust and keeping pets off the furniture helps. Staying inside with the air conditioner on when a lot of pollen is in the air also helps. Air conditioners filter out allergens, though the filters must be kept clean. Wearing wraparound sunglasses can help shield your eyes from allergens.

Over-the-counter and prescription medications each have their advantages; for example, over-the-counter products are often less expensive, while prescription ones are often stronger. Allergy pills may be more convenient but for relief of eye-related symptoms, drops are usually more effective.

Common causes of excessively watery eyes can be allergies or dry eye syndrome — two very different problems. With allergies, your body’s release of histamine causes your eyes to water. It seems paradoxical but watery eyes can also result from dry-eye syndrome. The excessive dryness works to stimulate higher than normal production of the watery component of your eye’s tears. 

Decongestant eye drops “get the red out”. They contain vasoconstrictors, which make the blood vessels overlying the white part of your eyes smaller; this lessens the apparent redness of your eyes. With extended use however, small blood vessels on the surface of the eye can become dependent on the vasoconstrictors to stay small. When the drops are discontinued, the eyes become even redder…because the vessels rebound to a diameter larger than they were initially. This process is called rebound hyperemia.  

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) eye drops may be prescribed to decrease swelling, inflammation and other symptoms associated with seasonal allergic conjunctivitis (hay fever).  Some eye drops have ingredients called mast-cell stabilizers, which also alleviate redness and swelling. Mast-cell stabilizers are similar to antihistamines. But while antihistamines are known for their immediate relief, mast cell stabilizers are known for their long-lasting relief.

Eye Allergies and Contact Lenses

Even if you are generally a successful contact lens wearer, allergy season can make your contacts uncomfortable. Airborne allergens can deposit on your lenses, causing direct discomfort. Allergens can also stimulate excessive production of natural substances in your tears, which then bind to your contacts and further reduce lens comfort.  Common solutions can be to switch to daily disposable lenses, only wearing glasses or Lasik.  

Over the last two decades, over 17 million people world-wide have had LASIK to decrease their dependency from glasses or contacts by treating their nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, and even presbyopia.  Patients who have undergone laser eye surgery will commonly share that their LASIK procedure was a life-changing experience for them. With the incredible technological advances in LASIK vision correction, LASIK is safer than wearing contact lenses for 10 years.