Infection in MY eyes

[bednbones]

So Monday and Tuesday of this week I had quite a few litte fluffies that I did. On Wednesday, I noticed my eyes bothering me. I didn't do anything about it until Thursday but it didn't feel horrible ... just like an irritation. I got an appt and Saturday morning found out that I have an infection in both eyes. This is not a red eye that is goopy like pink eye ... this is from a piece of hair that got stuck under my contact lense and made a cut in my eye. I now have an ulcer under where my contact was which apparently is very dangerous. She tells me that when an infection is going into an eye, it can actually make the eye COLLAPSE and lose your sight. Ugh. So all day long I have been putting drops into my eye EVERY 15 minutes and will continue thru the weekend at once per hour until Monday. Then I will resee the dr. The drops were $74 per bottle (insurance wouldn't pay errr -- and it costs me $900 per month) and I had to get 3 of them.

Does anyone out there wear contacts when they groom? I have horrible vision -700 which my glasses do not correct very well. I have astigmatism as well. I have one eye that is distance and one for close up work w/my contacts. I have considered the surgery but $$ preclude that at this point in my life (plus it scares me).

How do you keep the air from getting into your eyes? Do you rinse yr eyes at the end of the day? Would a clipper vac be the answer?

PS I do wear goggles when blowing out a coat etc.

Any help??? This totally freaked me out.

[PamperedPup]

What about some safety glasses? I know you might feel silly in them but you could just wear them when the fur is flying around. I wear contacts as well but I usually always wear my glasses when grooming.

[Particentral]

When I wore contacts I wore safety goggles all the time (bathing, drying and grooming) and never had an issue. I rinsed morning, noon and night with a rinse the doc reccomended. I had an unlcer under a contact once. NOT fun. the drying is where the most hair getsinto your eyes. A clipper vac EOULD help some, but not if you are drying.

[ferretlov]

OMG!
Ive been going through this this week.I blew out a shepard .I dont wears contacts but I had hair in my eyes for a few days I couldnt get out. I ended up lightly touching my eye with a q tip and twisting it in a circle to get the hair out.I had no idea this could be so serious! I think maybe an eyewash would worrk But I dont think Id wear contacts anymore I f I could help it.that sounds way too dangerous!

[paws around town]

I had an ulcer in my left eye from a dog hair

about 4 years back. Talk about scary! I was told I could lose the sight in my eye tho the Doc never said anything about my eye colapsing. It took 6 weeks of two different kinds of eye drops and eye salve to finally heal. I was told in school, back in the olden days, that a dog hair will cut right thru a contact lense and can get beneath them and could cause an infection. I love wearing contacts but because of this I have always stuck with glasses. Still got the hair in my eye and got the infection anyway. I presume the clipper vac would probably help keep the hair down quite a bit. Let me know if theres anything I can help with.

[Lucy in the Sky]

Goggles. Either the cheap swimming kind, or the safety kind. They should be available at your local hardware store.

[bulldogmom]

I had this problem with my contacts last year, three eye infections in a row! I quickly switched to glasses. I totally agree that you should try some safety goggles!

[bednbones]

Sounds

Like glasses are my answer. I may have to get a bi focal kind of deal because I don't think they do glasses like the contacts ... one for far ... one for close up work.

I do have some good swim goggles altho I can't imagine wearing them all day. My grooming goggles don't enclose my whole face ... they come around the sides but blowing hair can still get in thru the top and bottom.

I also do not vacuum between every dog so there is always some hair blowing around ... plus there are 2 of us working in close quarters ... I can be finishing and she is blowing etc.

I had to wake myself up every hour last night for the eye drops so I am totally crabby today. HA. But at least now the drops aren't burning so I think I must be getting better?? Wishful thinking ....

[wet noze]

I have had hair in my eyeballs. It's awful. Sometimes I will take handfulls of water and rinse out my eyes. It's scary to think you could get an infection but you can see how that could happen. I hope you feel better soon. Sometimes, I do wear goggles when I am brushing/drying out a hairy dog. I work in a small van and I can see all that fuzzy hair going around.

I have crazy vision as well. I'm nearsighted, farsighted and I have an astigmatism. I wear progressive lenses. It's a combination of your prescription without a line. I love mine. I have never worn contact lenses but if I did I probably wouldn't groom with them.

[rapuzzled]

I've been wearing contacts for grooming since I started nine years ago, and thankfully have never had something that bad happen!! I did once get a scratch in my cornea and have to do steroids and no contacts for like two weeks. The worst part was no contacts, I hate wearing glasses, lol.

[bednbones]

I Went to

Lenscrafters today Wet Noze to see about those progressives lenses. Very pricey -- $580 plus the frames. They said they having a 50% off the lense so $290 plus frames about $159 (have to get them there to get the deal) so about $450. Yikes, I would rather have a new dryer. But they did have some nice things to say about those lenses. That may be my next purchase ....gonna check around to see if Costco has a better price.

[SCGroomer]

I too have horrible eye sight and if I don't wear my contacts my grooms will look BAD. I tried my glasses but because I wear contacts my eyes need time to adjust to the way glasses make you see. I have heard quite a few times that it's a terrible idea to wear contacts and groom. Speaking of eye issues some days my eyes are sooooo itchy and blurry from hair getting stuck in them. I am thinking about trying my glasses again grrr. Hope you get better soon