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9:50am on Thursday, 11th May, 2006:

Eye Eye...

Anecdote

Remember that stye I had on my eye last month?

A week or so after it went away, I noticed by eyelid was feeling a little uncomfortable. I figured this was probably because the skin above my eye was maybe getting slack and coming down over the eye itself, which has happened to my mother and happened to her father as they got older, it's just genetic. However, after a few days I noticed my eye was getting dry and there was a definite lump appearing. If I messed about with the lump (squeezing it, for example) then I felt some liquid appear in my eye and my vision got blurred.

I managed to squeeze in a trip to the doctor's yesterday, and it turns out that I've got a blocked duct. The way the eye works, tear glands produce (basically) water, which serves to lubricate the eye, but they're not all that's involved. Some other glands on the inside of the eyelids produce a more oily fluid which goes over the water coming out of the tear ducts. The result of this is that the water doesn't evaporate so quickly, which means the eye is better lubricated.

For me, one of the ducts leading from these glands is blocked. The doctor gave me three possible outcomes:

1. If I put a flannel on my eyelid once a day, soaked in water as hot as I can bear it, then this will make the liquid in the gland become runnier and could help it clear the blockage.
2. If the above doesn't work, I can go see an eye surgeon and they'll perform a minor operation to unblock the duct manually.
3. If the eye becomes infected then the duct could burst open in an orgy of pus and sebum.

I'm going for option 1.

Referenced by Darts Dilemma.

Referenced by Unpatched.

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Copyright © 2006 Richard Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk).