Recovery period from allergy

Hello. I have had slight swelling of the eyelids for a few years. I have
recently changed an acne cream I've been using for about 13 years which
is benzoyl peroxide based and pretty brutal. It worked well, but after
trying various things and still getting swollen eyes (originally thought
it was my RGP lenses which I stopped wearing years ago) I've changed
this cream to a noctinamide based gel instead. However my eyes stills
swell occasionally.

When I went to see an eye doctor he diagnosed allergic conjunctivitis
and blehparitis due to dandruff. Which I am pretty skeptical of. I
suspect this is because of the skin peeling caused by the original
benzoyl peroxide cream which made him diagnose this (which I mentioned
but didn't actually seem to change anything).

My question is, how long would it normally take for an allergic reaction
to subside (assuming the substance causing the allergy has been removed
- which I'm not convinced has been) normally? If it's possible to say,
that is.

Cheers

 

That really depends on what the allergen is and how allergic to it you are.
I've had skin reactions that took a week to clear up.

I've also had blepharitis. Mine didn't respond to standard treatments. I
finally got it to clear by using baby shampoo to scrub my eyes with, and
also putting warm compresses of chamomile tea on my eyes as often as
possible.

 

Yeah I was advised to do that as well. The trouble is you're just
treating the symptoms. Does it come back after you stop this, or do you
still do it?

 

You're really not just treating the symptoms when you do this. You are
cleaning away the debris with the baby shampoo and the warm compresses are
soothing to the inflamed skin.

I had the blepharatis come back once. This was about 6 months after it
cleared up. I began treating it immediately and also went to the Dr. right
away. He prescribed some drops. I was in the middle of a cross country
move when I saw this Dr. He wasn't going to do anything since he was a GP.
Told me I needed to see an eye Dr. I persisted. Told him I knew what it
was. I just needed some drops. So he prescribed some. Within three days
of using the drops, and also doing the eye scrubs and compresses it cleared
right up.

When I had it the first time, I didn't go to the Dr. right away. I didn't
know what it was. Just assumed it was allergies. Then when I did try to
get in to the Dr., he couldn't see me for something like 3 months. I had to
switch Drs. But even then, I still had to wait several weeks. So I think
by waiting that long and not knowing what to do, I allowed the condition to
get to the point where it was difficult to treat.

That particular eye Dr. wasn't very helpful in treating it. She kept
prescribing me different drops and ointments. I think the ointments were
irritating to the inflamed skin. She also told me that I probably had an
allergy to thimerisol and told me to buy those single serve packets of drops
for dry eyes. I was constantly putting those drops in, attempting to soothe
my eyes. Yet they didn't seem to help. The Dr. had recommended the eye
scrubs. I did the compresses on my own.

Now at the first sign of irritation of any kind, I use baby shampoo and wash
off my eyelids. That seems to stop the problem before it begins.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll give this a go I think.