Submitted by administrator on
As a teenager I was blighted by poor eye sight. I hated wearing “ Goggles” as it interfered with my hobbies, you cant surf or horse ride with glasses very easily and I felt like my “ street cred” had been shredded. So, I converted to contact lenses and its never been an issue for me. However, then I started to suffer from adult acne. Inflamation, pimples, soreness and the debilitating issue of it beeing very visible. As a kid I was skin perfect, now I was dealing with poor eyesight AND a skin condition ( you can play your violins now if you like !).
I took precription meds for my skin, and it has improved greatly. Happy to report my Optician says my eyesight is holding out now too, but new a report has recently been annnounced that may not give other acne sufferers so much hope. According to recent research it has long been theorized of a connection between eye infection and acne.
In acne sufferers there are higher circumstances of inflammation, that sometimes leads to irritation and that patients who took oral prescribed medications therein doubled their risk of developing an eye infection, compared to acne sufferers who did not.
Researchers looked at health records of 15,000 adolescents divided into three groups: those who had normal skin, those who had acne but did not take oral prescribed medication; and those who had acne and were being treated with medication such as Accutane or Roaccutane.
Out of the test subjects, 1,791 people developed inflammatory ocular diseases, including 991 in the medicated group, 446 in the acne group, and 354 in the acne-free group.
Conjunctivitis was the most common infection. 4% of the patients studies taking acne medication contracted pink eye, compared to 2 percent for the normal population group.
Dry skin and lips is a normal and common side effect of these medications so it's only natural the eyelids lubrication would have been effected. Tears are crucial because they lubricate the surface of the eye and they wash away debris, including bacteria and viruses, that can lie on the eye or its lid. Infection of the gland itself can lead to sties, and more serious bacterial infections might lead to the swelling of the entire eyelid.
Sufferers will of course still want treatment for the skin complaint but dermatologists and patients should be aware of theside effects and potential for long-term eye damage. Constant irritation and eye rubbing can lead to problems such as keratoconus ( a degeneration of the cornea).
One easy solution accesable to all is to use artificial tears, or eye drops, to keep lubricated eyes.