It started around Friday 14th, when during the day, one of my work colleagues ask whether there was something wrong with my right eye – I said why, and she said because it seems quite red. I didn’t think much of it, but washed my eye with water and hopefully whatever foreign object that was in the eye would wash away.
I continued to relax over that weekend, and I started to notice that the redness got quite sever on the Sunday, 16th June – so much so that it started to be quite painful to close my eyes and to blink. I didn’t rub the eye, but I started to think something was wrong. I went to the local pharmacy, and brought some saline eye drops to hopefully clear it up. I previously had 4 bouts of an inflammation, in 2008 when I was working in Latvia, and 3 other occurrences since then, but those were in the left eye – this was the first time it was in my right eye – and I felt it was the worse occurrence this time around.
I then decided to visit the local GP at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital 24 hour Walk-in Clinic (part of their A&E department) – luckily for me this was in the vicinity of my apartment in Novena. They advised me that it looks like a bad inflammation, and gave me a prescription of eye drops and eye ointment. The GP also signed me off for 2 days on medical leave – providing me a medical certificate (MC) – she also told me that if things don’t improve to see an eye specialist – and she gave me a referral in case I needed it. I went to work on Monday, finished off a few e-mails, and then decided to go home on leave for the Monday and Tuesday. The Singapore Haze/Smog was getting progressively worse, so I knew I had to stay out of it to avoid any further infection to my eyes.
I returned to work on Wednesday, but the eye was not getting any better and remained very red and blurry. I decided to visit the Eye Specialist on first thing on Thursday morning. I visited the Eagle Eye Centre also part of the Mount Elizabeth Hospital complex – and saw one of the Eye Specialists. The first reaction was quite worrying, in that it was not just a inflammation but a severe eye infection, which if left untreated could cause permanent damage to my eye and vision – it had impacted to the Corneo and Iris/Lens now, so it needed urgent treatment. The doctor prescribed me a number of eye drops, tablets and ointments that I had to take intensively over a 2-day cycle, and then signed me off on MC for a further 2 days.
The treatment was as follows:
- GUT PRED FORTE – 5 drop each hour (1 drop / min for 5 mins ): Reduce Inflammation
- GUT CRAVIT Ophthalmic Solution – 1 drop every 3 hours: Antibiotics
- GUT ATROPIN – 1 drop 3 times a day: Anticholinergic and aids Dilation
- OCC MAXIDEX Ointment – apply once at night: Anti-Inflammatory
- IBUPROFEN – 2 tablets 3 times a day: Anti-Inflammatory
- FAMOTIDINE – 1 tablet twice daily for a week: Gastric Protection
My 2 Days Drug Store
He told me that there is no one cause of the infection, but likely to be caused by some other underlining issue – flu, food posioning, some other infection etc – and the eye just reacted to it accordingly. But I didn’t have anything previously, so it was very strange. He also said it was strange that only one eye was involved, as he would expect both to be affected (luckily it wasn’t, else I would be totally blind!)
Eye Comparison
I returned to see the Eye Specialist on Saturday morning, and the goodness that the intense treatment seemed to be making a difference. The redness and inflammation had subsided, but the eye remained very blurry and he told me that I had to continue the treatment for the next 2 days, but if with a lesser dose of the eye drops – moving from 5 drops an hour to 1 an hour.
So hopefully, this treatment can really hit the spot and ensure the infection goes away. I hope the blurriness stops – but it’s difficult to tell whether this is the infection or the eye drops causing it.
Either way, another visit on Tuesday afternoon – and hopefully I will know more. The good news is that the infection is reducing – and I can return to the work on Monday (if you consider this good news), but the bad news is that he told me that the chances of a reoccurence in the future is relatively high – hey-ho, at least I know how to react if I start feeling issues with one of the eyes.
