One of the easiest ways to relieve your eye allergies is to use eye drops. These can be found at any pharmacy and offer immediate relief and can also soothe inflammation. Make sure that you use one that doesn't contain steroids. If you find that itching is worse than the redness, you can try different eye drops to see which one works best for you. Be sure to keep an eye on the redness in your eyes to make sure you're using the right one.
You can also use antihistamines while you're taking your medication to relieve your eye allergies. They can sometimes be used together with steroidal eye drops to prevent an allergic reaction from occurring. However, there's no evidence that using these medications will help relieve symptoms more than they will relieve the symptoms themselves. So you should avoid using them altogether when possible.
One method which has had some success in relieving eye allergies and at reducing the risk of a serious allergy is immunotherapy. This involves exposing the patient to various allergens, and then having their immune system strengthen during treatment. Sometimes it can take up to several months of immunotherapy to begin to show results. However, if you're doing this on a regular basis, your doctor may be able to reduce the number of allergens you have exposure to. This is why it's important to let your doctor know what kinds of products you use or whether you've been exposed to an allergen before starting immunotherapy.
If conventional treatment isn't effective, there are other alternatives for those with eye allergies. One is called allergic conjunctivitis, which is similar to the symptoms you experience with atopic eczema. This is often treated with eye drops, although steroids are occasionally prescribed. There are other options as well, including phototherapy, photodynamic therapy, and fractionated photofrin. All of these methods treat the symptoms, but often don't eliminate the cause of your allergies.
Allergic conjunctivitis is sometimes difficult to treat because the triggers are almost impossible to identify. In some cases, airborne allergens are identified, but not the particles that cause the reaction. In other cases, food allergy is identified, but the person doesn't have reactions to any of the foods normally eaten. The most common cause is pollen, and most allergy suffers have problems with pollen even if they live in an area of the country that is free from other types of pollen.
If your symptoms are due to environmental factors, the usual recommendation is to avoid contact lenses. However, some people can tolerate certain brands, such as Plano lenses. If you wear contact lenses, but you also have problems with sneezing or watery eyes, you may want to consider watery eye drops instead. Many times these drops are available over the counter at your local pharmacy, and can give you immediate relief. However, if your problem is more severe, you'll probably need to see your eye doctor to get a prescription medication to treat your allergies.
An eye center specializing in allergic conjunctivitis treatments can be very helpful. These centers take a holistic approach to treating eye allergies, which means they don't simply prescribe medications for you to take. They will help you determine what products you should avoid, teach you how to identify particular allergens and irritants and how to minimize your exposure to them. A specialist can also test your eyes to make sure that no underlying causes are present, which will allow you to pinpoint the cause of your symptoms.