A woman feared she was losing her eyesight after she woke up with “red swollen eyes glued together”, frantically trying multiple prescription medications that would not work.
Katherine Hutchings, 59, a full-time carer for her son, and mum-of-three, feared she was losing her eyesight when her eyelids began to itch and swell in spring 2018. Despite trying remedies such as coconut oil and paracetamol, as well as being prescribed antibiotic cream by her GP, nothing seemed to improve her condition.
Prescribed treatments even made Katherine’s eyelids worse – they made them “so painful” that she had to stop using them. Katherine’s “bruised” eyelids, which felt like “they were being stabbed with sharp needles” on a day-to-day basis, made her not want to leave the house – she stopped going to the gym as she “couldn’t bear the stares”.
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Katherine’s “confidence plummeted” as she was “feeling years older than (she) was” and admits she “couldn’t even cry” to relieve her misery as the tears hurt her eyes. After revisiting her GP, explaining how the condition was impacting her mental health, she was referred to a dermatologist and eye specialist, who diagnosed her with blepharitis.
According to the NHS, blepharitis causes swollen, itchy eyelids. It’s not usually serious and can often be treated by washing your eyelids every day. But Katherine was eventually “left to cope with the agony on (her) own” as her medical case was closed due to Covid.
Determined to take matters into her own hands, she began researching the condition and realised the “menopause could have triggered it”, and came across Hydrosil eye gel – the “relief was instant” and she said she could barely notice her eye condition at all after a few weeks of use. In spring 2018, Katherine’s eyelids began to itch and swell, and she had no idea as to why.
She said: “The irritation became increasingly worse and it got to the point where I randomly woke up with red swollen eyes glued together and my eyelids felt like they were being stabbed with sharp needles. It was agonising and I felt quite scared because as I gradually pulled at my lashes to ease my eyes open, everything was a blur and I feared that I was losing my eyesight.
“My eyelids started to crack and weep and then crusted over – they looked bruised as if I had been in several rounds of a boxing ring, with bruised shadows underneath.”
Katherine used everything she could find at home to try to calm the swelling, such as paracetamol, anti-wrinkle night creams, olive oil and coconut oil, but nothing made a difference. She said: “I found that everything seemed to trigger the swelling and even the dust on the floor of the gym which I attended, people kept asking me if I was okay as they could see my acute discomfort.”
After a few weeks she visited her GP, who she said claimed they had “never seen anything like it before”, and prescribed her with antibiotic cream. Katherine said: “The cream made my eyes worse and worse – it was so painful so I had to stop using it.”
As Katherine’s eyelids were not getting any better, her mental health and confidence began to decline. She said: “I couldn’t bear the stares or the stinging when sweat ran into my eyes, so I stopped going to the gym.
“I felt depressed as I had gone quickly from being an active woman who I’d say looked good for her age to looking and feeling years older than I was. My confidence plummeted but I couldn’t even cry to relieve my misery as the tears burned my eyes.”
Katherine’s eye condition also impacted her overall health – not only did she stop going to the gym, but the swelling and pain triggered migraines and light sensitivity. She said: “My skin started to sag heavily above my eyes, and I was in so much pain all of the time – I felt terrible about myself.
“I had to peel open my eyelids every morning, and even when I was awake, I had terrible migraines.”
Katherine, who lives in Lavenham, Suffolk with her husband, visited her GP again and explained that her symptoms were not improving, and she was eventually referred to a dermatologist and an eye consultant. She said: “After an eye examination I was told to return in six months to be reviewed, and in the meantime, the consultant sent me to have an allergy test and see a dermatologist.
“I was hoping the allergy test would give me the answers but to my surprise, nothing conclusive was determined. A dermatologist then reviewed my condition and prescribed a topical steroid treatment gel – but, seconds after use, it felt like both my eyes were being gouged out with red hot pokers.
“As much as I tried to wash the gel off, the pain just got worse, so I called the dermatologist in a panic, but she was adamant that I continue to use the gel and said my skin would become used to it, but I couldn’t cope with the pain.”
In her follow-up appointment with the eye specialist, in 2021, it was suggested that Katherine had blepharitis. Katherine said: “I told her that my mental health was suffering greatly because of how awful my eyes looked and she said she could refer me for cosmetic surgery to remove the excess skin once the blepharitis had calmed down.
“Surgery seemed rather extreme but then Covid hit, and my medical case was closed as it was a non-emergency situation. “Over lockdown I was left to cope with the agony on my own.”
Katherine decided to take matters into her own hands and research the condition herself. She soon discovered online that other women with the condition were also going through the menopause.
Katherine said: “It just all made sense – it was the only thing in my life that had changed, and when I asked my GP, they said the menopause could have triggered it.” But, still unable to find a treatment that did not irritate her eyes, Katherine scoured the web for more creams that she could try.
She discovered a product, Hydrosil dry eye gel, which had been used by another menopausal woman with the same condition and had rave reviews. Katherine quickly ordered the gel in 2021, as well as their concealer, and within less than a week the results were life-changing.
She said: “My daughter spotted the improvement immediately when I collected her from school later that day. After a few weeks of using the eye gel my eyes had calmed right down and most of the redness had gone.
“The dry cracks gradually healed up and once I put the concealer over the top you could barely notice my eye condition at all.”
Katherine now sleeps better, has returned to the gym, and feels less self-conscious. She explained: “I’ve got my quality of life back – I no longer feel worried about facing people as my eyes feel normal again and I’m not in constant pain.”
