Eyes are burning in the OR

[surgical06]

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Hello all, i was wondering if anyone has heard of people complaining of eye irritation when going to the operating room

i'm a MSIV . and while in the operating room about 30% of the time, my eyes will "catch fire". it starts with one eye usually, it will uncomfortably itch and i'll close my eye tightly to relieve the itch, and then the burn and tears starts. feels like someone put alcohol in my eye, lasts for about 15miniutes, i just close the irritated eye and it will go away.

i wear goggles and have a facemask so i don't think its splatter. has anyone ever heard of something like this. thanks

 

[ckyuen]

You are most likely not blinking as I did when I started doing surgery. Put in some artificial tears in before the case. I would use refresh or systane. If that's not enough use the gel forming systane or refresh liquid gel, but be careful those will blur you for about 5 minutes or so. also blink your eyes.

 

[surgical06]

wow, never thought of that one, i'll try that!

 

[onboard]

Not really looking for official medical advice just opinion on if someone has faced this before and what did they to fix it.
I have similar symptoms deep eye pain, burning,photophobia while blinking my eyes but it happens only when Im on call and post call days which I have been up/stressed out for 20-25+ hours. This symptom is present almost everytime I stay up eventhough I may not feet otherwise that tired or impared post call. It is marginally relieved with coffee, its not miagrane HA since it only happens if I havent slept and resolves promptly with sleep. Hopefully wont have do deal with it once I am done with intern year. thanks

 

[EYESURG]

Hello all, i was wondering if anyone has heard of people complaining of eye irritation when going to the operating room

i'm a MSIV . and while in the operating room about 30% of the time, my eyes will "catch fire". it starts with one eye usually, it will uncomfortably itch and i'll close my eye tightly to relieve the itch, and then the burn and tears starts. feels like someone put alcohol in my eye, lasts for about 15miniutes, i just close the irritated eye and it will go away.

i wear goggles and have a facemask so i don't think its splatter. has anyone ever heard of something like this. thanks

Make sure you are not allergic to the mask or the goggles.

 

[chicamedica]

Not really looking for official medical advice just opinion on if someone has faced this before and what did they to fix it.
I have similar symptoms deep eye pain, burning,photophobia while blinking my eyes but it happens only when Im on call and post call days which I have been up/stressed out for 20-25+ hours. This symptom is present almost everytime I stay up eventhough I may not feet otherwise that tired or impared post call. It is marginally relieved with coffee, its not miagrane HA since it only happens if I havent slept and resolves promptly with sleep. Hopefully wont have do deal with it once I am done with intern year. thanks

surgical06 & onboard, i get the SAME exact thing. Not necessarily in the OR though. But like onboard it's usually when i've had a long day/night. haven't noticed coffee helping though, but yes sleep resolves it big time. Once it happened when i was on the trauma service as an MS3, when we were in the ED kinda wrapping things up while a patient was being wheeled to the floor from the trauma bay, so i went across to the side of the ED where the ophtho resident hangs out, and just curbsided him. He gave me a little bottle of genteal drops. Worked like a charm. I actually like the genteal better than refresh. Refresh stings in my eyes when it first goes on. I dont think i've tried systane. Still not sure why this happens, but i'm thinking it's dry eye. Or maybe latex or powder from latex gloves, or hand sanitizer. But i remember this happening in undergrad too after a long night, but usually outside with the cold wind blowing into my eyes. I'd have to rinse em to stop the tearing and burning. It's gotten more frequent and i dont necessarily have to be outside for this to happen.