A month ago I was driving from the midwest to the west coast. i woke up one morning and the area around one eye was swollen and itchy. I used gold bond to calm the itch. Since then both eyes are involved and the redness extends down the cheeks when it is at its worst. Today I noticed that I am missing a few eyelashes.

My opthamologist said it is rosacea but I am in my 50's and do not have a history of that. I know people with rosacea and they do not seem to get the swelling and horrible itching. Plus, the fact that it spread from one eye to the other makes me think it is something contagious.

I have tried antibiotic ointment, gold bond (really helps the itching at night), aloe vera, sulfate cream and although there is some reprieve, it does not clear up all the way before it starts all over again. The cycle seems to be 5-7 days.

Finally, I started taking amoxicillin twice a day and it has worked better than anything so far. I did not wake up last night with the itch and the redness is not noticable today. I do not know if this will clear it up since I have only taken it for three days. I wonder if I rubbed my eye while on my trip and got some sort of infection. Reading the posts here most closely resembled my symptoms. I will look into this, too.

Any comments or suggestions? Thanks