I have a lot of questions about mucous from the prosthetic eye. (I'm asking for my 5 year old daughter, not me). I'm worried because she needs it cleaned fairly constantly these days. Maybe you all can help.
1. How do you know when it's an infection since there's always some sort of discharge? I hear about infections -- should I be worried?
2. It seems like the volume increases the more heated up she gets from running, jumping. Is that common?
3. Would taking it out and cleaning the socket help? (She won't let me anyway so that's a moot question, really.)
4. It really seems to be increasing -- is that a summer thing?
5. I tried rinsing with sterile water and sea salt (a real pain in the $^&# for my daughter) and it did seem to reduce it slightly. Could this cause trouble for the eye or prosthesis though?
Thanks very much.

ZDN,

I believe (and I'm sure that the nurses and others in the forum will lovingly correct me if I'm wrong ), that if the mucous has a green color to it, that indicates an infection. I myself deal with discharge from my eye a lot.

From my own experience, I get more of a discharge in the cold, rather than in warm weather, but everyone is different.

In my opinion, it might be helpful if you could remove the eye and irrigate the socket. I understand that she doesn't want you to remove it and she is only 5, but perhaps perhaps if you got a stuffed animal and somehow was able to remove it's eye (a Mr. Potatohead toy might work) and showed her how you would "clean" the toy's socket first, that might help (or not, again, I don't have children, so it's just a thought).

When I take my eye out for cleaning once a week, I often irrigate my own socket with the saline solution that I use for the contact lens for my good eye. It's cold and annoying, but sometimes my socket gets irritated if I cry too much (which I've been doing lately) and it does make my socket feel better.

I hope this is helpful.

DJ

Thank you, DJ, and I hope things brighten up for you soon, too.

ZDN,
I find that my greatest amount of discharge occurs when I don't keep my eye lubricated. It then dries on the eye, and creates dried, crusty bumps on my eye causing extreme disocomfort when I attempt to blink over it. I do masonry work for a living, and working out in the elements seems to make this problem worse. The wind and warm weather seems to dry out the eye, and the discharge increases. I also get infections in the eye, and the discharge changes to a greener color. I use a anti-bacterial eye ointment when this happens. They don't seem to cause any serious problems outside of being uncomfortable. I hope this helps!
Leanne

This is very reassuring feedback. Thank you.
Not to be a pain, but, I just saw one of her long gorgeous eyelashes disappear deep under the prosthesis as I was cleaning her eye. She doesn't seem to feel it. Should I be as upset as I am? Somebody tell me it's just going to work its way out naturally, please?
PS By the way, it seems like only beautiful, kind, smart people lose their eye. Everyone we've met so far -- including here online and in the ocularist's office, etc. -- has been so very gracious to us and willing to share. Thank you.

This happens to me often, as I also have really long eyelashes. I generally feel a bit of discomfort, but nothing excurciating. I usually just take the shell out, and most of the time, the eyelash is pretty easy to see. I just finger it out with a clean hand as I would if it were on my real eye. Nothing to be worried about...I've never had this cause serious problems.

Thanks again!

Green or yellow discharge is infected. White or cream is not. If the eye is not cleaned you will get a build up on it which will cause more discharge. I take mine out in the shower every day and wash it quickly and put it back. I don't clean the socket as such, just the prosthesis. Maybe your daughter could learn to take the eye out herself and wash it under the tap with baby shampoo. She should be able to do it with just a little practise.

/or they could do it together. maybe give the daughter a large marble, or her eye. show her how to do it.

Yeah green or yellow.If my eyes gonna be infected there's a viscous yellow discharge.
When this happens I usually use antiphlogistic eye-drops called "polyspectran".Don't know if those drops are the correct choice for your child but you might ask her ophthalmologist.

Regarding to the time of year I also get more discharge in the sommer months due to pollen which causes more sniffles which on the other hand causes an increase of ichor.
So its normal.Don't worry too much .

Not sure if anyone mention the fact that dust and pollen will also cause some discharge to. The dust & pollen will stick to the prosthetic, and get behind it. The sensitive skin in the eye socket will act in the same way as a wood sliver in a finger would. This a foreign matter to our bodies and it's our bodies way of dealing with it. A eye lash behind the prosthistic acts tha same way. Simplely remove the prosteitic, flush out the eye socket and relubricate the prosthetic. If that doesn't correct the problem I would go see a eye doc. For me this is more seasonal when I'm out side more. Usaully one dry windy days or working in dusty enviroments.

Buckridge

When I get an eyelash in my eye I remove the prosthesis and wipe the eyelash away.

I seem to get more discharge in warm weather.

i had alot of mucus with my first artificial eye, we called it eye buggers, would constantly have to take it out and clean behind it or was able to dab it from using an kleenex without removing, this happened when i had the coral ball implant, which i highly do NOT recommend, had to have it replaced and with new implant i have had no mucus for 1 year, so unfortunately your problem might be the eye is not fitted right, that ended up being my problem

shelly, just curious why you don't highly recommend it? I've got one now for two years and am having some issues with it.

Many thanks to everyone who responded. I'm not sure what caused the mucous problem -- maybe the heat brought it on, or allergies, or a minor infection. In any case, it resolved itself within a few weeks and it's completely gone now. Good luck to any of you in a similar situation.