Red eyes and swollen eyelids upon awakening in the morning are common eye problems that many people suffer from with vague diagnoses usually of dry eyes or eye allergies. As you sleep at night the normal tear film is not being pumped out through the tear ducts and spread across the eyes by the wiper like motion that occurs with normal blinking. The eye at night becomes a static environment while you sleep, trapping bacteria on the surface of the ocular tissues. The eye has its own immune system that is ramped up at night to compensate for this increase in bacteria. The result is a state of mild inflammation that occurs in everybody.
Pinkeye
Pinkeye has become a generic term for a red eye. Initially it referred specific bacterial organism that caused eye infections in children. Today is is loosely used for children’s red eyes from viruses, bacteria, allergies, and other causes.
Sleep Apnea and Eye Problems -Fort Collins Eye Doctors
Sleep Apnea can cause a number of eye problems including dry eyes, red eyes, puffy eyelids, and glaucoma. Eye problems can be treated by your family optometrist eye doctor in conjunction with your pulmonay specialist.