It started yesterday afternoon when the area above my right eye started to swell and drop and I could notice it in my field of vision. Later I could see a similar thing above my left eye.
That is where it stood when I went to bed. This morning I had trouble opening my eyes due to the swelling. I looked like a bad mug shot.
I expected that once I got up and moved around things would get better. I put a cold washrag across my forehead. It helped slightly.
As the day went on my face got even more swollen. I called the convenient care clinic at Trinity Hospital. They recommended I put a cold pack on my forehead and take benadryl in case this was an allergic reaction.
At the drug store I asked my mother's pharmacist about benadryl and he felt benadryl wouldn't help me. Because of the way I looked he strongly felt I should see a doctor.
*argh*
My brother drove me across town to the walk in clinic. With my swollen eyes I was in no condition to drive.
Because of my insurance's high deductible I decided to immediately pay for the clinic visit from my HSA account and avoid insurance paperwork. Many places - happy to avoid insurance paperwork and get paid right away - give you a 5% or so discount. Not Trinity Hospital. No discount when you pay right away.
For $124 the doctor told me that the swelling was a result of the sunburn from my canoe trip on Sunday. It took two days to swell up? I've had much worse sunburns in the past with no swelling. He could not explain why this time and not other times. He did say this was the worse case of fluid build up from a sunburn that he ever saw.
Gee.. thanks.
Most of the time while canoeing I hadn't worn a hat. Later when I did wear a hat a branch snagged my hat and tossed it in the river. After that the hat was too wet to wear.
The doctor told me that around the eyes is the part of the face that can swell up as fluid can pool here. Gravity pulled the fluid from the top of my head and forehead where it was sunburned down to around my eyes.
One eye is almost swollen shut and the other is half shut. It looks like someone beat up me. I look bad. The doctor said it will take a week or two for the swelling to go away. Fortunately it didn't take that long as I started to see improvement the next day.
Great. Just great.
In the meantime ice is my friend.
Yes, my left eye is open.
10 comments:
The exact ssame thing happened to me on a trip to cancun!
Hey, I'm sorry for what happened to you, it looks very bad. I got sunburnt 5 days ago, very very bad, I had shivers, couldn't move, couldn't do anything, you know, the whole menu. After 2 days I woke up with my forehead swollen and both my eyes, the right one is still swollen and it's been swollen since. For the people who are reading this, it might be sunpoisoning or a chemical reaction of the sun to whatever sunscreen you applied before getting sunburnt. So don't use the sunscreen you've used before, just in case. Now, for my forehead I applied a towel moistened in aloe juice and the swelling was gone in a few minutes. I didn't apply it to the eyes though cause I was scared of the reaction, I might do it if the swelling isn't gone tomorrow. So I strongly recommend using REAL aloe juice, it does wonders on pretty much everything.
Fortunately this was the only time I got swollen from a sunburn. I do wear a hat more regularly now.
While I got a sunburn during this canoe trip, it was no worse than other sunburns I have had in the past. I don't know why this time my face swelled up. While my face was sunburnt, I don't remember the top of my head being sunburnt. Maybe with age I am now more susceptible to this swelling reaction?
I'm having this type of sunburn right now. Yesterday my forehead was swollen and today it's my eyes. How long did it take you for the swelling to go away ? I really have to be on my feet in a few days :(
The swelling started to go down the day after I took the photo: http://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2008/05/less-swollen.html
I don't remember exactly as it has been a few years since this happened, but I think I was back to normal in less than a week.
Thankfully this has never happened to me again.
Thanks for your reply and I'm glad it hasn't happened to you again! Bummer to sit inside with this really beautiful weather!
By the way your blog is awesome, helps me pass time :)
6.30.10
i am so glad i found your blog. i took a walk southward in the hudson river park (nyc) saturday. what a beautiful walk on a hot sunny day. i started about noon and caught the subway home about 5pm. when i got home, i saw how RED my head was. it was redder than my arms. i thought nothing of it. i used to be a major sun worshipper and outdoors person. now of course skin cancer makes me leery of the sun. the next day my HEAD swelled up all over! it must have been 10-30% bigger! the swelling gradually descended to my eyebrows, then my eyes, and now i have big swollen bags under my eyes, and the bridge of my nose looks wider than the bottom of my nose. no pain, no itching. i was going to see a doc, but your blog and other online comments (and of course $) made me decide to skip the doc and let time and nature take its course. so, now it's wednesday. a doc i talked to on the phone today said i should still go to ER to check out the possibility of "angioedema" or "infection." i thanked him, but i'll pass (the $ again). i hope all turns out well. i will ALWAYS take a hat with me on outdoor trips. this is the first time this has ever happened to me or to anyone in my family or amongst all the friends we know. my eyes closed only halfway, not 90-100% like yours did. anyway, proof again that there's a first time for everything. and, unfortunately, proof once again that i'd rather save a buck than see a doc. one of these days i'm going to pay for being so cheap!
I just had this happen to me for the first time! I was on vacation in England, so I couldn't go to the doctor, but my eyes were almost as puffy as yours. It went away after a few days, but it was scary!
Thank u so much for the post... This happened to me in punta Cana and totally freaked me out :( I wish I would have found ur post earlier!!!!
3 years later, around the same time of year, i've got the same conditioning, for the same reason. 4th day now, swelling is down but not gone; right eye worse than the left, forehead and scalp not oozing nor swollen anymore but peeling like an old lizard. going to try the aloe vera juice, since i do drink it for overall health and swear by it. will keep eyes closed, however, since any astringent quality would probably not be good for the eyeball itself.
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