Eye Doctor GAF: Superficial punctate keratitis

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I’m not asking GAF for medical advice. Just wanted to see if any eye doctors here could tell me if what I experienced is normal and if I need to adjust my expectations when I go to the eye doctor.

I’ve had a feeling like something is in my eye for a while. Normally it’s a minor irritation, but sweat in my eye burns longer than usual. I don’t even remember when it started but figured I should have it checked.

My doctor looked in my eye with the slit lamp and immediately said I have SPK. He stuck an antibiotic film on my eye and covered it with a contact lens. I told him everything was blurry and I needed to drive. He said my vision would clear up in an hour and I was fine to drive now.

He gave me artificial tears and a script for ofloxacin ophthalmic and told me to come back in two days.

I went to work and my vision stayed blurry all day. My job involves a lot of reading and writing, so work was a struggle, but I got through the day. Driving home was scary. My commute is about an hour and it was raining.

The next day my eye was swollen and red, and my vision was very cloudy. I had work meetings I couldn’t miss. I know someone who drives with only one eye, so I knew it could be done. I sucked it up and went to work.

It got worse on the second night. I had trouble sleeping. It felt like something was poking me in the eye constantly.

The next morning I went to the doctor and told him I want the film out of my eye because it hurts a lot. He said he knows I “think it hurts”, but my eye is getting better and it will only be another 5 days. I said no, I can’t function like this. After arguing with me more, he reluctantly removed it. He gave me a second type of antibiotic, tobramycin ophthalmic.

I’m irritated that I wasn’t warned that this treatment would cause pain and a week of cloudy vision. I wouldn’t have agreed to have it done immediately had I been told. I would have thought it over, read about SPK, and if I decided it was worth the treatment, I would have scheduled time off work.

I also question whether the doctor could tell from a quick look at my eye how it compares to two days earlier. He didn’t take a picture to compare. My feeling was he was BSing about how it looked better because he didn’t want me questioning the treatment.

Putting aside my issues with how he handled the treatment, is his diagnosis and treatment normal? I’m not a doctor but if I see dry eyes and a disorder that could be caused by dry eyes, I might try lubrication first instead of going straight to antibiotics.

tldr: Not asking for medical advice but asking for advice about medical advice (and maybe medical advice) about a treatment that seemed to cause much more pain than the original problem.
 
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