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Question re: pain/swelling on left side of face

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
I wanted to post a quick update and thank everyone who encouraged me to see a doctor asap. I was able to see a great opthamologist today and she said that what I have is called "Peri-orbital pain" and unless I get migraines (which I don't) there are only two other main causes one of which is zoster virus and I remain IgM+ for VZV.

Long story short, even though she thoroughly examined my eyes and no signs of zoster in my eyes, as a preventative she is having me take ten days of Famvir (500 mg 3x/day.) I have taken Famvir before and I tolerated it with no issues although this was pre-MCAS so am hoping for the best. I took a dose around 4 AM from my old bottle (to be safe) and took second dose this afternoon.

She said if it gets worse to see a neuro-opthamologist and referred me to someone just in case. She said often the peri-orbital pain begins a few days before the shingles rash or like Tammy said above, you can get the pain without any rash. So she was really knowledgeable and even knew about MCAS and used eye drops in my exam that did not contain dyes or Epinephrine.

She also found bad allergic symptoms in my eyes and gave me two new products to try for that which she felt would be better than my current allergy eye drops but that is a side issue.

Thanks to everyone for all the great feedback.