Patients with eye swelling who have ruled out infections may have allergies that cause eye problems. Allergens that travel through the air or form compounds in soaps or other substances that may get into the eyes can generate eye allergy symptoms. Disorders associated with eye swelling include redness of the white part of the eye, excess tears, eye itching and puffy eyelids. Together, these indicate allergic conjunctivitis, a condition resulting from an inflammatory response triggered by some allergic reactions.
Pollen
Twenty million Americans suffer from allergic reactions to various plant pollens, the Cleveland Clinic reports. Hay fever, or allergic rhinitis, creates conjunctivitis allergy symptoms in many patients. Irritating granules of pollen from prolific trees, grasses and weeds---and rarely from flowering plants---fill the air at different times of the year. When patients go outside, they expose the moist mucous membranes of their noses and eyes to these allergens. Plentiful pollen grains alight and stick. As their bodies absorb the allergenic elements in pollen, patients develop breathing and eye problems.
Mold
All allergies to airborne substances can produce both nasal and eye allergy symptoms. People with mold sensitivities can be affected by the release of their reproductive spores in indoor or outdoor environments or both. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), allergic reactions to outdoor leaf molds usually occur between regional spring thaws and the first fall or winter frost. Indoor mold varieties, however, live and reproduce all year. Swelling and other eye problems that come and go in any season may be due to indoor mold allergies.
Dust Mites
Dust mites live on organic matter in household dust, and the waste of these microscopic creatures sets off allergic reactions in some people. The tiny particles left behind by dust mites, the NIH reports, lodge in upholstery, carpeting and bedding. Patients disturb and inhale these allergens, which rise with the air currents. Dust mite allergies can cause eye symptoms that persist to some degree year round.
Pets
Adverse reactions to a protein in warm-blooded pets' saliva, skin cells and urine can also perpetuate eye allergy symptoms. These may get worse if patients pet an animal and then rub their eyes, but they may not disappear when the animal exits the environment. Pet dander and dried fluids can remain in indoor air for months, notes the NIH.
Chemical Exposure
Allergenic ingredients in some cleaning products, cosmetics, topical medications, adhesives, fragrances and other substances can create eye problems if they contact the conjunctivas. The University of Maryland Medical Center reports that patients may become sensitized on first exposure, only displaying symptoms upon subsequent incidents. The body absorbs the chemicals in these compounds on contact and initiates the inflammatory response that causes eye swelling.
