Seasonal allergies from pollens as well as allergic reactions to pet dander, chemicals and other allergens may cause various symptoms. Allergies often cause nasal and sinus congestion, and this may cause a pressure sensation along your eyebrows or forehead. The allergic reaction may also cause your eyes to feel painful and irritated. Knowing the various symptoms associated with allergies or sinus conditions will help you identify your symptoms early so that you can seek treatment before your condition escalates.
Additional Symptoms
Eye pain and sinus pressure commonly occur with allergies, but other eye-related symptoms include itchy eyes, itching, discomfort and excessive watering. You may also experience eyelid swelling and redness to the whites of your eyes. Allergies may also cause nasal congestion and sneezing.
Treatment
Allergy medications will often help control your symptoms. Your doctor may prescribe an oral medication or simply recommend an over-the-counter product such as an antihistamine. To help ease your pain your doctor may recommend that you take ibuprofen or other safe pain reliever.
If you experience other allergy symptoms that involve your eyes you may need to use an allergy eye drop. As with oral allergy medications, your doctor may recommend over-the-counter or prescription-strength medications. This will depend on the severity of your symptoms. You may also find that wetting a cloth with cold water and holding this in place over your eyelids and forehead may help ease some of your eye pain.
Other Causes
Sinus conditions and eye allergies may result in pain and pressure around your eyes, but other conditions may also cause these symptoms. You may have a sinus infection, eye infection or inflammation in the iris — the colored part of your eye — which often causes eye pain and light sensitivity. If you have an extremely high eye pressure, this may also cause eye pain. Nausea and vomiting typically accompanies the pain associated with these high pressures. You may also have migraines that could involve the eye and sinus area, resulting in pain.
Considerations
Contact your eye doctor or regular physician if you have eye pain or sinus pressure that does not resolve quickly. Treating conditions such as allergies early may help prevent the symptoms from worsening and may also help the condition resolve faster. You should not take medications, including over-the-counter products, without first consulting your doctor because medications could interfere with medical conditions you have or other medications you take.
