That’s what I have. It’s about as fun as it sounds:

Recurrent corneal erosion is a condition affecting the outermost layer of corneal cells called the epithelium. The problem is caused when the bottom layer of epithelial cells adhere poorly to the cornea, causing them to slough off easily. The pain and discomfort is often quite intense, and similar to a corneal abrasion. There is usually an underlying disorder that causes recurrent corneal erosions to occur. The most common are: previous corneal injury (corneal abrasion), corneal dystrophy (Map Dot Fingerprint Dystrophy), or corneal disease resulting in recurrent breakdown of the epithelial cells.

Upon awakening, patients often experience severe pain, blurred vision, and light sensitivity when the eyelid pulls the loosened epithelial cells off the cornea. After the cornea heals, the problem recurs as the name implies unless the condition is treated.

As you may recall, Sophie poked me in the eye with her fingernail back at the beginning of October. As I said at the time, it was the most painful injury I’ve ever experienced. The thing of it is, it never really healed properly. Often times, at night, I’d wake up (usually due to a crying child) and feel like the skin on my eye was ripping as I opened my eyes. This was, as you might imagine, tremendously painful, but I just figured I had to suffer with it until it finally stopped.

This past weekend, it got worse. Bad enough that I had to pull over on the way to Church and let Jamie drive. Monday was OK, but Monday night in the middle of the night, I woke up in excruciating pain. Something had happened in my sleep, and I was done.

The good news is that I switched doctors, and the new one is great. I’m on new medication that’s working already, and he’s explained to me what’s happening and what I need to do in a way that the last doctor didn’t. This morning was rough, but in the past few hours things have improved tremendously, enough that I can open both eyes and type this.

The moral of the story is that if you have children, be sure to wear safety goggles at all times.

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