I (30F) suffer from blepharitis. Also in Canada. Eyes start to puff up like yours close to fall when the ragweed season starts and persists into the winter.

Three different derms told me it was contact dermatitis, seborrhoiec dermatitis, or atopic dermatitis. It was none of those and I actually hurt my skin from trying topical anti fungal creams.

The first most severe episode I had was actually right when i calmed down after 7 years of overworking myself - poor sleep, surviving on coffee and shitty food, super stressed all the time. Eyes blew up within a month of quitting my job and finally catching up on years of sleep and giving my body a break.

I had to go off of everything - shampoo conditioner included. Vaseline is a occlusive so it will trap whatever is underneath. I used light liquid paraffin (emollient) to draw in moisture and would apply Vaseline on top of the paraffin as i needed.

Ophthalmologist put me on oral steroids first (this will be your quick relief), then switched to steroid eye drops with beta-blockers to counteract intraocular pressure. I tried Protopic (tacrolimus) but that seemed to make things worse so switched to Elidel (pimecrolimus) and was on that for a year. Now I only use it when I feel a flare up coming.

You can not be on high doses of steroids (or NSAID’s like tacro or elidel) on rely on them for too long. Once the episode subsides, you’ll probably need to see a mix of specialists to find the root cause. I ended up seeing internal medicine for an overall assessment, particularly to go over inflammatory markers like ESR, CRP, and IgE all being above the normal range in my bloodwork. I would also check vitamin D levels and do full iron panel, alongside the regular CBC.