Managing Eye Pain and Discomfort: Effective Eye Drops and Tips - Ophthalmology

Use of eye drops for swollen and painful eyes?

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Hello Doctor, I am highly myopic (approximately -10.00 diopters) with mild amblyopia in one eye and some photophobia.
Currently, I spend about 6 hours a day on the computer and around 3 hours on my smartphone (often until bedtime, and sometimes even in the dark).
A few days ago, during a holiday at home, I used my laptop to watch videos for about 5 hours, then took a nap for over half an hour.
After a couple of hours, I continued using my phone.
During the video watching, I felt a bit sleepy but managed to stay awake until the end.
I didn’t really fall asleep; I just rested my eyes.
Later, while using my phone, my eyes felt a bit strained and dry.
By 9 or 10 PM, I started to experience a mild headache, and after lying down to sleep, the headache persisted and I even felt nauseous, with a sensation of my eyes being swollen and wanting to pop out of their sockets.
Eventually, I fell asleep wearing a heated eye mask.
The next day, after waking up (I usually sleep normally from 11 PM to 8 AM), my eyes didn’t feel dry but had a slight swelling sensation, along with mild nausea and dizziness.
Throughout the day, I read in the morning and watched videos in the afternoon.
At this point, my eyes felt slightly swollen but otherwise normal, although bending down or shaking my head caused a feeling of nausea.
In the evening, I went to see lanterns.
I had no issues looking at regular lanterns, but when strong beams from a few main lights hit my eyes (others seemed unaffected, but I instinctively closed my eyes when the beam hit me, as I have some photophobia), I started to feel a bit dizzy.
Although I didn’t actually lose my balance while walking down a grassy slope, my head felt somewhat unstable.
That night, I lay down to sleep with a mild headache, feeling nauseous, and my eyes slightly swollen (but not as uncomfortable as the previous night), and I again used the heated eye mask to sleep.

On the third day, my symptoms upon waking were much milder than the previous day, but I still felt slight nausea when shaking my head.
Concerned it might be an eye pressure issue, I visited an ophthalmologist.
They checked my vision and seemed to measure my eye pressure (with a puff test?).
The doctor said my eyes were dry and there was slight inflammation of the cornea.
I was advised to reduce smartphone use and was prescribed Pataday to use every 3 hours, along with Vitamin A ointment to apply before bed.
On the third day, I did not use the computer and spent the morning and afternoon reading (with intermittent smartphone use).
In the evening, I watched about an hour of television and used my phone for about 2 hours before bed.
My eyes felt slightly strained, but there were no other discomforts.

On the fourth day, I also spent the morning and afternoon reading (facing a floor-to-ceiling window with sunlight that wasn’t too strong, which I usually can look at without discomfort; however, after using the eye drops, I couldn’t stare out the window for too long).
In the evening, while using the computer, I suddenly found the screen brightness too intense to look at for long.
Since I read that the eye drops are for dry eyes and as a wash, I would like to ask if using Pataday could cause any dilation effects? Or is my photophobia an issue of my own? If I must use the computer for long periods, would applying the eye drops every 3 hours be too frequent? Although the eye pressure test showed no abnormalities, I still feel a bit of discomfort when shaking my head (which I sometimes experience, but I rarely have headaches).
Could this be an eye issue? Or could it be related to a cold (I had an eye examination over a week ago, but I am almost fully recovered)? Thank you.

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Chen, 20~29 year old female. Ask Date: 2016/02/24