Persistent Eye Infection?

I am currently in China (not shanghai) and there are no specific eye specialists in my city so I cant get this checked by an expert.
I have an eye infection in one eye which spread to both of them. Then funnily enough one of the eyes cleared up but the left is persistently infected.
I wear contact lenses (for over 12 years now) and if I leave my contact lense out the eye returns to its normal white with just minor irritation and relaxes considerably within a few hours. But if I put them back in (for dinner or for a night out) the eye becomes inflamed, begins to discharge and becomes hazey. This takes around 3 - 5 hours to happen.
Smoking also really irritates the eye.
What would you suggest (from a pharmacy) that I could purchase and what steps can i take to clear this thing up ASAP.
This has been going on for a week now.

very difficult to asses this sort of thing w/o seeing you. this could be anything. you could have any number of problems from virus to acanthamoeba to contact lens inflammatory conditions to bacterial conditions...depends on what all you've been exposed to.

you can just buy whatever drugs you want to OTC in China? interesting.

as a professional i am going to tell you that this is impossible to manage w/o a visit.

but if you really are in a place where you cannot be seen at all, you might try some topical antibiotics if you can get your hands on them. a flouroquinolone is probably best...vigamox or zymar if you can get it (but i kind of doubt it in China), ciloxan or ocuflox if you cant get the 1st 2. tobramycin would probably be better than nothing...heck almost anything is better than nothing.

do you not have some backup plan? i mean if the contacts only bother you while they're IN...can you go without? glasses? thats probably your best bet right there...

this is a very difficult situation.

It sounds as if you need to replace or sterilize your contact lens, the bacteria that your body has defeated is probably alive and well on your contact lens.

it souds like u have bacterial conjuntivitis that it's spreading form one eye to the other back and forth. you need to discard your contacts and take care of it with antibiotics and buy new ones. also try to discard where you store your old ones also, u dont want to contaminate the new ones with the bacteria.