It seems that you were not on the street during a strong wind, and nothing got into your eyes, but there is a cutting pain, comparable to the feeling of a thrown into the eyes a handful of sand. In the morning it seems that everything is fine, but as soon as you rub your eyes, it all comes back discomfort, redness and itching. These are signs of conjunctivitis, which affects healthy, short-sighted, far-sighted, all eyes, no one is safe. And the reason is a damage of the mucous membrane around the eyeball. There are three main types of conjunctivitis: bacterial, allergic and viral conjunctivitis. Bacterial and viral are very contagious and easily transmitted.
How to tell that you’re a victim of this ailment? Almost unbearable itching in the eye, sometimes even pain, redness of the sclera, tearing, photophobia, tired eyes, edema of the eyelids and conjunctiva, dry skin around the eye, feeling of sand under the eyelids, purulent gray or yellowish secretions, often so abundant that when they are dry in the morning, it is virtually impossible to open the eyes these are symptoms of conjunctivitis. Children are the main victims of this illness: the habit of touching everything with their hands and then involuntarily rubbing eyes is characteristic for almost every child. It is not so easy to explain to a little one that he or she shouldn’t do that, and that there may be consequences. Although conjunctivitis is cured in about a week even without treatment, it should not be neglected: during this time, the eye can be extremely damaged, and there is a very high chance of the disease transforming into the chronic form.
What to do if you’re sick with conjunctivitis?
The rules are quite simple, but they will help you not to spread the disease among your loved ones and colleagues at work, school or college. In addition, these rules should help you feel better. Here they are:
- Towels and bedding should be individual
- Wash your face and hands frequently
- Personal towel should be changed once a day
- Try not to contact with other people if possible, it's better to stay sick at home
- Take prescribed medications strictly according to the doctor's recommendations
Children's conjunctivitis
Conjunctivitis is common in newborns (the first 28 days after birth). There are many reasons. If the mother had gonorrhea, then the gonococcus, getting on the baby’s conjunctiva (inner shell of the eyelid) causes gonoblonerya, which can become even cause cataracts. Bacterial type is caused by staphylococci and Chlamydia infection. Viral conjunctivitis appears due to close communication with the mother and the use of common household items, and also transmitted through the air.
In any case, self-medication is inappropriate here, it could be extremely dangerous for a newborn's vision. Be sure to show the child to a medical professional.
Older children often get conjunctivitis as a "bonus" to colds or if they bring the bacterium into their eyes. Treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis in children is fairly easy and fast. Basically appropriate antibiotics and eye drops should suffice.
But a skilled medic must always see the baby, as the correct diagnosis is already half the success. If the type of conjunctivitis is determined correctly, then it will not be difficult to recover from it.
Most importantly, a child should be brought up in accordance with the requirements of hygiene. Let's talk about how to treat conjunctivitis in children.
You must understand that if one eye has been affected, then both should be treated. It is very important to wash the eye, which is performed at a frequency of two to three hours. Pre-disposable napkins and handkerchiefs, therapeutic solutions and a polyethylene bag for the collection of spent material should be prepared in advance. If drops are used, they should be heated up for a few minutes in the parent’s palms. If the parents are going to use an ointment, then the tube for a few minutes should be put into hot water. For the administration of medication the child lies on the back.
Viral and allergic conjunctivitis
If bacterial conjunctivitis is fairly easy to prevent, following the rules of hygiene, then these two types of conjunctivitis are more difficult to prevent. Viral conjunctivitis is caused most often by adenovirus (DNA virus, for which the human tissue is the ideal environment). It doesn’t make sense to use antibiotics in this case. More often special antiviral ointments and drops are prescribed and substances regulators of the immune system.
Allergic conjunctivitis most often appears in the spring and coincides with the timing of the flowering of plants. Flower pollen and poplar fluff at this time are all over the streets and for a significant part of people they cause allergies. This illness may happen at other times of the year, since there are allergies caused by domestic dust or pets and more.
Before treatment, first of all, it's necessary to break contact with the allergen as soon as possible. And only medical professional will be able to find the right antihistamine drops. For example, Lotemax eye drops proved to be very effecting in this case. It’s also easy to use; all you have to do is to follow the instructions to the medication. This instruction could be found on the Internet, for example in Denmark online pharmacies. Note that by medical professionals much attention is paid to human immunity, they often try to direct internal recourses of the human’s organism to combat this illness.
