Conjunctivitis in children: what it is and how to cure it

2023 Author: Alfred Shackley | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 13:14

Are your eyes red? Itching, burning, or even pus? Beware, your child may have conjunctivitis, an inflammation of the lining of the eyes. Why it is dangerous and how to treat it, we will consider in more detail in this article.

Causes and types of conjunctivitis

Conjunctivitis is an inflammation of the transparent tissue that covers the eye - the conjunctiva. Here are the main reasons why the mucous membrane can become inflamed:

• Virus. The causative agents of viral conjunctivitis are ARVI, colds and flu viruses. Such conjunctivitis develops against the background of colds. It is also transmitted by airborne droplets.
• Bacteria (gonococci, staphylococci, streptococci). Bacterial conjunctivitis is a dirty hand disease that often occurs in children after contact with animals. …
• Allergy. The eyes can become inflamed due to allergies. Allergic conjunctivitis is a chronic disease that cannot be transmitted or developed.

conjunctivitis symptoms

The main signs of conjunctivitis in children, common to all species, are as follows:

• Redness
• discomfort, children often rub their eyes
• Lachrymation
• Minor to severe photophobia.

Viral conjunctivitis is accompanied by signs of malaise and colds: drowsiness, sore throat, runny nose, fever. At the same time, the corners of first one, and then the second, or both eyes at once turn red. If untreated, redness becomes more pronounced, photophobia develops.

Bacterial conjunctivitis is characterized by pus. At first, it is a viscous, opaque gray or yellow discharge, which becomes more intense as the disease progresses.

With allergic inflammation of the mucous membrane, patients complain of itching or burning, in other words, it is not the nose that itches, but the eye. This usually happens in the spring, during the flowering season, or in other cases of an allergic reaction.

However, even specific signs sometimes have a tendency to mix. So, some forms of viral inflammation of the mucous membrane can also be accompanied by pus. Therefore, only a doctor can establish the correct diagnosis.

Is conjunctivitis contagious?

Conjunctivitis in children is a contagious disease. It is not for nothing that as soon as one child caught a staphylococcus bacterium from a dog or in a sandpit, half of the group is sick the next day.

Viral conjunctivitis is transmitted by airborne droplets, like the preceding cold, and for bacterial conjunctivitis, contact must occur, therefore such conjunctivitis is called a disease of dirty hands.

Allergic conjunctivitis cannot be contracted. Allergy develops based on the individual characteristics of the organism.

How to treat conjunctivitis in children?

How to quickly cure conjunctivitis? Treatment varies for different types of disease, so you need to see a doctor to determine the cause of the inflammation. For a viral disease, antiviral drops are usually prescribed: Oftalmoferon or Gludantan, for a bacterial disease - local antibiotics: drops or ointment, such as Floxal or Vitabact. In case of allergies, they will identify the cause of the allergy and prescribe drops that help reduce itching, for example, Allergodil or Opanatol.

Conjunctivitis cures in about a week.

IMPORTANT! Do not self-medicate, you can significantly worsen the child's condition.

What complications can conjunctivitis cause?

At the first signs of mucosal inflammation, you should visit a doctor, especially for children under five years of age. In the absence of proper treatment, conjunctivitis can lead to keratitis, due to which there is a decrease or even complete loss of vision.

But conjunctivitis is dangerous for a child only if the disease is ignored. If the doctor examined, wrote out a prescription, then with proper treatment, the disease will begin to recede on the second day.

Prevention of conjunctivitis in children

It is important to teach the child the basic rules of hygiene, the observance of which will help to avoid many contact and viral diseases, including conjunctivitis.

• Wash your hands before eating and in general as often as possible.
• It is better if each family member has his own towel, and in no case is it recommended to use public ones.
• So that parents caring for a sick child do not get infected, they should also wash their hands more often and not use one towel, napkin, pillow for two with an infected person.
• To wash things, towels, bed linen, napkins of the patient separately from the belongings of healthy family members.
• In case of conjunctivitis caused by allergies, it is necessary to close windows and doors during flowering and wet cleaning as often as possible.