Know the Types, Treatments and Prevention of Infectious Eye Disease

Know About Types, Treatment and Prevention of Infectious Eye Disease - Sangfajarnews.com

Infectious eye pain not only causes discomfort, but can also inhibit activities due to impaired vision. Treatment for infectious eye pain needs to be given according to the type and cause. If not, the treatment will be ineffective, even infectious eye pain can get worse.

Infectious eye pain is usually caused by a viral or bacterial infection. This disease can attack any part of the eye, including the cornea and conjunctiva, the membrane lining the surface of the eyeball and inner eyelid.

Symptoms and Mode of Transmission of contagious eye pain

The following are some of the symptoms of contagious eye pain that you can experience :

• Red and swollen eyes
• The eyes feel sore, itchy and runny
• The eyes feel like sand 
• Light sensitive
• Small bumps appear on the eyelid or near the eyelashes
• Vision is impaired or vision is blurred
• The eyelid feels painful to the touch

Transmission in infectious eye conditions can occur through several ways, including :

• Make physical contact with sufferers of contagious eye pain or direct contact with pus drops or patient tears
• Touching objects contaminated with viruses or bacteria and then touching the eyes
• Adjacent to infectious eye sufferers
•  Share the use of personal objects with people with infectious eye pain, such as towels, false eyelashes, cosmetics, or glasses

5 Types of Infectious Eye Pain

Infectious eye pain consists of several types, including :

1. Conjunctivitis

Conjunctivitis can be caused by various things, but the type of conjunctivitis that is contagious is only caused by infection, either viral or bacterial. This condition can cause a variety of symptoms, such as red, swollen, and watery eyes, as well as itching and pain.

Conjunctivitis due to a viral infection usually makes the eyes clear a lot of clear fluid. Meanwhile, if it is caused by bacteria, this condition makes the sufferer's eyes emit a lot of yellow liquid or greenish that is sticky and crusty (rubbing).

2. Viral keratoconjunctivitis

Viral keratoconjunctivitis or epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC) is an infectious eye disease that makes the cornea and conjunctiva of the eye become inflamed. This eye disease is caused by an adenovirus infection.

When exposed to this highly contagious eye disease, you may experience symptoms of red and swollen eyes, watery, itchy and painful, easily glare, and appear grayish-white coating on the eyes.

3. Keratitis

Keratitis is inflammation of the cornea of the eye. Infectious keratitis can be caused by herpes simplex virus or shingles, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. While non-contagious keratitis can be caused by eye injuries, for example due to being doused with chemicals or using contact lenses for too long.

4. Trachoma

Trachoma is an infectious eye disease caused by Chlamydia trachomatis bacterial infection. Initially, trachoma causes mild itching and irritation of the eyes and eyelids. The eyelids will then swell and pus will come out of the eyes. If left untreated, trachoma can cause blindness.

5. Endophthalmitis

Endophthalmitis is inflammation of the inside of the eye and the tissue around the eyeball. Endophthalmitis can occur after eye surgery or due to other conditions, such as eye injury and dirty foreign object entry.

This contagious eye pain can make the eyes experience swelling, appear red, very painful, easily glare, and even fester.

Endophthalmitis is a dangerous infectious eye disease that needs to be treated immediately by a doctor. If not treated immediately, this disease can cause complications in the form of abscesses in the eye, meningitis, and permanent blindness.

How to treat and prevent contagious eye pain

Management of infectious eye pain needs to be adjusted according to the cause. To find out the exact cause of infectious eye pain that you feel, you need to undergo an examination with an eye specialist.

To treat infectious eye pain, treatment that can be done include :

Medication use

To treat infectious eye pain caused by bacteria, doctors can prescribe antibiotics in the form of tablets or capsules to drink, as well as ointments or eye drops.

While infectious eye pain caused by a virus can be treated with antiviral drugs. However, contagious eye pain due to viral infections are also some that do not require special treatment.

To relieve complaints on the eyes, such as pain and red eyes, doctors can provide eye drops in the form of artificial tears and pain relievers nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Treatment independently at home

In addition to using medication from a doctor, there are several treatments at home that you can take to relieve the symptoms of contagious eye pain, which are :

• Clean the eyelids with a wet cloth
• Compress the eyes with a cloth soaked in cold water to relieve swelling
• Compress the eye with a cloth soaked in warm water to relieve pain and help clean the eye that is friction
• Do not use contact lenses for a while
• Not much touching or scratching eyes

Eye surgery

If the symptoms do not go away with medication and home care, your doctor may recommend eye surgery. This treatment is usually done to overcome infectious eye pain that has been severe, for example in trachoma and endophthalmitis.

Preventive Measures for Infectious Eye Pain

To avoid contagious eye pain, you can take the following preventative steps :

• Wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, especially after contact with people with infectious eye pain.
• Avoid touching the face, especially the eyes, nose and mouth.
• Clean the liquid that comes out of the eye with a clean tissue, then immediately throw the tissue into the trash.
• Wash bed linen, pillowcases and bolsters, and towels with detergent and warm water regularly.
• Use contact lenses properly.
• Avoid sharing the use of eye drops, contact lenses, eyeglasses, towels, and cosmetics with other people, especially people who have eye pain.

If the infectious eye pain that you experience does not go away or even gets worse, you should immediately consult a specialist eye doctor to get the right treatment. This is important to do to prevent permanent eye damage and transmission to others.