If your baby is affected by this trouble, without wasting time, find the cause of the disease as quickly as possible. Often for conjunctivitis in newborns, the impassability of lacrimal tubules is taken, which gives similar symptoms. Consult with a neonatologist - maybe he will prescribe a canal massage or, in difficult cases, piercing. This is a quick and absolutely safe procedure for a crumb. Depending on the causes and the flow there are several types. Pediatric medicine for infants, conjunctivitis, treatment - the topic of publication.
Viral
In this case, as a rule, both eyes are affected. Its culprits are a variety of viruses. Most often, these are adenoviruses that cause a common ORZ. That's why such conjunctivitis is accompanied by cold symptoms: fever, sore throat and runny nose. In addition, on the inner surface of the eyelid or inside corners of the eyes appear white or grayish film.
Bacterial
It is for him characterized by abundant purulent discharge, which causes a variety of bacteria: staphylococci, streptococci, chlamydia. This type is found most often, but it is also treated simply if you do not miss the time. If the inflammation started only on one eye, you can prevent it from spreading to another! Take care that the child, touching the sick eye with his hands or a handkerchief, after not touching the healthy one.
Allergic
The causes of this inflammation can be the hair of animals, plant pollen, car exhausts, fluff and food. In this case, the eyes usually do not fester, but the baby can be bothered by severe itching and lachrymation. Conjunctivitis can be acute from five days to two weeks, and then go through. Unpleasant symptoms are removed with the help of antihistamines, which will pick up the baby pediatrician.
Treatment room
Treatment in the case of infectious conjunctivitis is prescribed by an ophthalmologist, while he will write out to your child a whole complex of funds in order to completely eliminate the cause of the disease. These are, first of all, antibacterial drugs (Albucide, tetracycline, tetramycin, levomycetin), antiviral and necessarily antifungal drugs, since the consistent use of certain antibiotics can provoke a fungal infection. In order for the treatment to be as effective as possible, follow the simple rules.
- Be sure to wash your hands before and after treating the child's eyes.
- To avoid injuries of the eyeball, refuse for the duration of treatment from long nails.
- In the daytime, it is better to instill drops in the eye at a certain interval, without making passes, and it is recommended to lay a medicinal ointment for the night.
- The pipette, which digs in drops, you need to boil once a day. If the vial of the medicine has its own pipette, do not touch it with the tip of inflamed mucosa or eyelashes.
- Bury drops and lay ointment follows the lower eyelid: gently pull it with your finger and place the medicine between the eyelid and the eyeball. After this, ask the child to blink, look up, then sideways, so that the active substance is distributed throughout the mucous membrane. Using the ointment, ask the baby to close his eyes and massage the eyelids with a piece of napkin.
- In no case do not apply a gauze bandage on the affected eye - a purulent discharge from the eye, lingering under a tightly wound cloth, can cause additional complications right up to the inflammation of the cornea.
Such treatment can take several weeks. In no case should you interrupt it or disrupt the schedule of taking medications, as the temporarily depressed pathogenic flora will respond to the untimely cancellation of the antibiotic with a new jerk. Strictly follow all the prescriptions of the doctor, even if it seems to you that the child has become much better. If some medicine does not work, the doctor may prescribe another, after 1-2 weeks. During the treatment period, dim the nursery and do not bring the baby to a bright light, so as not to provoke additional irritation. In the summer on walks, use sunglasses.
No initiative!
The apparent simplicity of conjunctivitis often causes self-medication of this disease in children. However, doctors warn that this is a dangerous initiative.
- Medicines can cause an allergy in a baby: even a harmless solution of sodium sulfacid sometimes causes irritation of the eye mucosa.
- Virtually all the means for treating this disease contain antibiotics, the wrong choice of which can cause addictive pathogens, then it is more difficult to cope with conjunctivitis.
Folk remedies
A good effect in abundant, especially purulent discharge from the eye gives a wash with a chilled chamomile solution. Such a popular spilled tea for washing or compresses is used, as a last resort - this remedy is not too effective. Both eyes must be washed, and for each one, take a separate sterile swab so as not to provoke an additional infection. And here to drip in an eye honey vodichku on an example of our grandmothers it is not necessary. Sweet environment causes rapid development of bacteria and only worsens the condition of the eye. The same applies to washing the eyes of a newborn baby with breast milk.
From simple to complex
In mild cases of conjunctivitis, the disease itself is not as dangerous as the rapid spread of the infection and the possibility of re-infection. And untimely, incorrect or negligent treatment with a high probability can lead to necrosis or perforation of the cornea, or to the appearance of chronic conjunctivitis. If the disease, despite the whole complex of measures taken, has passed into a chronic stage, it is necessary to give a smear from the conjunctival cavity, to do a cytological study and bacteriological culture to determine precisely which pathogenic flora is the cause of the disease - it may not be sensitive to that or a different kind of antibiotics. After evaluating the results of the tests, the doctor will choose another treatment regimen for your baby.
Take action
The most important thing in the prevention of conjunctivitis is hygiene. Take care that the child always washed his hands with soap after every walk, accustom him to the idea that in no case should you touch the dirty hands of a person and especially - rub your eyes with anything other than a clean kerchief or paper napkin. Do not allow the child to use adult towels, be sure to give him a separate. Often ventilate and wash the nursery. Do not forget about the timely courses of vitamins: often conjunctivitis develops against a background of temporary or seasonal decrease in immunity. When visiting public pools, beware of getting chlorine in the eyes, let the child use special protective goggles for swimming. Do not allow him to swim in the reservoirs with contaminated water and do not set a bad example: the probability of catching infection in the water is very high. In most cases, conjunctivitis is caused by gono-, pneumo-, strepto- and staphylococci living in the water. If your child is still sick - you will have to postpone visiting a kindergarten or school, since the infection can easily be passed on to other children. The rest of the family must bury for the prophylaxis of Albucidum for 2-3 days so that the infection does not "go around" in a circle.