Warning about using antibiotics to treat pink eye

SGGP 09/12/2023 06:54

Faced with the increasing number of pink eye cases, many people are reluctant to go to the hospital for examination and arbitrarily buy eye drops to treat the disease, causing many dangerous complications, affecting vision, and even causing drug resistance.

Through a survey of some private pharmacies in District 7 (HCMC), most of these pharmacies said that the number of people coming to buy eye drops and antibiotics to treat pink eye has increased. Some pharmacies do not have products to sell, especially for some types of eye drops containing the antibiotic tobramycyn. Meanwhile, physiological saline is mainly purchased for eye washing and disease prevention. Many pharmacies recommend that patients combine eye drops and antibiotics to quickly recover.

According to Dr. Tran Dinh Tung, Head of the Ophthalmology Department, Thong Nhat Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, pink eye is a disease that heals quickly, so buying eye drops or antibiotics to treat the disease on your own is unnecessary, causing economic waste. Using antibiotic drops for the eyes for a long time will cause eye fungus, taking antibiotics can easily lead to drug resistance. Currently, most cases of pink eye are caused by viruses. Of which, 2 types of viruses have recently been identified by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health as the main agents causing pink eye, including enterovirus and adenovirus.

Pink eye often appears with symptoms such as watery eyes, swollen eyelids, discharge, and grittiness. In addition, pink eye is easily spread by direct contact with eye secretions of infected people, or through the hands of infected people. The disease usually starts a few hours to a few days after contact with the source of the disease. It is easily spread, but most of the time the disease is quickly cured if the patient follows the instructions of an ophthalmologist.

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