Do not buy medicine or steam leaves to treat pink eye yourself.

According to MSc.-MD Phung Thi Thuy Hang, Deputy Head of the Ophthalmology Department, Bach Mai Hospital (Hanoi), acute conjunctivitis (also known as pink eye) is quite benign and rarely leaves sequelae, but the disease is very contagious in crowded places such as schools, hospitals, offices, swimming pools, etc. and can become major epidemics.

Không tự mua thuốc, xông lá điều trị đau mắt đỏ - Ảnh 1.

After an incubation period of 2-3 days (from the time of contact with the source of infection), symptoms of itchy eyes, redness, glare, photophobia, watery eyes and a lot of discharge will appear. When waking up in the morning, the patient has a lot of discharge, causing the eyelids to stick together, making it difficult to open the eyes. The discharge also makes it difficult for the patient to see, but vision is usually not reduced. At first, only one eye is affected, after a few days it appears in the other eye. The next symptoms are red and swollen eyelids, conjunctival congestion, edema, a lot of discharge on the eyelid margin and conjunctival surface, in some cases there may be hemorrhage (bleeding) under the conjunctiva.

If the cause of the disease is bacteria (streptococcus, pneumococcus, diphtheria, etc.), the conjunctiva of the eyelids is often covered by a pseudomembrane. Severe cases can cause corneal damage such as superficial punctate keratitis, punctate keratitis, causing the cornea to become opaque, then vision is greatly reduced and persists for months.

P DISEASE PREVENTION

To prevent the spread of pink eye, people with conjunctivitis should stay home from school or work, avoid crowded places to avoid infecting others; use personal items, do not rub your eyes; wash your hands before and after applying medication.

When using shared objects, wash your hands with soap first. After recovering from an illness, clean your eyeglasses with soap to avoid reinfection. Do not use one bottle of eye drops for multiple people. Do not use homemade saline solution for eye drops because it is not sterile. The salt concentration and pH are not suitable for the eyes. In addition, homemade saline solution often contains impurities that are harmful to the eyes. Do not throw away cotton swabs after using them to wash your eyes. Regularly wash your face towels with soap and dry them in the sun. Clinics need to clean hands and sterilize tools properly.

(Source: Department of Ophthalmology, Bach Mai Hospital)

Dr. Phung Thi Thuy Hang noted that if the cause is adenovirus, the patient may have a mild fever, runny nose, swollen lymph nodes in front of the ear or jaw angle, sore throat, and swollen tonsils. With allergic conjunctivitis, the patient comes into contact with the allergen, leading to rapid redness and severe itching of both eyes, causing the patient to rub their eyes, causing secondary infection.

Pink eye has many different causes, so people with pink eye need to go to ophthalmology facilities for examination to be diagnosed and advised on appropriate treatment methods. People with pink eye need to be treated according to the instructions of an ophthalmologist. Do not arbitrarily buy eye drops to avoid causing some dangerous complications.

In particular, do not use herbal medicine to apply or steam your eyes because it can cause other eye injuries such as burns from heat or essential oils. Some fungi and bacteria in the leaves can penetrate through corneal scratches, causing a very dangerous disease called corneal ulcers. At that time, treatment will be extremely difficult and costly, and the consequences will be corneal scarring, causing permanent blurred vision. In some severe cases, the eye must be removed.

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