How to effectively treat conjunctivitis?

When conjunctivitis occurs, patients are advised to pay attention to the correct response and keep their eyes clean. In the early stages, cold compresses can be used to relieve the symptoms. Do not blindly use hormone eye drops. Also, avoid hot light, let your eyes rest more, and avoid excessive use of the eyes.

1. Keep your eyes clean. Since there is a lot of eye secretions when suffering from acute conjunctivitis, it cannot be treated solely with medication. It is important to take good care of your eyes and keep them clean at all times. Wash your eyes or bathe in them with normal saline or 3% boric acid solution, and then drop eye drops to fully exert their medicinal effects.

2. Apply cold compress in the initial stage and use hormonal eye drops with caution. When acute conjunctivitis first occurs, cold compresses should be applied to the eyes to help reduce swelling and redness. On the contrary, hot compresses will cause the eyeball to become congested, and the inflammation may spread and cause complications. When the inflammation is not under control, avoid using hormonal eye drops. Hormonal eye drops are contraindicated for viral conjunctivitis. Therefore, you should follow the advice of an ophthalmologist whether to use hormonal eye drops and never use them on your own.

3. Avoid light and heat, and use your eyes less. Patients with severe acute conjunctivitis are photophobic and tearful. To relieve discomfort, they should avoid stimulation of light and heat. Don't force yourself to read or watch TV. Wear sunglasses when you go out to avoid stimulation from the sun, wind, dust, etc. In order to allow eye secretions to drain smoothly, lower the local temperature and prevent the reproduction and growth of bacteria, the eyes should not be bandaged or covered with eye patches.

4. Use antibiotic eye drops. Antibiotics are more effective for bacterial conjunctivitis. Although they are ineffective against viral conjunctivitis, they can prevent bacterial infection. Commonly used are 0.25% chloramphenicol eye drops and erythromycin or tetracycline eye ointment. Viral conjunctivitis can also be treated with guanidine hydrochloride eye drops, cyclocytidine or iodine eye drops, and various antiviral Chinese medicine eye drops.

5. Treatments for conjunctivitis include taking medication as directed by your doctor. Eye drops are generally applied every 1-2 hours, 1-2 drops in each eye each time. Because the effect of eye drops generally lasts for 30 minutes, it is not appropriate to apply the drops too frequently or too sparsely. Applying eye ointment before going to bed can also prevent conjunctival secretions from sticking to the conjunctival sac. Whether eye drops or eye ointments, they should be used by one person only to avoid cross infection or spread of eye diseases.