Symptoms of trachoma

Many elderly people suffer from diseases such as trachoma, which is a chronic infectious conjunctivitis and keratitis. You should know that the eyes are the windows to the soul. If there is a problem with this window, it can lead to blindness in severe cases. In fact, many people recognize this, but because they may have used the wrong treatment methods or used the wrong medicines in the early stages, it is very likely to lead to the worsening of the disease. In mild cases, this disease may cause blurred vision and make it difficult to see clearly, but the consequences are more serious.

For our own health and the windows of our soul, we should also pay attention to the use of our eyes in our daily lives. Many office white-collar workers face computers all day and use their eyes for a long time, which not only causes eyestrain but also causes other discomfort symptoms. So we should relax our eyes more, look at green plants, and walk around.

Trachoma is a chronic infectious conjunctivitis and keratitis caused by Chlamydia trachomatis. It is named trachoma because it forms a rough and uneven appearance on the surface of the conjunctiva, which resembles sand grains. In the early stage of the disease, there are infiltrations in the conjunctiva, such as hyperplasia of papillae and follicles, and corneal pannus occurs at the same time. In the late stage, scarring occurs on the affected conjunctiva, resulting in entropion deformity of the eyelid, aggravating the damage to the cornea, which can seriously affect vision and even cause blindness.

The incubation period is 5 to 14 days. Both eyes are affected, mostly occurring in children or adolescents. Mild trachoma may have no symptoms at all or only slight itching, foreign body sensation and a small amount of secretion. Severe cases may have sequelae and complications involving the cornea, with irritation symptoms such as photophobia, tearing, pain, and conscious vision loss.

Chlamydia trachomatis primarily invades the conjunctiva of the eyelid, eventually resulting in scarring, which is characterized by the following on examination:

1. Blurred blood and blood vessels: Due to vascular dilation, there is diffuse infiltration of chronic inflammatory cells such as lymphocytes and plasma cells under the conjunctival epithelium, making the transparent conjunctiva turbid and thickened, with unclear blood vessel outlines and a blurred and congested appearance.

2. Papillary hypertrophy: The surface of the conjunctiva is rough and uneven, showing countless velvety dots, which are formed by the dilated capillary network and epithelial proliferation.

3. Filter hyperplasia: It is formed by the aggregation of localized lymphocytes on the basis of diffuse infiltration of the subepithelial tissue of the conjunctiva. When it first occurs, scattered and delicate yellow-white dots appear on the upper eyelid conjunctiva, which do not protrude from the conjunctival surface and are sandwiched between the hypertrophic papillae. It is one of the bases for early diagnosis of trachoma.

4. Corneal pannus: When the conjunctiva is diseased, the vascular network in the gray-white semi-lunar area at the upper edge of the cornea becomes congested and new blood vessels are generated, extending into the transparent corneal epithelium and the anterior elastic layer. There are gray-white punctate infiltrations between the new blood vessels. This is a tissue reaction of the corneal epithelium to Chlamydia trachomatis, called corneal pannus. It is one of the bases for early diagnosis of trachoma. As the disease progresses, the pannus hang down toward the pupil area in rows, resembling curtains. When the upper pannus moves downward over the pupil area, pannus also grow in other directions of the cornea toward the center, covering the entire cornea. When the cell infiltration is severe, a thick, fleshy pannus (pannus crassus) may form, seriously affecting vision.

No one wants to have any problems with their eyes, so we should take better care of our eyes. Don’t wait until we really get a disease and then sigh how wonderful our life used to be. By then it will be too late. There is no regret medicine in the world, so everything depends on yourself. No matter what, you must treat your body well and do a good job of daily protection.