A two year old boy, Mast. Vedant*, came with complaints of redness, swelling and discharge from both eyes since one week. Before the redness, the child had a bout of upper respiratory tract infection for which he was under treatment. 

The boy had been put on antibiotic eye drops two times/day . However, it had been one week now and little Vedant had not found a complete relief in his symptoms.

Dr Prachi Agashe, a Pediatric Ophthalmologist at Advanced Eye Hospital examined Vedant and found that his eyelids had edema (swelling) in both the eyes. When the front part (called anterior segment) of his eye was examined, it revealed the presence of pseudomembrane (a false membrane that develops over the outer most layer of our eyes during anwith congestion and discharge. infection) and subconjunctival haemorrhage (bleeding below the conjunctiva or the outer most transparent layer of our eyes) along with congestion and discharge.

Conjunctiva is the transparent membrane that covers the outer surface of your eye along with the inside of your eyelids. Conjunctivitis (pink eye) is an inflammation (a reaction of your body to any condition that is marked by swelling, redness etc.) of this conjunctiva. Conjunctivitis may be caused by bacteria, viruses or allergies. About half of all pink eyes go away in 7 – 10 days. The other half of these cases if left untreated can go on to develop complications.

Vedant’s cornea (outer transparent dome of our eye) revealed presence of white spots called superficial punctate keratitis (inflammation of the cornea). Pre-auricular lymph nodes were also enlarged (lymph nodes in front of the ear often get swollen in infections). These findings led to the diagnosis of Viral Conjunctivitis.

Corneal Inflammation is a dangerous complication of Conjunctivitis. If not taken care of in time, this can even cause blindness.

 

Apart from continuing the child on antibiotic drops, the membrane was removed with the help of a bud which hastened the resolution of the lid edema. Also the child was given a tapering dose of low potency steroids for ten days which helped in clearing the cornea. The child became absolutely normal within two weeks.

About Advanced Eye Hospital and Institute:

Advanced Eye Hospital and Institute (AEHI) in Sanpada, is a friendly eye clinic for children in Navi Mumbai where pediatric ophthalmologist treat children with for all the eye diseases. At AEHI, every child goes through detailed eye check-up with utmost care. Eye doctors for children at AEHI examines children regularly and provide them customized care be it Conjunctivitis, Corneal Inflammation etc.