conjunctivitis

i'm on medical leave today...i woke up this morning feeling sticky right eye....with lots of eye discharge and difficult to open my right eye....i looked up in the mirror, oh no..!!a very inflammed conjunctiva...!!!

i called my specialist that i won't be able to work today and infect my patients with conjunctivitis..she gave me a medical leave today and if i'm still not well tomorrow, just inform her for another day of medical leave...

i'm not sure from where i got this infection...as far as i remebered, i haven't seen patients with red eyes for quite some time...none of my immediate families and friends contracted this disease before.....i hope that this disease will only confined to me as i don't want to infect others especially my dear daughter...

what to do when you have red eyes...?

• there are many causes of red eyes. if it is associated with itchiness, eye discharge and causes sticky eyes, most probably it is infective in origin
• beware if you have blurring of vision, headache, nausea or vomiting. these symptoms may indicate that your red eyes are non infective. seek immediate treatment at you doctor.
• always wash your hands after touching your eye and before you touch the other eye. this may prevent the infection to spread to the other eye.
• most of the infective red eyes are caused by virus. it may take about 5-7 days to subside. bacterial conjunctivitis associated with more purulent and copious eye discharge
• treatment is by topical eyedrop antibiotic not by oral medications
• quarantine yourself or your child. abstain your child from school or nursery and yourself from workplace as this condition is infective
• do not rub your eyes if it is itchy. you may ask your doctor for antihistamine