An eye with viral conjunctivitis
Find information on thousands of medical conditions and prescription drugs.

Conjunctivitis

Conjunctivitis (commonly called "pinkeye") is an inflammation of the conjunctiva (the outermost layer of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids), often due to infection. There are three common varieties of conjunctivitis, viral, allergic, and bacterial. Other causes of conjunctivitis include thermal and ultraviolet burns, chemicals, toxins, overuse of contact lenses, foreign bodies, vitamin deficiency, dry eye, dryness due to inadequate lid closure, exposure to chickens infected with Newcastle disease, epithelial dysplasia (pre-cancerous changes), and some conditions of unknown cause such as sarcoidosis. more...

Home
Diseases
A
B
C
Angioedema
C syndrome
Cacophobia
Café au lait spot
Calcinosis cutis
Calculi
Campylobacter
Canavan leukodystrophy
Cancer
Candidiasis
Canga's bead symptom
Canine distemper
Carcinoid syndrome
Carcinoma, squamous cell
Carcinophobia
Cardiac arrest
Cardiofaciocutaneous...
Cardiomyopathy
Cardiophobia
Cardiospasm
Carnitine transporter...
Carnitine-acylcarnitine...
Caroli disease
Carotenemia
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Carpenter syndrome
Cartilage-hair hypoplasia
Castleman's disease
Cat-scratch disease
CATCH 22 syndrome
Causalgia
Cayler syndrome
CCHS
CDG syndrome
CDG syndrome type 1A
Celiac sprue
Cenani Lenz syndactylism
Ceramidase deficiency
Cerebellar ataxia
Cerebellar hypoplasia
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy
Cerebral aneurysm
Cerebral cavernous...
Cerebral gigantism
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral thrombosis
Ceroid lipofuscinois,...
Cervical cancer
Chagas disease
Chalazion
Chancroid
Charcot disease
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
CHARGE Association
Chediak-Higashi syndrome
Chemodectoma
Cherubism
Chickenpox
Chikungunya
Childhood disintegrative...
Chionophobia
Chlamydia
Chlamydia trachomatis
Cholangiocarcinoma
Cholecystitis
Cholelithiasis
Cholera
Cholestasis
Cholesterol pneumonia
Chondrocalcinosis
Chondrodystrophy
Chondromalacia
Chondrosarcoma
Chorea (disease)
Chorea acanthocytosis
Choriocarcinoma
Chorioretinitis
Choroid plexus cyst
Christmas disease
Chromhidrosis
Chromophobia
Chromosome 15q, partial...
Chromosome 15q, trisomy
Chromosome 22,...
Chronic fatigue immune...
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic granulomatous...
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Chronic myelogenous leukemia
Chronic obstructive...
Chronic renal failure
Churg-Strauss syndrome
Ciguatera fish poisoning
Cinchonism
Citrullinemia
Cleft lip
Cleft palate
Climacophobia
Clinophobia
Cloacal exstrophy
Clubfoot
Cluster headache
Coccidioidomycosis
Cockayne's syndrome
Coffin-Lowry syndrome
Colitis
Color blindness
Colorado tick fever
Combined hyperlipidemia,...
Common cold
Common variable...
Compartment syndrome
Conductive hearing loss
Condyloma
Condyloma acuminatum
Cone dystrophy
Congenital adrenal...
Congenital afibrinogenemia
Congenital diaphragmatic...
Congenital erythropoietic...
Congenital facial diplegia
Congenital hypothyroidism
Congenital ichthyosis
Congenital syphilis
Congenital toxoplasmosis
Congestive heart disease
Conjunctivitis
Conn's syndrome
Constitutional growth delay
Conversion disorder
Coprophobia
Coproporhyria
Cor pulmonale
Cor triatriatum
Cornelia de Lange syndrome
Coronary heart disease
Cortical dysplasia
Corticobasal degeneration
Costello syndrome
Costochondritis
Cowpox
Craniodiaphyseal dysplasia
Craniofacial dysostosis
Craniostenosis
Craniosynostosis
CREST syndrome
Cretinism
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Cri du chat
Cri du chat
Crohn's disease
Croup
Crouzon syndrome
Crouzonodermoskeletal...
Crow-Fukase syndrome
Cryoglobulinemia
Cryophobia
Cryptococcosis
Crystallophobia
Cushing's syndrome
Cutaneous larva migrans
Cutis verticis gyrata
Cyclic neutropenia
Cyclic vomiting syndrome
Cystic fibrosis
Cystinosis
Cystinuria
Cytomegalovirus
Dilated cardiomyopathy
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Restrictive cardiomyopathy
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Medicines

Blepharoconjunctivitis is the combination of conjunctivitis with blepharitis.
Keratoconjunctivitis is the combination of conjunctivitis and keratitis.

Epidemiology

Viral conjunctivitis is spread by aerosol or contact of a variety of contagious viruses, including many that cause the common cold, so that it is often associated with upper respiratory tract symptoms. Clusters of cases have been due to transfer on ophthalmic instruments which make contact with the eye (e.g., tonometers) and have not been adequately sterilised.

Allergic conjunctivitis occurs more frequently among those with allergic conditions, with the symptoms having a seasonal correlation. It can also be caused by allergies to substances such as cosmetics, perfume, protein deposits on contact lenses, or drugs. It usually affects both eyes, and is accompanied by swollen eyelids.

Bacterial conjunctivitis is most often caused by pyogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus or Streptococcus from the patient's own skin or respiratory flora. Others are due to infection from the environment (eg insect bourne), from other people (usually by touch- especially in children), but occasionally via eye makeup or facial lotions. An example of this is conjunctivitis due the the bacteria Haemophilus influenzae biogroup aegyptius.

Irritant, toxic, thermal and chemical conjunctivitis are associated with exposure to the specific agents, such as flame burns, irritant plant saps, irritant gases (e.g., chlorine or hydrochloric acid ('pool acid') fumes), natural toxins (e.g., ricin picked up by handling castor oil bean necklaces), or splash injury from an enormous variety of industrial chemicals, the most dangerous being strongly alkaline materials.

Xerophthalmia is a term that usually implies a destructive dryness of the conjunctival epithelium due to dietary vitamin A deficiency—a condition virtually forgotten in developed countries, but still causing much damage in developing countries. Other forms of dry eye are associated with aging, poor lid closure, scarring from previous injury, or autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, and these can all cause chronic conjunctivitis.

Diagnosis

Symptoms

Redness, irritation and watering of the eyes are symptoms common to all forms of conjunctivitis. Itch is variable.

Acute allergic conjunctivitis is typically itchy, sometimes distressingly so, and the patient often complains of some lid swelling. Chronic allergy often causes just itch or irritation, and often much frustration because the absence of redness or discharge leads to accusations of hypochondria.

Read more at Wikipedia.org


[List your site here Free!]


Conjunctivitis no need for antibiotics
From Healthfacts, 7/1/05

Children with conjunctivitis, also known as pinkeye, are typically given antibiotic eyedrops. The practice should be stopped, according to the authors of a new study of 326 British children, aged six months to twelve years.

The children with conjunctivitis, an inflammation of the mucous membrane that covers the surface of the eyeball, were randomly assigned to be treated with antibiotic eyedrops called chloramphenicol or placebo eyedrops. Although 80% of the children had bacterial conjunctivitis, which would indicate that antibiotics eyedrops are appropriate, the study's results did not favor the drug treatment.

The children given antibiotic eyedrops did not have fewer adverse effects than the others, nor were they less likely to experience a recurrence. Approximately the same percentage of children got better in seven days (84%) whether they were given antibiotic eyedrops or not. The children given chloramphenicol eyedrops had a slightly shorter duration (eight hours) of eye symptoms. One child in the group taking antibiotics, however, suffered a drug-related side effect--swollen eyelids and face. At the sixweek followup after diagnosis, relapse and complications were rare, even among the untreated children in the placebo group

This study, led by Peter W. Rose, M.D., of the University of Oxford, England, and colleagues, was reported online in the British journal, The Lancet. It is the first trial of its kind to be conducted in the primary care setting where chloramphenicol eyedrops are the standard treatment for conjunctivitis in children living in the U.K. American children, on the other hand, are more likely to receive another antibiotic, either erythromycin ophthalmic ointment or sulfa ophthalmic eyedrops.

Dr. Rose and colleagues concluded that conjunctivitis is a self-limiting condition, which means that it will clear up on its own. Consequently, antibiotic treatment is unnecessary. They suggest that doctors advise parents to keep the affected eye clean and to come in if the child develops unusual symptoms or if the symptoms persist for more than a week.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Center for Medical Consumers, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

Return to Conjunctivitis
Home Contact Resources Exchange Links ebay