Conjunctivitus

[Vics128]

Hi there wondered if any one could help.
On Tuesday I took my 2 year old to the sand pit where he had a lovely time playing. now this may be irrelevent, but when he woke from his afternoon nap, his eye was very red and a sore looking. He said he had sand in it, so I slooshed it with water. He didnt seem worried by it at all. about half an hour later green mucus started oozing from the corner. Because of the risk of sand in it the doctor refered him to the eye hospital. we got there about an hour after the first sign of mucus and by this point his eye was covered in green mucus. they checked him out and said no sign of scratches or sand and put him on antibiotic drops.
Sorry its a long one!! well the next day, the whole eye socket was swollen, bruised looking and weeping water constantly, with green in the corner. I rang the eye hosp, and they wanted to see him again, but when they did they said it was def conjunctivitus.
It is now friday (4days of antibiotics) and it looks no better and he is compaining that it hurts. they said to leave it a week, but shouldnt I expect some improvement? I dont want to seem like a paranoid parent, but weve had wrong diagnoses from hospitals before!!! Does any one have any experiance of conjunctivitus, can it really be this bad...?!

[melons]

i havent heard of it getting that bad, however it could be that the infection is fairly bad and that the antibiotics are not quite strong enough. If you dont feel happy with what you have been told though, How about going back to your GP and and explaining your worries to them and see if maybe they could get you a second opinion!
Hope it turns out ok and the eye gets better!
x

[alijangra]

In short, yes it can be that bad. I would however, be expecting improvement after 4 days. I assume it has not got any worse in that 4 days? If so, that is a good sign but as melons suggests, you may require stronger or a different kind of eyedrops. Don't hesitate to seek medical advice over the weekend if there is no further improvement.

[joannie10]

have you been bathing it too - sorry just realised this was quite a few days ago but may help someone else in future. I know my sister had to wipe my nephews eye with cooled boiled water. Use a new piece of cotton wool every wipe - must never touch twice with same bit. Problem is it is so contageous it is so easy to reinfect especially with children touching it so try as hard as you can not to get them to touch - any sign of touching hands must be given a good wash, pillows washed daily etc or really can run on for a while.
hope everything is ok now.