Conjunctivitis is the inflammation of the conjunctiva – the thin, transparent tissue that lies over the white part of your eye. Conjunctivitis can be, non-infectious or infectious, acute, chronic or recurrent. Symptoms are often, redness in the white part of the eye (the conjunctiva) or inner eyelid, itching, increased light sensitivity, burning, blurred vision, excessively watery eyes, “gritty” eyes, and discharges from the eye. Anyone of any age, gender and socio-economic background can be affected.
The types of non-infectious conjunctivitis are allergic, mechanical/irritative/toxic (if something like a chemical or foreign body enters your eye), immune-related (skin and mucous related diseases), and neoplastic (various carcinoma & melanoma fit into this category).
The causes of infectious conjunctivitis include viruses and bacteria.
Ophthalmologists play a critical role in the diagnosis and management of Conjunctivitis because it has such a wide variety of causes. It is very important to assess if the cause of the Conjunctivitis involves the conjunctiva primarily or if the conjunctival inflammation is secondary to something else such as an ocular diseases.
Australian Eye Care’s Ophthalmologist, Dr Goodrich will conduct a thorough Ophthalmology consultation, assess your medical history to determine which category your symptoms fit into and devise a specific treatment and care plan based on your diagnosis. Depending on the outcomes of your consultation we may need to take samples for further diagnosis (biopsy’s, smears etc).