DD (4) has finished 5 days of drops but still clearly has conjunctivitis, any suggestions?

[pepperrabbit]

DD has had a really nasty, sudden onset conjunctivitis - came on in about an hour with the second eye fully red an hour after that .
The receptionist surgery sent us to the pharmacy and we've diligently completed the 5 days of chloramphenical drops, but while they are no longer the really aggressive red they were last wednesday they're still weeping green gunk with the inner corners of the eyes red. I've been bathing them clean with warm salty water.
And I've searched previous threads for this question but nothing quite matches
So I'm not sure if this means she has viral conjunctivitis or if perhaps the abx (otc from the pharmacy) aren't strong enough?
A proper docs visit or see if it runs it's course with just careful cleansing?

[Beatrixpotty]

Go to the GP.They can do a swab to confirm which bacteria is causing the infection,or if no bacteria are cultured,that is it viral.In the meantime whilst waiting for the swab results they can prescribe an alternative antibiotic.

[mumtosp]

Hi,

This is a home remedy that my mum used to use for me and my brother wherever we had conjunctivitis while growing up and it cured us within days... although I am not sure how easy it will be to try on a 4 yo...

-Basically you need to wash her eyes with tea water - that's it.
Just boil some tea leaves/tea bag in a cup of water, strain out the tea leaves / bag and let the tea water cool down to room temperature.

-Make your DD lie down on her back with her head supported with a
pillow so that it is slightly raised

-To wash the right eye, tilt DD's head slightly to the right, dip a piece of cotton in the tea water and then squeeze it into her eye so that it runs throught it - i.e. squeeze it into her eye at the inner corner and since her head is tilted to the right the tea water will run through her eye and come out the of the outer corner of her eye (I hope that makes sense)

• Repeat 2 or 3 times for each eye and use a separate piece of cotton for each eye to avoid the infection getting transferred
  

• You may want to put an old towel on the pillow as when the tea water run through the eye it can spill out on to the pillow and stain it
  

• Make sue the tea water has cooled down to room temperature before using it
  

• Do this 3-4 times a day and it should clear up her conjunctivitis.... something in the tea kills the bacteria
  

I know this sounds a bit crude and I can understand it you're apprehensive about trying it on your DD... :) But this is the only remedy that I have ever used whenever I had conjunctivitis ... never used any of those sticky drops..

HTH :)

[elfycat]

See the GP urgently. The swabs might take days to come back and it might be caused by a bacteria that needs a specific antibiotic. In the meantime it might settle down but with eyes I wouldn't wait.

[pepperrabbit]

Thank you ladies, she hasn't got any worse today so I'm going to try the tea trick (can't do any harm) and make an appt tomorrow.
When they swab, is it just the gunk in the corners/eyelashes or is it the eyeball? (yuck)

[elfycat]

They might make her look up and then swab under the bottom eyelid, never over the iris/pupil though.

[sheena82]

hi my dd age 7 has had very sore eyes for 2 weeks corners awfully dry n look green we have completed a week of drops with no success but was given epiderm cream to rub and its worked to my amazement eyes look so much better according to my gp theres alot of this around just now we r in scotland but maybe u should give it a go x