earlier today dh appeared with huge swollen bags under his eyes

[SlartyBartFast]

he looked terrible
i sent him to chemist who gave him chloramphenicol eye drops for conjunctivitis.
have googled in vain about these so now hope MN can help,
are eye drops the best treatment?

yeah, i think cholaramphenicol drops are the first port of call for conjunctivitis. you can also get a sort of ointment but it's much trickier to get into the eye imo.

Depends on what he's got.

Most conjunctivitis is viral rather than baterical so cholampheniciol won't be any use. And a GP won't be able to tell whether it's one or t'other. So as long as it's not frequent, I guess there's no harm.

However, i'd alwasy thought conjunctitis was sore eyes with gooey stuff, rather than bags.

so you reckon it is conjucntivitis.. swollen under his eyes.
would make sense i spose as i had it 10 days ago

i'd boil some water now too and put it in a clean (preferably sterile) container with a lid as he might need some boiled and cooled water to clean around his eye with in the morning.

use a tissue or cotton pad for one eye only.

oops, cross posts.
exactly mary...

any idea on the bags anyone?

Sorry apols for crap typing. You get the gist...

i do

DH had it once where it started with massive swollen eyelids. the goo came later.

nevergoogle,are you suggesting he put his eye in the sterile container?
seems a bit drastic?

yes, i dont think he would agree to that..

haha, yes, that's what we do, just leave our eyeballs to soak overnight. usually does the trick.

it explains a lot..

shouldn't you be in bed?

I should but I won't have much competition tomorrow,cycling with someoneweho is very slow,and who likes to stop for scones.

Firstly, because it's worth correcting, mots of the data available points to bacterial conjunctivitis to being more common than viral.
This varies between geographic locations but in general.

More to the point, this doesn't sound especially like viral or bacterial.

Without more of a history and a clinical assessment it would be unwise to go to far down a diagnosis path but it sounds more like conjunctival chemosis caused by a allergic hypersensitivity.

But you should go to an optician to confirm and they can advise you on the best over the counter treatment or get the correct medication prescribed if required.

In the meantime, cold compresses will make your dh more comfortable, regardless of the condition.

oh thanks for further advice dbennett.

conjunctival chemosis?

btw, swellings seem to have gone down today but

That would more fit an allergic cause as well, he's not been re-exposed to the antigen.

My DD's eyes do this when she eats egg, which she is allergic to.

i read that too brightlight, only they called it haemorrhoid cream i unfortunately dont have any in the house, nor am i going to buy some for dh's eyes

plenty of cold tea bags though...

Sorry, missed your need for claification.

Conjunctiva, the tissue around the eyes which suffers from conjunctivitis.

Chemosis is swelling due to fluid build up.