Patient's question:
My baby just turned 12 days old this year, but his eyes always have a lot of eye discharge. Is that a problem?Doctor's answer:
If a child has more eye discharge in both eyes, consider the following three situations:First, if the child was born naturally, it may be congenital inclusion conjunctivitis, which is caused by Chlamydia trachomatis infection. It can be treated with rifampicin eye drops during passage through the birth canal.
Second, if the mother has a history of gonorrhea, be alert to gonococcal conjunctivitis. It can be treated with ciprofloxacin eye drops or norfloxacin eye drops, but more frequent application is required. If necessary, the mother must be treated. However, this type of conjunctivitis produces purulent discharge, and diagnosis can be made by identifying Neisseria gonorrhoeae in the eye secretions.
Third, if the child was delivered via cesarean section, it should be considered due to intrauterine infection, although this is rarely the case. If only one eye is tearing and eye drops are being applied, consider dacryocystitis or lacrimal duct obstruction.