Can keratitis in children be cured? How to prevent it?

Keratitis is mostly caused by bacterial infection. Children do not pay attention to their eyes in daily use and often like to rub their eyes with dirty hands, which directly damages the cornea and also brings bacteria into the eyes, causing swelling. Keratitis is also contagious to a certain extent, so if someone around a child has keratitis, he or she can easily be infected. Children's keratitis should be treated promptly to prevent worsening.

1. Causes of keratitis in children

Keratitis is a serious eye disease and one of the leading causes of blindness. There are many causes of the disease. Trauma, other eye or systemic infectious diseases may lead to corneal infection. The pathogens that cause corneal infection may be bacteria, fungi or viruses. Some cases are caused by allergic reactions, so it is necessary to distinguish the causes and treat them accordingly. 1. External factors: Most corneal infections caused by external factors must meet two conditions:

(1) Damage and shedding of corneal epithelial cells.

(2)(2) Simultaneous infection.

Infectious corneal ulcers are likely to occur only when both of these conditions are met.

2. Symptoms of keratitis in children

For children suffering from keratitis, since the corneal epithelium contains abundant sensory nerve endings, they are particularly sensitive to symptoms. Pain, strong foreign body sensation, fear of bright light, tearing and inability to open the eyes are common presenting symptoms. Sometimes children will also feel that their vision has deteriorated and they cannot see things clearly.

Generally speaking, keratitis is often accompanied by many other symptoms, such as congestion, redness, and edema around the cornea. The most serious sequelae are corneal ulcers and corneal perforations, which allow microorganisms to invade the eye, causing endophthalmitis and blindness. Therefore, parents of children with the disease have to be careful.

3. Prevention of keratitis in children

1. Cultivate good personal hygiene habits in children, pay attention to cleanliness at all times, wash hands with soap before and after meals, and keep them dry.

2. Avoid rubbing your eyes with your hands. If necessary, you can gently rub your eyes with a clean tissue or cotton.

3. During an epidemic, try to avoid taking children to crowded public places.

4. During the epidemic period, you should try to avoid swimming in public swimming pools. If you want to go swimming, you should also bring goggles and a swimming cap, and use eye drops in time after swimming.

5. Avoid taking children to the hospital to visit patients or having contact with patients.

6. Prevent children from coming into contact with public towels, soaps, bedding, door handles, faucets, etc., and clean their hands promptly after contact.

6. After the child recovers, the quilts and towels used by the child should be cleaned, disinfected, and exposed to the sun to completely kill bacteria and prevent reinfection.

7. To prevent keratitis, eat more foods containing vitamin A, which is good for the eyes. You should also eat more foods containing vitamin C, because vitamin C is one of the components of the lens of the eye. If you lack vitamin C, you are prone to cataracts, which is a disease in which the lens becomes cloudy. Among them, cucumber, cauliflower, pakchoy, fresh dates, raw pears, and oranges have the highest content.