What is the reason for a child's sudden excessive eye mucus?

Eye mucus is a common secretion in the corners of the eyes and is a relatively normal physiological phenomenon. However, in daily life, many children will suddenly experience an increase in eye mucus. Faced with sudden changes, parents are still very worried, fearing that their children have some disease. So, what is the reason why children suddenly have a lot of eye mucus? Let’s take a closer look below.

Suspicious reason for baby's excessive eye mucus: conjunctival inflammation

After the baby is born, many parents are afraid that the child will catch a cold, so the room temperature at home is often high, and bacteria are easy to multiply. In addition, the newborn will unconsciously rub his eyes with his hands, which can easily lead to symptoms of conjunctivitis such as increased eye secretions and conjunctival congestion. If it is a serious bacterial infection, or a cold and fever occurs, symptoms such as increased secretions, increased tears, and congestion of the eyes will be more obvious, and may also cause redness and swelling of the eyelid skin.

The second suspicious reason for the baby's excessive eye mucus: neonatal dacryocystitis

Neonatal dacryocystitis is caused by blockage of the tear duct and nasolacrimal duct that excrete tears. Because the embryonic residual membrane at the lower end of the nasolacrimal duct has not degenerated, it blocks the lower end of the nasolacrimal duct, and tears and bacteria accumulate in the lacrimal sac under the skin at the inner corner of the eye, causing secondary infection. About 2%-4% of full-term newborns have this residual membrane, and most of them will shrink on their own within 4-6 weeks.

The third suspected reason for the baby's excessive eye mucus: gonococcal pyophthalmia

Gonococcal pyophthalmia is caused by gonococcal infection, with an incubation period of 2-4 days. It is often caused by mothers suffering from gonorrhea, and the newborn is infected when passing through the birth canal. Both eyes are affected at the same time, manifesting as acute purulent conjunctivitis. Usually the child's eyelids will be extremely red and swollen, almost unable to open, and a large amount of pus-like eye discharge will be produced continuously. If not treated properly, corneal ulcers may occur, leading to corneal perforation and even the risk of blindness.

Suspicious reason 4 for baby's excessive eye mucus: corneal ulcer

Corneal ulcers can also cause babies to have a lot of eye mucus, and their consequences may be the most serious. Corneal ulcers are mostly caused by accidental collision or when the baby unconsciously rubs his eyes with his hands, foreign objects, fingers or nails damage the corresponding part of the cornea, thereby becoming infected by bacteria. Babies who live in an unclean environment and have poor resistance are susceptible to this disease. Because of the pain, children often cry, are afraid of light and shed tears, are unwilling to open their eyes, have red eyeballs, and have secretions. Most parents cannot find the lesions, and even if they find small white spots on the black pupils of their children, they rarely realize the seriousness of the matter.

The above is an introduction to the reasons why children suddenly have excessive eye mucus. I hope it will be helpful to parents. There are many factors that may cause children to suddenly have a lot of eye mucus. In daily life, if similar situations are found, parents should actively look for the cause and then take targeted measures to treat it to avoid more serious consequences to the child's health.