Eye infections are caused when fungi, bacteria, and viruses invade our eyes. It is fairly easy to treat most eye infections, but they can be painful and cause redness, discharge, and increased sensitivity to light. At Fanyval Visions here in Lagos State, we have a specialized range of eye drops that treat most eye infections. But you can also take steps to prevent eye infections by adhering to certain lifestyle habits.
Before we examine the types of top-tier eye drops and eye care solutions we have at Fanyval Visions, let us consider some important ways you can prevent eye infections and related vision complications.
1. Wash your hands frequently
Considering the fact that safety and health protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic mandated frequent washing of hands, you must continue the practice to prevent introducing contaminations into your eyes. When you frequently wash your hands with soap and water, it reduces the chances of having bacteria on your hands and subsequent infections in your eyes.
The most effective way to wash your hands is to lather them with soap over running water. You must then scrub your palms, fingers, and backs of your hands thoroughly for up to 20-60 seconds. This will kill off all germs on your hands, including the coronavirus infection.
2. Limit excessive rubbing or touching of your eyes
It is true that we all rub or touch our eyes automatically and instinctively, it is best to limit this habit if we are to enjoy good eyesight. We often rub our eyes or face when they feel itchy, but harmful bacteria can be introduced into the eyes that way. So it is advisable to reduce, or better still, avoid touching our face and eyes at the slightest whim.
3. Do not share personal cosmetics
You may not know this, but cosmetics and other personal care accessories are a rich haven for germs to infest. You must never share your eye drops, makeup, and other personal care kits with your friends and members of your household. This is to prevent you from contracting eye infections from other people and also prevent you from infecting others.
If you have any eye infections, it is a good idea to get rid of your makeup kits so that you don’t end up re-infecting others.
4. Keep your contact lens under hygienic conditions
Contact lenses are worn over the cornea to correct vision or deliver medication, but they can also cause eye problems if care is not taken. Except your contact lenses are maintained under strict hygienic conditions, they may raise the risks of eye infections and serious vision complications. So you must follow the doctor’s advice on maintaining your contact lenses.
This includes putting them on and removing them before sleeping or before eye checkups. In fact, ophthalmologists recommend that contact lenses be removed every night before sleep to reduce the risks of microbial infections and corneal damage. It is also best to not swim with your lenses so as to prevent infections.
5. Do not use other people’s towels
Numerous germs often lurk in our towels and undies without our knowledge. People use their towels to clean their genitals, armpits, and face after baths, unwittingly transferring germs to the cloth without knowing. So you can develop eye infections and other skin conditions by using people’s towels.
Remember that when people clean their genitals with their towels, they also clean their faces and even eyes with the same towel. So it is best to avoid sharing towels and other private clothing with others to prevent the spread of infections in your eyes, skin, and other body areas. And make sure you always wash your towel in hot water and soap to kill off germs.
6. Watch out for conjunctivitis among children
Conjunctivitis or pink eye tends to spread more among children than among adults. So if your child reports that a pupil in her classroom has pink eye or inflamed red eyes, you might want to investigate further to prevent your child from contracting the disease. The infection tends to spread when healthy persons get in close contact with an infected person, or by looking directly into the eyes of the infected person for extended periods of time.
So if there is an outbreak of conjunctivitis in your child’s school, let her stay at home until the infected persons are treated. If there is also an infected person in your community, you must stay away from the individual or wear protective eyeglasses to prevent contracting the disease. So be on the watch out for conjunctivitis in your community, children’s school, and daycare facilities, and even at your workplace.
7. Eliminate pests around your home
Pests are known to carry and transmit diseases to people and animals. Pests and flying insects around our homes must be eliminated to prevent the spread of infections and outbreaks of diseases. Flies are known to spread trachoma – a chronic and contagious disease that is marked by the inflammation of the conjunctiva and cornea. Trachoma also causes tissue scars in the inner eyelid, and this may cause blindness in severe cases.
Use insecticides to keep flying insects away from your home, and maintain good environmental sanitation to keep pests and diseases away.
8. Avoid injuries to your eyes
You must avoid injuries to your eyes if you want to enjoy a lifetime of perfect eyesight. When going to farms or hunting in the forest, you must avoid tree branches and anything that can cause injury to your eyes. You must also avoid staying for extended periods of time in a dusty environment such as where road construction is ongoing. Some pesticides and insecticides can also affect your eyes if you are allergic to them.
Pollen grains, dust, dirty water, wildfire smoke, fumigating fumes, and anything that can cause allergy to your eyes must be avoided at all costs.
9. Do not touch the dropper tip of your eye-drops
This cannot be emphasized enough; touching the dropper tip of your eye-drop medication is a no-no. When you intentionally or mistakenly touch the tip of your eye-drop bottle during use, you may contaminate the tip and unwittingly introduce harmful bacteria into your eyes. So ensure that you always wash your hands before using your eye-drop and be sure to not touch the dropper tip.
10. Contact Fanyval Vision for all eye problems
Having established that most eye infections can be treated with prescription eye drops, you must contact Fanyval Visions for help if you experience any eye problems. If you have glaucoma, trachoma, conjunctivitis, cataract, red and itchy eyes, or any other forms of eye complications, visit Fanyval Visions for help, and our licensed ophthalmologists will be happy to help.
Some of the world-accredited eye-drop medications at Fanyval include Fanymox, Cypmal, Crysoptic, Relipen, Lexval, Ciproptic, Vatrop, and Timomed.