No infection of any kind is good, but eye infections are especially scary. After all, one of our most important senses is sight. When you have something going on with your eyes, you want to get it taken care of sooner than later, especially when it hits the point of affecting vision. There are also several issues that do not really pose long-term threats, but you never want to leave anything wrong with your body (and especially your eyes) untreated. That’s why consulting a great Buda optometrist can be a good idea.

Generally speaking, most any infection of the eye is an invasion of a fungus, a virus, or bacteria. It can affect the actual eyeball itself or just the surrounding area (including the cornea and the inner eyelids).

The best way to fight an eye infection is to know how to keep from getting one! It isn’t always going to be 100% bulletproof, though, as many factors go into actually getting one of many eye infections. First, you want to make sure you avoid contact with your eye if you’re around someone that has a red eye. It’s possible just from touching with your hands that you have the bacteria on you, so make sure you wash your hands thoroughly and treat it the same way you’d treat being around someone with a cold. This is especially important if you’re going to be handling contact lenses. If the person lives with you, make sure all bedding, towels, fabrics, and any other items stay clean and unshared. They also need to wash their hands often to keep from spreading the germs. Sleeping in contacts, no matter what they’re made of or approved for, increases your chance of an eye infection.

So let’s say you followed all of the above, and yet you STILL ended up with an eye infection. What now?

Let’s make sure you have an eye infection first. You should have one or multiple of the below symptoms:

• Pinkish/reddish tinted eyes
• Discomfort
• Gunk/discharge
• Dry or overly saturated
• Sensitive to light
• Swelling at or around your eyes
• Blurred vision
• Itchiness

No matter what you have or what you believe you have, it should never take the place of having a professional eye exam done from your eye doctor. Self-diagnosis can sometimes be very detrimental to your eyes if you’re wrong. Never gamble with your vision.

It’s a good rule to follow that if you wear contacts, you should stick to glasses until any/all infections clear. Otherwise, you might be prolonging the healing process and keeping the infection alive. Once you visit your eye doctor, they will take a sample from the infected area to determine what’s causing your eyes to be infected. Depending on the nature of the issue, you’ll need various treatments and/or medicine to combat the problem.

The main thing to keep in mind with eye infections is that, left untreated, they can cause massive damage, up to permanent vision loss. Imagine having to go the rest of your life without being able to see due to the fact that you didn’t want to go to the doctor.

Never take your vision for granted. If you feel like you have an eye infection, please make an appointment with your local eye care doctor immediately.