Untitled

Hello. My name is Jenna. I'm a nurse practitioner student.

And today we're gonna learn about conjunctivitis.

You can think of this presentation

as a learning tool to learn more about conjunctivitis,

the symptoms of conjunctivitis and then also the management and everything

that patients should know about when they do have conjunctivitis.

So let's get into the presentation.

So what is conjunctivitis?

Conjunctivitis is the inflammation of the ball bar or palpable conjunctivitis.

Not many people know what that means.

So in simpler terms it is the whites of the eyes and the inner surface of the eyelids.

Infectious causes can be viral or bacterial.

Non infectious causes are usually um is usually allergic and viral

conjunctivitis is the most common up to 70% of cases.

Um It's important to know that bacterial conjunctivitis

is more common in our pediatric population.

What is the clinical manifestations? So for viral conjunctivitis itis.

Um We usually see a viral program meaning that there are some viral symptoms prior

to

contracting the

contracting the conjunctivitis.

So people usually have the nose, they may have a fever,

cough um And then with the conjunctivitis clc

watery mucous serous discharge kind of more clear,

thinner running or discharge.

Um

And then also they may endorse burning or a gritty sensation in the eye.

This is often most often prisons bilaterally in both eyes.

Next is bacterial um

bacterial,

it is usually unilateral redness and discharge

discharge although it can be bilateral.

That's also really important to know.

Um discharge is more pure opulent, Less watery than has seen with viral.

And there there are a couple of different positive pathogens um As you can see below

and then allergic conjunctivitis typically happens in people that have hay fever.

Um So the patient may present with other symptoms of hay

fever such as sneezing um runny nose post nasal drip.

And um

it's presenting usually with watery discharge,

bilateral eye redness and the most defining um factor

of allergic conjunctivitis is that there's it's very itchy.

So um

you can look for other symptoms such as allergic trainers.

So that's kind of like the darkness

that people get around their eyes from rubbing their eyes frequently.

Also the nasal salute which is a crease along the nasal bridge.

Um that is indicative that a patient has

been kind of rubbing out their nose frequently.

So this is most often caused by an I. G. Mediated hypersensitivity reaction

to a specific allergen.

So diagnosis is actually strictly based on clinical manifestations.

So it's really important that you're aware of the

different symptoms that differentiate each diagnosis from one another.

Also important to consider

asking

um these questions such as history of a recent illness,

our history of recent injury to the eye and then also

any contact lenses because that can dramatically change the course of treatment

and then also um like we discussed before history of hay fever or in music contacts

and as you can see here you can look at kind

of what the normal eye looks like and then there's um different

comparisons to what bacterial viral and allergic conjunctivitis

appears.

Some management

management of viral conjunctivitis is self limiting

unless it's caused by a virus,

a disaster acute versatile disaster infection or herpes simplex virus

in which you need to treat those viruses accordingly.

Um But otherwise it's usually um

self limiting. There's not any antibiotics that will make it feel better.

And people usually utilize home care tips um Such as warm compresses for the eyes

for allergic conjunctivitis.

Um You can utilize his anti histamine or

decongestant drops to help with the symptoms.

Um You can also utilize some of the home care tips as well for this condition.

And then also if you have other symptoms of

hay fever if you take a systemic anti histamine

it significantly helps with

the local effects on the eye as well.

And then for bacterial conjunctivitis.

Often times it can be self limiting meaning that it'll go away on its own.

But most people want to shorten the course of the illness.

And so they will they will request the topical antibiotic.

Okay

so red flags signs to watch out for and this is really important for our patients to

know and they need to seek emergent care

with an ophthalmologist or if that's not possible then

straight to the E. D. Where there can refer you out

so you want to look out for i tenderness.

Um Any vision changes sensitivity to light or difficulty keeping the eye open.

Um

severe headaches with nausea

and then also recent trauma to the eye or any use

of contact lenses you really want to see a person,

a patient uh provider in person.

So patient education a lot of people are concerned about contagiousness and

it's actually true that bacterial and

viral conjunctivitis are highly infectious.

So using good hand washing skills, avoiding personal,

avoid sharing personal items are um tips that you that we should be really enforcing

um so that we decrease the risk of spread of conjunctivitis.

Uh

Return to work worker school.

And this is also another really frequently asked questions among patients. Um

And the guideline is is that

It's safest to return to school when I discharge

stops some facilities actually such as daycares or um childcare

facilities schools may require that you at least have some

at least have 24 hours of topical therapy before returning

if you have viral conjunctivitis. Um However

uh topical therapy is not effective and you should return once your

course of illness has um either improved or gone away completely.

And then also another important tip is if you wear contact lenses,

it's really important that you are evaluated in person and this is

because people who wear contact lenses are prone to more um prone to

bacterial infections of the eye

and other conditions such as keratitis

which is actually a pretty serious um

uh condition of the eye.

So some patient resources

I tell all my patients if they have any questions

or concerns specifically to reach out to their provider.

Um Otherwise um there are I have these

resources from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Um There are some quick remedies for pink eye and this

um this usually talks about using um non medicated drops and also

um cold and warm compresses and then also some general information about pink eye,

which is kind of like the general term that we use for injunctive itis.

Um

I hope you enjoyed my presentation and

thank you for listening.

Untitled

Chapters

Audio TranscriptAuto-generated