Allergic conjunctivitis often comes and goes showing some swelling, redness, irritation and pain with watery eyes, and this may continue for a few days. This is generally a reversible condition after a week or so. However in severe cases, this may go too far, and may need serious treatment and medication for prolonged period, and even surgical procedures may be needed. Therefore you must know what the common methods of treatment are, and when you should actually see a doctor.
Acute conjunctivitis from allergens
This is a case of very mild allergy of the conjunctiva. It often comes and goes, and never persists for long. The eyes suddenly get red and may swell. They will get watery and also may get a burning feeling. This is a more common form of allergic conjunctivitis during the allergy season, and is not serious to make you run for a doctor.
The chronic allergic conjunctivitis
This is also a chronic condition comprising of mild allergy, and this may persist though the year or come and go in between months. This also doesn’t need you to consult a doctor seriously, and you may wait for the allergy to go away naturally.
When do you need to visit a doctor?
However, when you are much troubled, and the allergy is persistent, not going away, and has left the eyes ever itching, burning, sticky with mucous, then you must go to a doctor. The initial examinations the doctor will do are as follows:
· The doctor will expose the eyes and the conjunctiva to the allergen and watch how the skin part and body reacts. Every reaction to different allergens like mold spores; dust, animal dander or pollens etc will be recorded.
· The body may or may not produce antibodies in reaction to the allergens. This will be known only by blood testing, and hence the doctor will advise you a blood test to watch these reactions of the body too.
· The White blood cells in your conjunctiva will be tested to see if they are activated or not. Often during allergic conjunctivitis the WBC in the eye tissues get activated, and this will help diagnose if this is the case of allergic conjunctivitis or a viral or bacterial case.
What the doctor advises in allergic conjunctivitis
While there are several natural remedies for allergic conjunctivitis, but you may not be advised for them by your doctor when the case gets too complicated and painful. In such cases you will need medications.
· Antihistamines are used for preventing the releasing the histamines.
· Eye drops are given, both to soothe the eye irritation, and also to reduce the swelling and infection
· The blood vessels in eyes get dilated during the allergic conjunctivitis, which need to be shrunk to size again. Eye drops for this are prescribed by the doctors.
· For serious inflammations, steroid based eye drops are used.
This tells all in all that there is no good alternative than to visit a doctor when you have a serious or persistent case of painful allergic conjunctivi
