Book a Consultation Book Now

“Please help me cure my eye discharge”

Chronic Blepharoconjunctivitis

In this blog post, I want to concentrate mainly on one of the most common causes of an eye discharge, which is chronic blepharoconjunctivitis. This is a recurrent discharge with red rimming of the eyelid margins. Very often there is a background of eyelid irritation, itchiness to the lash roots, slight red rimming, a tendency to get episodes of lid thickening and discharge known as blepharoconjunctivitis.
The normal biome of the lid margin always contains some staphylococcal aureus bacteria. When these grow, and other organisms grow, full-blown blepharoconjunctivitis can form, resulting in eye discharge with worsening of the red rimming of the eyelid margins.  This type of blepharitis is often related to blockage of the meibomian glands, with meibomian gland dysfunction and a tendency for the patient to get recurrent styes, chalazion and eye discharge, which comes and goes over many months.
You will need to have the underlying cause treated, namely blepharitis and meibomian gland dysfunction. This can also be related to acne or rosacea. Moreover, stress, pollution, allergens, hormones, dry eyes, extensive periods spent looking at computer screens, etc, can all exacerbate the condition.
To cure your blepharoconjunctivitis, you will need to go on a treatment regime lasting several months. Initially, this will be an acute treatment for the first two months and after that maintenance treatment.
This will involve you cleaning your eyelids two to four times a day with a combination of a warm flannel and micelle solution as well as improving your diet and taking omega 3 supplements.
Many patients with blepharitis and meibomian gland dysfunction require a four to eight-month course of low-dose oral antibiotics such as Lymecycline. This acts to reduce the inflammation and infection in the meibomian glands and thereby helps to reduce the episodes of discharge from blepharoconjunctivitis, stye and chalazion.
In summary, to cure your eye discharge, we have to establish why you have got it. The most common cause is blepharitis and meibomian gland dysfunction. This needs to be actively treated and then managed with the help of your ophthalmologist.


Book a Consultation Book Now