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Conjunctivitis - infective - Management
Should I prescribe a topical ocular antibiotic to someone with infective conjunctivitis?
- Advise people with clinical features of infective conjunctivitis that:
- Most people with infective conjunctivitis get better, without treatment, within 1–2 weeks.
- For most people, use of a topical ocular antibiotic make little difference to recovery from infective conjunctivitis.
- Up to 10% of people treated with topical ocular antibiotics complain of adverse reactions to treatment.
- The risk of a serious complication from untreated infective conjunctivitis is low.
- Consider offering a topical ocular antibiotic to a person with infective conjunctivitis when:
- Infective conjunctivitis is severe, or likely to become severe, providing serious causes of a red eye can be confidently excluded.
- Schools and childcare organizations require treatment before allowing a child to return.
- They understand the limitations of treatment but still prefer treatment.
- When a topical ocular antibiotic is prescribed because of the person's preference for treatment, consider advising them to delay starting treatment for 7 days to see if the condition will resolve spontaneously.
In depth
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