Eye redness is the symptom of a protective reaction of our body: defence cells are pumped up in the uppermost protective layer of the eye to prevent harmful environmental influences. To do this, the blood circulation in the body must be increased, causing the vessels to dilate and fill with blood. As a result, red veins appear in the eyes.
Treatment of reddened eyes
What helps with reddened eyes: Since the “red eye” is an alarm signal, it should always be examined by an ophthalmologist. A self-treatment of a reddened eye can often aggravate the underlying problem, since, for example, chamomile tea used as a rinse can dry out the mucous membranes or even lead to allergic reactions. Also, you should not use any eye drops that may have helped a friend or acquaintance on your own.
Red eyes of the child
Children and infants are particularly complicated patients, as they cannot describe their complaints as easily as we adults can. In addition, the dogma of pediatrics is that “children are not little adults”, which means that the therapies and diagnoses are not easily transferable one-to-one from adult to child. Children and infants are more at risk of head and neck injuries in some phases of their development.
They experiment a lot with objects, especially in the haptic phase, as they learn in this phase especially by “touching” and “trying out”. In the oral phase, infants experience their environment particularly through the mouth. Often, however, objects get into the eyes, which can damage and irritate them.
For example, a reddened eye in children can simply be caused by sand and subsequent rubbing. In general, children and infants like to rub their eyes when they feel a foreign object in their eye. Since babies are not yet able to pay attention to hygiene or understand infectious relationships, the hands are often contaminated with germs that are then introduced into the eyes.
Then one must differentiate: Is there a direct cause for the reddened eye, such as severe rubbing? Does the redness slowly improve or does it persist for days? In the latter case, there may be an infection of the eye, among other things.
This is also characterized by severe swelling, overheating and pain, which in children and infants is usually manifested as “crying”. However, the cause can then also be an injury to the cornea in the eye, for example after playing in the forest, when a branch hits the face. Since the cornea is very sensitively innervated – speaks with many small nerve fibers – the pain can be very strong when an injury occurs. While children can already articulate this, screaming infants might not necessarily be able to directly indicate a corneal injury. If there is pain or if the redness in the eye does not disappear even for days, an ophthalmologist should definitely be consulted.
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