Why does a child's eyes swell and what to do with it

Every mother worries about the health of her children. Even the slightest danger of getting sick seems much worse than it actually is.

Any scratch, bruise or changes in the body of the baby is very scary of his parents. However, sometimes the symptoms do not seem very significant, but may entail unexpected consequences.

One of these situations is a suddenly swollen eye. To understand in what cases you can not panic, and where medical intervention is required, you need to be able to determine the causes of the tumor.

Why does a child have swollen eyes

The eyes are surrounded by a mucous membrane, which is saturated with a huge number of capillaries located close to the surface of the tissue. The skin around is also quite thin and delicate.

Therefore, any negative effect on the eyes immediately gives a visual result in the form of redness, swelling. In addition, there is usually discomfort, which is manifested by itching, burning, decreased vision and so on. Eye swelling may occur due to several reasons:

• mechanical impact of a foreign object: perhaps a speck in the eye, for example, dust, hair or eyelash, a grain of sand, or something else; the eye is very sensitive to such things, therefore, it will reject an unnecessary object; Also, scratching or rubbing of the eye due to itching without the influence of an external factor is possible;
• insect bite (midges, for example): since insect stings contain special substances that cause swelling or blister, the delicate skin of the eye reacts in a similar way;
• allergic reaction: a similar cause is usually reflected in both eyes, and edema can also affect other skin; allergies may occur unexpectedly, for example, as a reaction to new foods for the child;
• the eyelid swells up also under the influence of an eye infection - conjunctivitis, which is also accompanied by purulent secretions that glue the eyelashes;
• barley, purulent inflammation of the eyelash bulb, is also a painful disease accompanied by severe swelling; occurs at the level of reduced immunity.

Symptoms of various types of swelling of the eyes, what to do and how to treat

The result of all these factors is swelling and redness. However, by their manifestations one can understand what exactly led to this, and choose the treatment:

• when a foreign body enters the eye, the lacrimation begins first, as the protective mechanisms work; if the object is not washed away by a tear, he begins to cause discomfort in the form of itching, burning and cutting, because the object scratches the delicate eye shell; first of all, to remove the cause of discomfort, it is necessary to rinse the eye with water, then drop the drops for disinfection, for example, all known from childhood "Albucidus" or "Levomycetin";
• with allergies, the eyes swell throughout the eyelid, and also begin to itch very much, since the mucous membrane reacts in two ways with tearing or drying out. If the reaction is not a surprise, you need to drink the usual drug, but if this happens for the first time, any antihistamine will do; if the swelling is strong and does not subside, it is better to call a doctor, because it can lead to serious consequences;
• an insect bite causes swelling in the place where the contact occurred pointwise, or the entire eye may swell and turn red due to the developed capillaries; as a rule, for this reason, you can see the bite, and the eye itches; The solution is to take an antihistamine that will reduce the response to the effects of the insect;
• conjunctivitis is accompanied by discharge of tears, itching, whitish or purulent liquid secretions that accumulate under the eyelids and in the corners of the eyes; these secretions are abundant and glue eyelashes. For the treatment of a disease, a course of instillation of disinfecting drops like "Levomycetin", "Albucid" and the like, which drip the necessary number of times a day systematically, is used; also traditional medicine offers lotions with fresh tea brewing, which also has cleansing properties;
• at occurrence of an inflammation like barley, the edge of a century swells up where it is accurately possible to consider a dot inflammation in which pus is visible; This disease is treated by cauterizing the head of barley with green paint and instilling antiseptic drops to eliminate the infection.

In addition, eyelid swelling may indicate various diseases of internal organs. Very often, the mucosal edema indicates problems with the kidneys and urinary system, as well as its own in the work of other organs.

In the absence of external or internal obvious causes of edema, it is necessary, without delay, to consult a medical specialist.

With a general decrease in immunity and on the threshold of acute respiratory diseases, colds and the like, not only an increase in lymph nodes, but also swelling of the mucous membrane is observed. There is still a chance that the baby, poorly hygienic, could bring an infection into the eyes with dirty hands.

Prevention

Avoid eyelid edema is almost impossible, but you can follow simple rules to generally maintain the protective functions of the body, which will affect eye health. So, it is important that the child respects the sleep pattern, gives rest to the eyes during prolonged stress.

Observance of basic hygiene, washing hands and understanding that you do not need to rub your eyes, help to avoid infection and mechanical damage to tissues.

Additional information on the topic of the article - in the video with Dr. Komarovsky.