小朋友紅眼症 (急性結膜炎)怎麼辦?(Scroll down for English version)
紅眼症 症狀 病徵 ...
星期六早上，蕃薯媽媽突然記起自己忘了帶大蕃薯上游泳課！算了，反正學校都不允許補課。無論如何，這是一個忙碌的早晨，因為我們還得送大蕃薯去學校參加活動。我們衝進電梯，蕃薯媽媽看著大蕃薯，發現他的左眼比右眼好像變小了，眼角也有一點黃色分泌物。當蕃薯媽媽再仔細觀察時，發現他的眼白有點紅，又開始揉眼睛，明顯是痕痒了。 但大蕃薯宣稱揉眼睛“只是因為乾燥的風”，並堅持要我們先去學校。蕃薯爸爸同意了，說可能是Crookshanks的皮毛掉進了大蕃薯的眼睛。蕃薯媽媽差點就聽他們的話，吩咐爸爸下午帶他去看醫生就算了。但是過了一段時間，蕃薯媽媽忽然意識到他們都在找藉口推遲去看醫生。媽媽想：我就是醫生呀，我不應該相信自己的臨床判斷嗎？他有紅眼 症 症狀!
紅眼症 治療 方法...
於是我們去了海怡半島 (South Horizons) 的南島醫療中心 (South Island Healthcare)，但被告知最早的預約是 2 小時後。蕃薯媽媽突然靈機一動：當crookshanks上次用完抗生素眼藥水時，我們在附近藥房買到了完全相同的藥物。也許或者藥房也會售賣兒童眼藥水吧？！事實證明，眼藥水是通用的……無論是人類（成人或兒童）還是貓！因此我們轉去了藥房， 我們發現原來藥房只備有一種便宜但非常老式的抗生素眼藥水，蕃薯媽媽在上醫學院時（十多年前！）就見過這款藥水了。藥水盒上的指示是每天使用 3-4 次。蕃薯媽媽開始與其他從事眼科醫生的父母朋友聯絡，交換一下情報。事實證明，媽媽的方向治療病毒 性和細菌性結膜炎是正確的，但其中一位朋友建議我們每 2 小時使用一次，並在晚上使用抗菌軟膏（之後媽媽又跑去藥房！）我們推測這可能是由於上週游泳課時受到感染。
Q&A時段： 如何讓學齡前兒童合作滴眼藥水？
這真是一個令人頭痛的問題，因為即使是蕃薯媽媽採訪過的一位眼科醫生媽媽也無法讓他們的孩子合作！事實證明，給學齡前兒童滴眼藥水比給我們的貓滴眼藥水要困難得多，crookshanks上次眼部感染時每小時都必需滴呀！
我們採用了三管齊下的方法，逐漸開始發揮作用。
1. 鼓勵：「你很勇敢。就像你接種疫苗時一樣，還記得嗎？」
胡蘿蔔加大棒：
- 紅蘿蔔：「如果你今天好好合作的話，我今晚就給你 1 元」- 媽媽
3. 堅持：「如果你不合作的話，你的眼睛感染會變得更嚴重
到時就要去醫院挖掉你的眼睛了！」 - 爸爸
蕃薯媽媽在網上還找到一種方法，就是當大蕃薯特別抗拒時，我們就把藥膏擠在內眼角（大蕃薯更喜歡這個辦法而不是滴藥水）。
翌日(星期天)
由於大蕃薯不斷揉搓雙眼，另一隻眼睛也受到感染，出現更多黃色分泌物、腫脹和發紅。然而，到了第二天晚上（週日），情況開始好轉，這讓蕃薯媽媽想到了下一個問題…
他能去學校嗎？
“許多學校都有一項政策，規定孩子在開始滴抗生素治療結膜炎後 24 小時內可以返回學校。”
他什麼時候可以再去游泳？
等他恢復過來之後。 大蕃薯說，儘管他很喜歡游泳課，但到了周六他仍然感覺眼睛有點癢（蕃薯媽媽試圖確定他是否想放棄游泳），所以我們決定讓他再跳過一堂課。
好在蕃薯媽媽在上周六時注意到了眼睛受到感染。忘記帶他去游泳真是因禍得福！關於感染的話題…當你的孩子被感染時，小心不要連自己也被傳染！
我們建議如遇到眼科問題時，可考慮 Dr Julie Lok！非常貼心
https://www.humansahealth.com/team/ophthalmology-dr-lok-ying-ching-julie/#
My kid has pink eye... What should I do?
One Saturday morning, I (mama) suddenly realized I had forgotten to take R to his swimming lesson! There was nothing I could do about it since the school didn’t allow make-up classes. Anyway, it was a busy morning, as we had to take him to school for an activity as well. We rushed into the lift, and as I looked at R, I noticed that his left eye was a bit smaller than his right and he had a bit of yellow discharge at the corner of his eye. When I looked closer, the white of his eye was slightly red & he started rubbing his eye. R proclaimed that it was “just the dry wind” and insisted we go to school 1st. Dad agreed, saying probably our cat’s fur got into his eye. I almost listened to them and told Dad to take him to the doctor in the afternoon. However, after a while, I realized they were both making excuses to delay seeing the doctor. I thought, I’m the doctor here, should I not trust my own clinical judgement?
We went to South Island Healthcare in South Horizons, but were told the earliest appointment was 2 hours later. I suddenly had a brainwave. When our cat ran out of antibiotic eye drops, I managed to get the exact same drug at our local pharmacy. Perhaps they might stock eye drops for children too? It turns out that eye drops are universal… whether human (adult or children) or cat! The pharmacy only stocked a cheap very old-school antibiotic, and I recognized it from my medical school days (more than 10 years ago!). He instructed us to use it 3-4 times /day. I started texting my ophthalmologist parents friends. Turns out, I was on the right track, but 1 of them advised us to use it every 2 hours and with antibacterial ointment at night (I made another run to the pharmacy afterwards!) We postulated that it might have been caused by swimming a week ago.
How to get your preschooler to co-operate with putting eye drops in?
This is a major headache, as even an ophthalmologist mum I spoke to could not get their kids to co-operate! It also turns out that giving a preschooler eye drops is much harder than giving it to our cat, who had to have multiple bottles every hour!
We used a 3-pronged approach, which gradually started to work..
1. Encouragement: “You are very brave. Just like when you had your COVID vaccine, remember?”
Carrot-and-stick:
2. Carrot: “I will give you $1 tonight if you co-operate for the rest of the day”- mum
3. Stick: “Do you want your eyes to be scooped out? That’s what will happen if you don’t co-operate and your eyes become more infected!” – dad
There is also a technique for squeezing the ointment which I had to look up (R preferred this to eye drops). Sometimes, we put it in the inner corner of the eye if he was particularly resistant.
Sunday morning (day 2)
As R kept rubbing both his eyes, the other eye also got infected and more yellow discharge, swelling & redness appeared. However, by the next evening (Sunday), it was starting to get better, which led me to the next question…
Can he go to school?
“Many schools have a policy that a child may return to school 24 hours after starting antibiotic drops for conjunctivitis.”
When can he go swimming again?
As soon as he recovered. R said he still felt his eyes were a bit itchy the following Saturday, even though he liked swimming lessons (I was trying to ascertain whether he was trying to get out of swimming), so I decided to let him skip another lesson.
Phew! Good thing I noticed it on a Saturday.. Forgetting to bring him swimming was a blessing in disguise! On the topic of infection… Be careful not to get infected yourself when your kid is infected!
& for ophthalmologist recommendation, see Dr Julie Lok! Very caring.
https://www.humansahealth.com/team/ophthalmology-dr-lok-ying-ching-julie/#
