Greetings to all and sundry,

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It is a beautiful morning today, the rainy seasons are in, and the whole of last night was torrential rain over here in Effiduase, a part of the Ashanti Region where I live and work as an Optometrist with Westphalian Medical Center, a German-affiliated facility that focuses on improving ocular healthcare across the country at reduced rates.

![child-2761117_960_720.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmdS4Tk5zZg7uHnDQbCtRYV7u59621bxtA5igLySb3VHgz/child-2761117_960_720.jpg)
<center><sub>[image source](https://pixabay.com/de/photos/kind-reiben-der-augen-kindheit-2761117/)</sub></center>

I am happy about the seasonal change and I am glad to see the month of March finally coming to an end because April is my birth month and I can't wait to celebrate it. I am happy about how things have turned out for me so far and I am optimistic that the future will be equally exciting I simply can't wait for all the goodies.

Anyway, I hope you are doing well my dear, and that things are going great for you? I am hopeful that my readers are also looking forward to the beautiful month of April and the many wonderful things to come. So today I want to share with you a case and a discussion I had with some of my patients yesterday about how they can go about helping their ward with the diagnosis that came up and I am hoping that it would benefit someone who reads this.

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##### <center> Introduction </center>

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Allergies are some of the most common conditions or diagnoses you would ever come across wherever you may find yourself in the health sector and in the sector of the eye in Ghana, allergic conjunctivitis and vernal conjunctivitis (which is more or less an advance or severe situation) are the most common diagnosis across the country.

It runs across all gender and all age groups however it is more common in infants, toddlers, and children, this may be followed by bacterial conjunctivitis due to the nature of the condition. Most often when people react to allergic reactions they tend to itch and this is the same with the eye, children are not able to restrain themselves from rubbing the eye and so a lot of times they introduce dirt particles onto the eye when they rub it.

![pexels-photo-6958639.jpeg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcfEeHC93toquEcoPrSazLbmqq24SVxJnqx54ZFJRYeBR/pexels-photo-6958639.jpeg)
<center><sub>[image source](https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-yawning-while-rubbing-eyes-with-fingers-6958639/)</sub></center>

Thus, they end up introducing bacteria and other microbes onto the eye to make situations worse, and so their very simple situation of allergies migrate to a bacterial infection which can get their patients to bring them to the health facility quicker for a checkup because then, once the infection sets in they give out copious discharges every morning, sometimes they wake up in the morning and may not be able to open their eyes due to the discharge sealing it off.

Depending on the type of microbe involve, discharges may be watery, mucous, or mucopurulent. In treating these young ones, however, we mustn't miss out on the allergic reaction and focus only on the infection just because it is prominent at the time they are brought in. Then comes the most important part of the treatment, which is patient education or parent education so they could help make things better for their kids.

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##### <center> Parental Education </center>

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First and foremost they need to be able to spot or tell the allergies, this is quite difficult to do and demands such critical care and attention that if the parents do not get that focus for their ward then they may probably not get it. What makes it even more difficult is when allergic responses are delayed which could jam up the thoughts of the parents on what to look out for.

Now as mentioned earlier, ocular allergic would trigger the itching reflex, this is due to the break of the mast cells and the release of histamine in the system, so when you notice that your child has started rubbing the eye, then it should tell you that they have come into contact with one or more of their allergens. This is quite easy to do or notice, the hard part is figuring out what those allergens are.

Another way you could tell that your child may have come into contact with an allergen is when their eyes suddenly become reddened and you know for a fact that they may not be sleepy or may not have injured themselves or had any trauma to the eye whatsoever. These are some mild forms of allergic reaction that people experience and this one may not necessarily come with the itching right away but it helps if you can identify it.

![pexels-photo-7743442.jpeg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmWardkSD4iCEoXLPwUU8rkdgGdtNGjH9RkVHZkDWLujBf/pexels-photo-7743442.jpeg)
<center><sub>[image source](https://www.pexels.com/photo/boy-wiping-tears-from-eye-7743442/)</sub></center>

So now that you have identified that your child has allergies and thus experiences allergic reactions a lot what do you do next? You take them to the nearest health facility to see your Optometrist for initial care so they may be given drugs that would help ease the itch and any other discomforting symptoms that may have come up as a result. Afterward, you do the hard work of identifying the allergen as a guardian because most often these kids cannot do that.

These allergens can vary so much that you have to really keep an eye out and an open mind to be able to find them because most often than not it is not just one however one thing that cuts across the board is dust or dirt particles through. Almost everyone seems to react adversely when they come into contact with them and so if your child likes playing in the dirt a lot you may have to limit him or her or get them or stop entirely because it may be the major cause of his or her reaction.

Then some react to strong scented smells like perfumes, air freshers, etc, these individuals may also sneeze often in addition to rubbing their eyes and some may experience itchiness in their throats and ears. A good number of these individuals may also react to certain kinds of foods, in Ghana here the most common trend I noticed over the years was that a lot of the boys reacted to "Gari", whereas the girls reacted to groundnut. But the foods vary and their reactions may differ though, some even react to dairy products and it becomes incumbent on the parents to identify them.

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##### <center> Conclusion </center>

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Allergies can be very disturbing and discomforting and in the severe case of keratoconjunctivitis, the cornea integrity could get compromised as kids continue to rub the eye aggressively, the eye would discolor, the cornea could bruise and scar, the topography could be affected introducing refractive errors in their vision and a whole lot of other complications from something that may not look so obnoxious from the start.

![IMG_1407.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmV3fK6TMeS4Nj53sadmgsxqPsQXD3oeTGxGAFn8sg8QoJ/IMG_1407.jpg)
<center><sub>by @nattybongo</sub></center>

And so please do not wait out for your child's eye care, frequent visit to the Optometrist is warranted if you have not found his or her allergens, medication would ensure that things are kept calm and that they do not develop any complications as a result, remember that the eye is a delicate organ and a lot of times, damages to it is irreversible. Early detection saves sight, thank you for visiting my blog today and for your time in reading, it is very much appreciated. Stay safe and have a blissful day.

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##### <center> Further Reading </center>

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<sub>**Vazirani, J., Shukla, S., Chhawchharia, R., Sahu, S., Gokhale, N., & Basu, S. (2020). Allergic conjunctivitis in children: current understanding and future perspectives. Current opinion in allergy and clinical immunology, 20(5), 507–515. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACI.0000000000000675.**</sub>

<sub>**Villegas, B. V., & Benitez-Del-Castillo, J. M. (2021). Current Knowledge in Allergic Conjunctivitis. Turkish journal of ophthalmology, 51(1), 45–54. https://doi.org/10.4274/tjo.galenos.2020.11456.**</sub>

<sub>**La Rosa, M., Lionetti, E., Reibaldi, M., Russo, A., Longo, A., Leonardi, S., Tomarchio, S., Avitabile, T., & Reibaldi, A. (2013). Allergic conjunctivitis: a comprehensive review of the literature. Italian journal of pediatrics, 39, 18. https://doi.org/10.1186/1824-7288-39-18.**</sub>

<sub>**Miyazaki, D., Fukagawa, K., Okamoto, S., Fukushima, A., Uchio, E., Ebihara, N., Shoji, J., Namba, K., & Shimizu, Y. (2020). Epidemiological aspects of allergic conjunctivitis. Allergology international: official journal of the Japanese Society of Allergology, 69(4), 487–495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alit.2020.06.004**</sub>