What is eye flu?

Eye flu is known by many different names like in most places it is called conjunctivitis or ‘आख आना ‘ while in some places people know this disease by the name of ‘red eye’ or ‘pink eye’. Between the white part of our eyes and the inner side of the eyelids, there is a thin transparent membrane-like layer called the conjunctiva.

The problem of eye flu (conjunctivitis) occurs due to inflammation in this conjunctiva. Most of the cases of eye flu these days are due to viral infection caused by adenovirus.

Symptoms and causes of eye flu (conjunctivitis)

• Redness Of The Eyes
• Swelling Of The Eyelids
• Sticky Mucus Coming Out Of The Eyes
• Itchy Or Gritty Feeling In The Eyes
• White Or Yellow Discharge From The Eyes
• Pain In The Eyes
• Sticking Of Eyes Upon Waking Up

How to Avoid Eye Flu:

• Keep hands clean: Wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds several times a day. If there is no soap around, keep a sanitizer with you and clean your hands with it. Make sure to wash your hands before and after cleaning your eyes and putting in eye drops.
• Do not touch the eyes: Due to eye flu, severe itching starts in the eyes due to which your hand repeatedly goes on the eyes. Do not do this at all because repeatedly touching or rubbing the eyes increases the chances of spreading the infection to the other eye.
• Do not share your belongings: Do not share personal things like your towel, eye make-up items, contact lenses with others at all. Even if more than one person in the house is infected, keep everyone’s eye drops separately. If you are infected then keep some distance from the child.
• Do not go to public places: If you or someone close to you has conjunctivitis, try to stay away from public places to prevent it from spreading further. Rest at home for maximum time and give rest to the eyes. Minimize the use of TV, mobile or laptop these days as it can further increase the irritation and heaviness in the eyes.
• Wear glasses: Always wear glasses when you have eye flu. With this, your eyes are saved from dust or pollution, as well as you avoid touching the eyes repeatedly, due to which the infection does not spread much.
• Eat nutritious things: Take special care of your diet while getting infected. Eat nutritious things these days so that your immunity becomes stronger and you can recover quickly.

How to treat eye flu at home

If you have been infected with eye flu, do not panic, but by adopting some easy home remedies, you can get relief from it quickly. There is no need to go to the doctor immediately in case of eye flu as most of the cases get cured within 2-3 days. You just have to take care of cleanliness and some things. Let’s know:

• Wash eyes with cold and clean water: Due to eye flu, there is severe burning or itching in the eyes. In such a situation, if you splash on the eyes with clean cold water, then the burning sensation and itching reduces and the eyes get relief.
• Hot fomentation: Take a clean and soft cloth and soak it in lukewarm water and keep it over the eyes as a bandage for some time. Due to this, the swelling of the eyes reduces rapidly.
• Ice compress: If the swelling of the eyes has increased, then wrap an ice cube (ice) in a clean tissue paper and keep it over the closed eyes for some time. By doing this, along with swelling, itching and burning also reduce.