Can eye infections be prevented?
Undoubtedly eye infections are often unpleasant and to be avoided where possible as they may inhibit your daily life and activities such as driving or working on a computer.
The most sensible preventative action you can take is to avoid close contact with a person who you know to have an eye infection. Some infections, such as conjunctivitis, are highly infectious (the Health Protection Agency advises that children with conjunctivitis are to be excluded from school or nursery in the event of an outbreak). If you are in contact with someone who is known to be suffering with an eye infection of any type, thorough hand washing and sanitising using antibacterial gels is recommended. It is also important that the affected individual regularly washes his or her hands.
Washing bed linen and towels that a sufferer has used is important to restrict the spread of an infection within the home.
For contact lens wearers, keeping your lenses clean is extremely important to help to prevent eye infections. You should practise high standards of hand hygiene and only insert lenses into your eyes that you are confident are clean. Wearing contacts while you sleep can also contribute to eye infections so remove them at night before you retreat to bed.