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The number of cases of Viral conjunctivitis (or pink eye) in Ho Chi Minh City keeps increasing. Instead of going to hospital for examination and self-medicate, many people have been buying eye drops from nearby pharmacies to treat the disease. Ophthalmologists advised people not to do so because it will lead to many dangerous complications even drug resistance, affecting vision.
A survey of several private pharmacies in District 7 (HCMC) revealed that many people with pink eye buy eye drops without a doctor’s prescription. Pharmacy assistants said that currently, more people have picked up eye drops and antibiotics to treat pink eye. Some pharmacies have sold out eye drops, especially some types of eye drops containing the antibiotic tobramycin and people have also bought saline eye drops for washing and disease prevention. Many pharmacies recommend that patients should use eye drops and antibiotics to recover quickly.
According to ophthalmologist Tran Dinh Tung, Head of Thong Nhat Hospital's Ophthalmology Department in Ho Chi Minh City, pink eye is a disease that heals quickly, so patients unnecessarily get antibiotics to treat the disease as it is a waste of money.
Moreover, long-term use of antibiotic eye drops will cause eye fungus, and taking antibiotics can easily lead to drug resistance. Currently, most cases of pink eye are caused by viruses. Medical workers tried their best to identify the cause of the disease and they pointed out that Enterovirus and adenovirus are responsible for pink eye outbreaks.
Conjunctivitis is a common condition where the white part of the eye becomes pink or red. One or both eyes may be watery, sore, or itchy, sometimes with sticky white or yellow discharge.
In addition, pink eye is easily spread by direct contact with eye secretions of an infected person, or through the hands of the sick person. The disease is easy to spread, but most cases can heal quickly if the patient follows the eye specialist's instructions.
HCMC recorded 63,309 pink eye cases in the first eight months of 2023.
