When a patient comes in with a persistent eye infection, at times it’s difficult to treat with drops that need to be used very regularly, and other times the infection just needs to run its course because there’s not much else we can do. Now, there is another option to treat acute eye infections (viral or bacterial) that can be administered by your doctor of optometry.
Providone-iodine comes in single use preservative-free doses, and can be used to treat adenoviral conjunctivitis and bacterial conjunctivitis in-office. Providone-iodine is usually used to disinfect before surgery. The providone-iodine eye drop is used to reduce the viral load in the eye in-office, decreasing the amount of time it takes for your conjunctivitis to resolve. The side effect of this drop is a stinging sensation. This treatment is usually only done once in the office.
This treatment is now available at Avenue Eyecare, just in time for flu season!
