Contents:
- Medical Video: 11 Signs of Health Problems Hidden On Your Face
- What are the symptoms of eye TB?
- How do you make sure someone has eye TB?
- What are the treatments for treating tuberculosis in the eye?
Medical Video: 11 Signs of Health Problems Hidden On Your Face
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the chronic infectious diseases that most often attacks the lungs but can also attack various other organs in the body, one of them is the eye. Eye TB or also called ocular TB is also as dangerous as tuberculosis that attacks the lungs. So, what are the symptoms of eye TB? What is the treatment for tuberculosis in the eye?
What are the symptoms of eye TB?
Eye tuberculosis can attack various parts of the eye, ranging from the petals to the retina, so that the symptoms that arise will vary greatly. The two most common symptoms are decreased vision and excessive glare when exposed to light. Other symptoms that arise in accordance with the infected part of the eye, some of which are:
- A brownish red lump appears on the eyelid (lupus vulgaris)
- Red eye
- Show a pink lump on the edge of the pupil (the black part of the eye)
- Leaks from the sclera (the whites of the eyes)
- Sudden loss of vision
How do you make sure someone has eye TB?
There are various ways of checking that can be done to make sure you have TB in the eye. Some checks are simple but not a little complicated and require considerable costs. Examinations that can be carried out include:
- Complete blood examination and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Generally in TB patients will be found an increase of leukocytes and also erythrocyte sedimentation rate as a sign of infection.
- Eye tissue culture. Culture is carried out by taking a small portion of tissue or eye fluid and then bred it. This method takes a long time (approximately 8 weeks).
- Examination of acid resistant bacteria. This examination requires a sample in the form of liquid from the eye. The samples will be colored in such a way and then the results are read under a microscope to find the bacteria that causes TB.
- Polymerase chain reaction (PCR). It is one of the latest examinations that can be performed using fluid from the eye to determine whether there is TB DNA in the fluid.
- Lung X-rays. This examination is done to find the source of eye tuberculosis.
- It is an examination using a contrast agent to detect inflammation in the back of the eye (posterior uveitis).
- Ultrasonography (USG) can be done to find tubercles (the focus of TB infection) and distinguish them from the mass resulting from malignancy.
What are the treatments for treating tuberculosis in the eye?
The main drug used is similar to the drug used to treat pulmonary TB, the difference lies in the duration of treatment. Treatment of eye tuberculosis takes around nine months.
During the first two months, the drugs used were isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide. Seven months later the treatment was carried out using isoniazid and rifampicin. Giving oral corticosteroids can be done in conjunction with the administration of anti-tuberculosis drugs to reduce damage that can occur in the eye tissue.
Detecting eye tuberculosis is not an easy thing to do because this disease has no typical symptoms. A thorough examination by an ophthalmologist and digging up a history of diseases that have been suffered by patients is an effective way to find this disease at an early stage.
