Eye Ointment
In a Nutshell
Have you ever noticed when you see pictures of newborn babies that they sometimes have goop in their eyes? This is an antibiotic eye ointment used to prevent ophthalmia neonatorum (ON). ON is a form of pink eye (or conjunctivitis) caused by the sexually transmitted infections (STIs), chlamydia and gonorrhea. If ON goes untreated, it can cause blindness.
Dig Deeper
History
Back in the 1800s, newborns were contracting ON, but no one knew why. In the late 1800s, Dr. Albert Neisser found that it was a sexually transmitted infection causing ON in newborns. They began to treat all newborns with silver nitrate to prevent ON. While it worked to prevent the ON, it was incredibly irritating to the eyes.
We have since held on to the idea that we should treat every newborn with antibiotic drops in the eyes (we use erythromycin in the U.S.) to prevent ON.
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