Ocular Herpes Prevention

Ocular herpes is caused by the type 1 herpes simplex virus and can come in different forms. Ocular herpes can be in the form of herpes keratitis which is the most common form, stromal keratiris which is a more severe form and iridocyclitis in which the eye, iris and everything around it are affected. According to The National Eye Institute (All About Vision), 400,000 Americans have some form of ocular herpes with nearly 50,000 new cases occurring each year. There are ways to prevent contacting ocular herpes.

Prevention

• Ocular herpes is contacted through either another person who has the herpes virus or through an active herpes infection on the individual. Therefore, prevention of ocular herpes is to not come into contact with anyone who has an active herpes outbreak. However, it would also be good prevention to not come into close contact with someone even if they don't have an active outbreak if they do have a herpes simplex virus.

  The signs and symptoms of ocular herpes are important to know if prevention is going to be successful. If someone close to you is experiencing the following symptoms, they may have ocular herpes and not know it. Prevention would start with being cognizant of these symptoms and avoiding contact with an individual displaying any of these symptoms. Symptoms of ocular herpes can be swelling of the eyes, tearing and recurrent eye infections, as well as eye sores and eye redness. Sensitivity to light is also a symptom of ocular herpes.

  The prevention method is highly successful when strictly adhered to however it can be difficult to not come into close contact with people. Additionally, it can be difficult to prevent close contact with people who have herpes simplex because many times it is unknown that they have herpes. Avoiding contact with people with herpes simplex virus is a very effective way to prevent contracting ocular herpes. According to the National Eye Institute, there are 50,000 new and recurring cases of ocular herpes each year. Therefore adhering to the prevention method could be very beneficial as it could drastically cut into the new cases out of those 50,000 each year.