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NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE PREVENTION OP BLINDNESS PUBLICATIONS

No. 3. -- DIRECTIONS FOR THE PREVENTION OF BLINDNESS FROM BABIES' SORE EYES

NEEDLESSLY BLIND FOR LIFE

BECAUSE HER EYES WERE NEGLECTED DURING THE EARLY DAYS OF INFANCY

HER MOTHER THOUGHT IT WAS "NATURAL FOR BABIES TO HAVE SORE EYES," -- SO NOTHING WAS DONE

THERE ARE IN THE UNITED STATES TO-DAY MORE THAN 10,000 PERSONS WHO ARE TOTALLY BLIND BECAUSE THEIR EYES WERE NEGLECTED DURING THE FIRST FEW DAYS OF LIFE. MANY MORE ARE PARTLY BLIND FOR THE SAME REASON

THEY WOULD ALL BE SEEING TO-DAY IF THEIR EYES HAD BEEN TREATED AND CARED FOR DURING INFANCY

PREPARED BY THE NEW YORK COMM ITTEE FOR THE PREVENTION OF BLINDNESS

CARE FOR YOUR BABY'S EYES OR IT MAY BE BLIND FOR LIFE

The cause of this blindness among babies is a disease which is commonly called "babies' sore eyes" or "cold in the eyes," and known to the doctors as "ophthalmia neonatorum."

This disease -- is PREVENTABLE.
-- is CURABLE -- IF TREATMENT IS STARTED EARLY.
-- is CATCHING.
-- is CAUSED BY GERMS GETTING INTO THE BABY'S EYES during or soon after birth.

If the germs are not killed or washed out, the eyes may get RED and SWOLLEN and MATTERY, and the baby may go totally blind in two or three days.

"BABIES' SORE EYES" iS NOT caused by LIGHT nor by COLD nor by DROPS, BUT BY GERMS. Sore eyes in the baby do not always mean that the parents have not led good lives. Many kinds of germs cause sore eyes -- and SORE EYES OFTEN CAUSE BLINDNESS.

HOW TO PREVENT BABIES' SORE EYES

WHAT ALL MOTHERS SHOULD DO BEFORE THE BABY IS BORN

All women during pregnancy should be instructed as follows:

Daily external washing should be done thoroughly with soap and water and a clean wash-cloth. Should the pregnant woman have any irritating discharge, or even profuse white discharge, she should be instructed to immediately consult her physician or the nearest dispensary.

WHAT TO DO FOR ALL BABIES

Even though the mother has bathed as above directed, and even though she has no discharge, the baby's eyes should always be treated as follows:

Immediately after the head is born, before the delivery of the body, the eyes should be carefully wiped with bits of clean absorbent cotton or a soft cloth which have been dipped into warm water that has been boiled or in boric acid (saturated solution). A separate wipe should be used for each eye, and by stroking from the nose outward the lids washed free from all mucus, blood, etc. All wipes should be burned after using. The lids should not be opened. At this time also the lips and nose should be wiped free from mucus, and the nurse's or doctor's little finger, wrapped with a piece of moist cotton, should be passed into the child's mouth and any accumulated mucus removed by an outward sweep of the finger. As soon after birth as possible, the eyelids should be again wiped clean of mucus, and Two DROPS OF A 1 PER CENT. SOLUTION OF SILVER NITRATE should be dropped into EACH EYE. THESE DROPS SHOULD BE PUT IN ONLY ONCE, and ordinarily the eyes need not be bathed again for several hours. This MEDICINE KILLS any GERMS that may be in the baby's eyes. It may make the eyes red for two or three days, but it does not cause the sore eyes that may make the baby blind.

Each time that the baby is bathed, its eyes should first be wiped clean with boric acid solution, as described above. The hands of the person caring for the child must be thoroughly washed with soap and water and dried with a clean towel before the eyes of the child are touched, and everything that is used for the baby's eyes must be absolutely clean.

The cotton that is used on the eyes of the child must always be burned. The water, towels, old linen, and the cotton that have been used on the mother must, under no circumstances, be used for the child. The air of the bedroom must be kept as pure as possible, and the linen should never be dried in the sick-room.

WHAT MUST BE DONE IF INFLAMMATION OF THE EYES APPEARS

When the lids become red and swollen, and are gummed along their borders, and when mattery discharge is mixed with the tears as the child sleeps or cries, an oculist or a physician should be called at once, or the child taken to the nearest dispensary. Each hour of delay adds to the danger. While waiting, bathe the eyes of the child every half hour with pieces of cotton dipped in a solution of boric acid. (1) Open the lids wide and allow the solution, which should be warm, to flood the eyes and wash out any matter which may have gathered there.

The child should not be fondled and nothing which has been used about the eyes or face should be used for any other purpose. All of those in the home should be warned of the danger of catching the disease by getting the matter into their own eyes. Do not listen to those who say it will amount to nothing, or to those who say to bathe the eyes of the child with the mother's milk (the milk is a means of spreading the germs of this disease). Such advice is bad; the delay may result in blindness.