Expert: Eric Brandt - 7/6/2010

Question
Eric,
I've been taking an antibiotic eye drop for an infection in my eye (lots of sleep coming out of it).  It's not Pink eye; just some kind of eye infection in my left eye.  The prescription eye drops are called Zymar (very, very expensive drops).  I tried the recommended dosage of 4 times per day for 7 days.  It did nothing so I asked the eye doctor, and he told me to do another round.  Still I have the infection.  I've started taking more Vitamin A (in the form of beta carotene), more Vitamin C and zinc, and also astragulus which helps build your immune system.  I'm also drinking lots of water.  I've heard garlic is good, but haven't tried that yet.  Do you know of anything else I can do to get rid of this infection in my body??  I don't want to have to go back to the eye doctor again just for another prescription unless all else fails.  Thank you.

Answer
Hi Cynthia,
The most proper way to deal with this infection is to do a culture of the exudate to see what bacteria is involved. The lab also does a sensitivity report which tells the doctor what the best antibiotic to use for this specific infection. You must go back to the doctot and ask for this culture and sensitivity to be done.
Thank you for using Allexperts
Sincerely,
Eric Brandt, B.Sc. Pharm