What are the causes of trachoma?

  Trachoma, a type of conjunctivitis caused by Chlamydia trachomatis infection, can easily turn into a chronic course after the acute phase. If not treated promptly, it can lead to a variety of serious complications.  Chlamydia trachomatis infection is mainly caused by the factor of unclean contact, as Chlamydia trachomatis is widely found in nature. It can be contagious by rubbing your eyes with dirty hands, swimming in dirty water, or using unclean towels. In addition, if one is a person with relatively low resistance, such as the elderly, children, and patients with long-term chronic diseases, the low immune system can easily lead to various types of microbial infections, which can lead to obvious symptoms as well as signs once exposed to Chlamydia trachomatis. Special environmental factors, such as in tropical areas, are also among the higher incidence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection.  Chlamydia trachomatis infections are likely to occur in people under 20 years of age and can lead to serious complications if the disease becomes chronic if not treated properly or in a timely manner. Severe inversion of the eyelid, corneal vascular opacity causing corneal clouding, corneal ulcers, severe substantial conjunctival dryness, lid adhesions, and dacryocystitis. Trachoma used to be the number one disease causing blindness in China in the era of low public health conditions. It is mainly due to the formation of massive scarring of the conjunctiva, resulting in eyelid distortion, corneal lesions, and eventually blindness due to corneal clouding.  Treatment should be adhered to with long-term doses of rifampin, sodium sulfacetamide eye drops, chlortetracycline, tetracycline eye ointment, etc. Treatment of complications is mainly surgical, such as entropion correction, tear sac removal, corneal transplantation, etc.  As the current standard of living is gradually improving and the requirements for environmental hygiene are becoming higher, the incidence of trachoma is significantly lower.