Treatment

Trachoma treatment options depend on the stage of the disease.

Medications

In the early stages of trachoma, treatment with antibiotics alone may be enough to eliminate the infection. Your doctor may prescribe tetracycline eye ointment or oral azithromycin (Zithromax). Azithromycin appears to be more effective than tetracycline, but it's more expensive.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends giving antibiotics to an entire community when more than 10% of children have been affected by trachoma. The goal of this guideline is to treat anyone who has been exposed to trachoma and reduce the spread of trachoma.

Surgery

Treatment of later stages of trachoma — including painful eyelid deformities — may require surgery.

In eyelid rotation surgery (bilamellar tarsal rotation), your doctor makes an incision in your scarred lid and rotates your eyelashes away from your cornea. The procedure limits the progression of corneal scarring and may help prevent further loss of vision.

If your cornea has become clouded enough to seriously impair your vision, corneal transplantation may be an option that could improve vision.

You may have a procedure to remove eyelashes (epilation) in some cases. This procedure may need to be done repeatedly.