T(r)opical Tea Tree Oil and How it Messed Up Middle-Aged Eyes
A Humorous Poster by Media MICE, based loosely on the full text of Cornea. 2021.
Drs. Brendan Tharmarajah and Minas Theodore Coroneo, two Australian ophthalmologists, reported in the journal Cornea in June 2021 a case of a 44-year-old man with a 1-year history of blepharitis that was non-responsive to eyelid hygiene.* Hygiene is an important condition or practice of preventing disease through cleanliness – which is a quality of either being clean or being kept clean – but it did not help to shower in this case. The patient was found to have signs of Demodex infestation, and was treated with topical, off-label 50% tea tree oil (TTO) solution. Topical involves the tropics, as in tropical countries. The patient complained of bilateral ocular discomfort after treatment. No coconut from any tropical country's palm tree had fallen on his eye, either.
Introduction Tea tree oil, also known as melaleuca oil, recently was found to have corneal effects. Melaleuca is an Australian shrub, with cylindrical spikes of flowers. A shrub is a plant – smaller than a tree – and larger than moss.
b u r sh
Methods
tree
Results The patient was found to have conjunctival injection and a corneal epithelial defect in both eyes based on slit-lamp examination. At this point, the authors felt it was unfair to negatively grade the 44-year-old patient's examination – due to his ocular hardship and instead passed him… onto treatment with lubricant, antibiotic, steroids, and bandage contact lenses to assist with corneal healing.
Conclusion Hence, topical use of off-label, 50% concentration TTO could lead to corneal epithelial defects.
moss
Further, labels should never be ripped off of bottles. Finally, don't ever label medical writers that report on tropical topical tea tree oil as one shrub short of a smart looking melaleuca garden.
[Warning: Don’t take this poster seriously!]
* Tharmarajah B, Coroneo MT. Corneal Effects of Tea Tree Oil. Cornea. 2021. [Online ahead of print.]