Eye problems and Lyme disease

In a later stage of Lyme disease (stage 2 or 3), eye problems might occur. The symptoms are often nonspecific, which means that they can’t be assigned to one particular illness. That is why, it is advised in the Dutch magazine for Medicine to also think of Lyme in case of an inexplicable eye ailment.

Minimal risk of getting eye problems

In case it is suspected that eye problems are caused by Lyme disease, the antibody tests don’t give a decisive answer. This reason for this is that a positive antibody test can also indicate an infection that took place longer ago. However, when a doctor suspects that Lyme disease is the cause of eye problems, it can be treated with antibiotics that also reach the eye well. In the aforementioned magazine, for example, an effective treatment with ceftriaxon was prescribed.