Credé prophylaxis is the practice of washing a newborn's eyes with a 1%

silver nitrate Silver nitrate is an inorganic compound with chemical formula . It is a versatile precursor to many other silver compounds, such as those used in photography. It is far less sensitive to light than the halides. It was once called ''lunar causti ...

solution to protect against

neonatal conjunctivitis Neonatal conjunctivitis is a form of conjunctivitis (inflammation of the outer eye) which affects newborn babies following birth. It is typically due to neonatal bacterial infection, although it can also be non-infectious (e.g. chemical exposure) ...

caused by ''

Neisseria gonorrhoeae ''Neisseria gonorrhoeae'', also known as ''gonococcus'' (singular) or ''gonococci'' (plural), is a species of Gram-negative diplococci bacteria first isolated by Albert Ludwig Sigesmund Neisser, Albert Neisser in 1879. An obligate human pathog ...

'', thereby preventing blindness. The Credé procedure was developed by the German physician Carl Siegmund Franz Credé who implemented it in his hospital in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

in 1880. Between 1881 and 1883, Credé published three papers in '' Archiv für Gynäkologie'', each titled "Die Verhütung der Augenentzündung der Neugeborenen" (Prevention of inflammatory eye disease in the newborn), describing his method and its results. The original procedure called for a 2% silver nitrate solution administered immediately after birth, as Credé erroneously believed that a 1% solution was ineffective due to a previous study by Hecker; however, this was eventually corrected and reduced back down to a 1% solution to reduce chemical irritation to the newborn's eyes. As neonatal conjunctivitis used to occur in around 10% of newborns and cause about half of all cases of blindness in Europe, the treatment is credited with saving the eyesight of millions. In the 1980s, silver nitrate was replaced by

erythromycin Erythromycin is an antibiotic used for the treatment of a number of bacterial infections. This includes respiratory tract infections, skin infections, chlamydia infections, pelvic inflammatory disease, and syphilis. It may also be used ...

and tetracycline treatments, which are better tolerated by the eye and more effective against ''

Chlamydia trachomatis ''Chlamydia trachomatis'' () is a Gram-negative, Anaerobic organism, anaerobic bacterium responsible for Chlamydia infection, chlamydia and trachoma. ''C. trachomatis'' exists in two forms, an extracellular infectious elementary body (EB) and an ...

'' in addition to ''N. gonorrhea''.

Notes

The works "Archiv für Gynäkologie" are freely available in the public domain.

References

Obstetrical procedures Sexually transmitted diseases and infections {{surgery-stub