Life Insurance With Conjunctivitis
Red, sticky, itchy eyes are among the most common reasons anybody sees a pharmacist, and almost none of it belongs on an insurance form in any substantial way.
It is on this list because people ask, and the useful thing is a straight answer about how little there is to it.
The exception is the allergic kind that keeps coming back.
The short answer
Conjunctivitis is inflammation of the membrane covering the eye, usually from infection or allergy, and it almost always resolves within days to weeks. For most people it is a past episode with nothing continuing. The only version with more to it is the recurrent allergic kind, which sits alongside hay fever and asthma.
What it is
Conjunctivitis is inflammation of the conjunctiva, the thin membrane covering the white of the eye and the inside of the eyelids. It produces redness, discharge, grittiness and itching.
Bacterial conjunctivitis produces sticky discharge and is sometimes treated with antibiotic drops. Viral conjunctivitis is watery, very contagious and usually left to settle. Allergic conjunctivitis is itchy, often seasonal, and treated with antihistamine or mast cell stabiliser drops.
Why it comes up on an application
- Infective episodes are dated events that resolved, with nothing ongoing. A brief answer is a complete one.
- Recurrent allergic conjunctivitis is seasonal and ongoing, and it belongs with hay fever rather than with eye infections.
- Contact lens wearers with a red eye are treated more cautiously, because a corneal ulcer is a different and more serious problem. If you were ever told it was an ulcer rather than conjunctivitis, that is the entry.
- Repeated or severe episodes occasionally prompt a referral to an eye clinic, and a referral is a specialist involvement.
- Steroid eye drops are only prescribed with care, so if you were given them, that indicates an ophthalmologist or a careful GP was involved.
What we would ask you
- Roughly when you had it and whether it resolved
- Whether it keeps coming back, and whether it is seasonal
- Whether you wear contact lenses, and whether you were ever told you had an ulcer
- Whether you were ever referred to an eye clinic or given steroid drops
- Whether you are currently off work or working reduced hours because of an accident, injury or illness
- Whether you are waiting on any medical tests, appointments or treatment
- Whether you have been diagnosed with or treated for cancer in the last five years
- Whether a parent, brother or sister was diagnosed with cancer, heart disease or a stroke before 65
- Any medication you take
- Whether you smoke, and your date of birth
An Episode, Not A History
There is very little here and it would be misleading to pretend otherwise.
Conjunctivitis starts, is treated or left alone, and finishes. It does not progress, it does not involve ongoing medication for most people, and it is not the sort of thing a medical application is built to find.
If you are asked about eye conditions and you have had it, say so with a rough date. That is the whole answer, and the questions that matter on your form are elsewhere.
The Two Versions With More To Them
First, the allergic kind. If your eyes itch every spring and you use drops seasonally, that is not an infection, it is allergy, and it belongs with hay fever. Those answers travel together along with asthma and eczema, and that is a more useful picture than listing conjunctivitis on its own.
Second, the contact lens one. A red, painful eye in a lens wearer is taken seriously because a corneal ulcer can threaten vision and needs urgent treatment, sometimes with intensive drops and close follow-up. If you were ever told you had an ulcer or keratitis rather than conjunctivitis, that is a materially different entry and should be named.
Everything else in this area is a few days of a sore eye.
Which cover is relevant
The usual starting point, and this is not a factor. Where allergy is the cause, the hay fever and asthma picture matters more.
Pays on diagnosis of a listed serious condition, and this is not one. Worth having for the risks it does cover.
Replaces earnings if illness or injury stops you working, which conjunctivitis does not, beyond a few days where the work involves close contact.
Common questions
Do I have to declare conjunctivitis?+
Answer what you are asked, with a rough date. It is an episode that resolves rather than a condition, so for most people a single line is a complete answer.
Mine comes back every spring. Is that different?+
Yes, that is allergic rather than infective, and it belongs with hay fever rather than with eye infections. It usually travels with asthma and eczema too, which makes those the more useful answers.
I wear contact lenses and had a bad red eye. Does that matter?+
It is worth checking what you were told. A red painful eye in a lens wearer is treated cautiously because a corneal ulcer can threaten vision, and if you were told it was an ulcer or keratitis rather than conjunctivitis, that is a different and more significant entry.
I was given steroid eye drops. Is that relevant?+
Worth mentioning. Steroid drops are prescribed with care in the eye, so being given them indicates an ophthalmologist or a careful GP was involved, which is a specialist or clinician involvement rather than a pharmacy purchase.
Will conjunctivitis affect my life insurance?+
It is not the sort of entry that usually features, and in any case the decision rests on your whole picture and belongs to the insurer. Recurrent allergy and any corneal ulcer history are more likely to matter than the conjunctivitis.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.