title: Effects of onion juice on the normal flora of eyelids and conjunctiva in an animal model.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Traditional medicine/complementary alternative medicine may suggest new ideas to modern medicine in order to face new challenges however these concepts should be acknowledged based on experimental studies.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to study the effects of onion (Allium cepa) juice on the normal flora of conjunctiva and eye lids, and to follow the histopathology changes of conjunctiva in an animal study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four rabbits were randomly classified into three equal groups. Groups 1, 2 and 3 received fresh red onion juice, as an eye drop, into the right eye twice daily for; one week, one month, and two months, respectively. Microbiological sampling by sterile swabs was performed before and after the intervention. Cultural characteristics, including the growth rate and the kind of organisms, are reported. At the end of the study, pathological samples were collected from the inferior fornix.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After the intervention, the number of positive cultures in the samples, collected from both the conjunctiva and eyelid, had decreased. Group 3 demonstrated the lowest amount of growth after the administration of the onion juice and the bacterial isolation rates from each organism had decreased. All pathological samples revealed some degree of inflammation. There was no evidence of metaplasia or dysplasia. There was no significant difference between the growth rates of organisms in the experimental groups using statistical analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to our experiment, onion has an inhibitory effect on the growth of normal eye flora; although the duration of onion juice instillation did not show any significant effect on the group results. Hence, this finding is an initiating point for further investigations into the antimicrobial properties of this herb to treat common eye infections, including conjunctivitis and blepharitis.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Traditional Medicine and History of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nejabat
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Traditional Medicine and History of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salehi
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Traditional Medicine and History of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Parisa
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Noorani Azad
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Javad
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ashraf
keywords: Anti-Infective Agents; Conjunctiva; Eyelids; Medicine, Traditional; Onions; Staphylococcus lugdunensis