Trachoma is a bacterial eye infection, not unlike the common ‘pink-eye’ or conjunctivitis. Repeated reinfection, combined with the body’s immune reaction, often has devastating consequences. Trachoma starts as an infection of the membrane that covers the outside of the eyeball and lines the inner surface of the eyelids (conjunctiva). Repeated infections can over years eventually lead to scarring that causes the margin of the eyelid to turn inwards.