Can a corneal infection affect your brain?

If the infection stays confined to the cornea, it cannot spread to the brain. If the infection spreads into the back portion of the eye, this is referred to as endophthalmitis. In rare instances, an infection in the eye can spread to the brain if it has caused endophthalmitis; however, this is very rare. A specialist should be able to keep the infection confined to the front of the eye with topical and/or systemic antibiotics depending on what has caused the infection based on cultures of the cornea.