Pink Eye Symptoms & Treatment

Pink eye, also known as conjunctivitis, is a medical condition characterized by the eyelids becoming swollen and symptoms that include redness, discharge, burning, and itching. Pink eye can be caused by various factors, including irritating substances, viral or bacterial infection, eye drops, contact lenses or allergies. Pink eye generally does not alter the vision.

Most Common Symptoms

• Symptoms of pink eye include eye pain, redness, itching or burning, blurry vision, light sensitivity (known as photophobia), and discharge (which could be watery and/or consist of some pus). Other possible symptoms are the sensation that something is inside of the eye at all times (known as keratoconjunctivitis), and excessive tearing.

Specific Symptoms

• There are three different types of pink eye, which are bacterial conjunctivitis, allergic conjunctivitis, and viral conjunctivitis. The most common of symptoms bacterial conjunctivitis are thick eye discharge (often green in color) and crusting of the eyelids. For allergic conjunctivitis, the symptoms are excessive tearing and itchiness or redness of the eyes. Itchy, runny or stuffy nose might accompany the other symptoms. For viral conjunctivitis, the symptoms include watery eye, discharge and eyelid crusting.

Pink Eye Treatments

• For bacterial conjunctivitis, patients are generally prescribed antibiotics. These antibiotics tend to come in either drop or ointment form. They are only effective for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis, and are not useful for viral pink eye. Viral pink eye generally does not call for prescription medicine. Eye drops and allergy pills (antihistamines) are often used for treatment of allergic conjunctivitis.

Warm Compress

• Applying a warm compress is an easy and effective way to soothe the uncomfortable symptoms of pink eye. Warm compresses can be used to manage all types of pink eye. The compress can be used along with lubricating eye drops for maximum relief and relaxation.