Your child wakes up in the morning and cries out because she cannot open her eyes. You run to her and notice a thick lining of mucus along her eyelids. You wipe off her eyes with a damp towel and inspect further – what are normally the “whites” of her eyes are now an angry red. What is going on here? Should you call the doctor? What’s your next course of action? Can your kid still go to school?
First things first – your child has the textbook symptoms of pink eye.
Wait… pink what?
“Pink eye,” a lay term for conjunctivitis, is an inflammation of the conjunctiva, the clear tissue covering the white of the eye and the inner eyelids. Inflammation of the eye causes redness, hence the name pink eye. The inflammation can be caused by an incredibly wide variety of conditions, including something in the eye, chemical irritation, trauma, uveitis (an inflammation of the eye that extends inside the eye), episcleritis (inflammation of the surface of the eye) , allergy, viral infection, bacterial infection, and inflammation of the eyelids (blepharitis). More serious conditions inside the eye can also cause a red eye, such as endophthalmitis (infection inside the eye) and tumors. The most common types of conjunctivitis in children won’t cause any long-term visual damage, and will go away on their own.
Why does your child have it?
It’s pretty hard to tell what kind of conjunctivitis your kid has just by looking at the eye, but maybe this will help: viral conjunctivitis has a mild amount of watery discharge, whereas bacterial conjunctivitis has a small amount of white or yellow or green discharge. Allergic conjunctivitis has a great deal of watery discharge in many cases.
There are many possible ways your child could have contracted pink eye. The source could be from everyday bacteria and viruses to allergens and irritants in the environment (such as chlorine and smoke). Everything your child touches with their hands can be easily transferred to the eye, resulting in irritation, and then inflammation.
What should you do?
If your child has white or yellow or green discharge from the eye rather than clear, take her to the pediatrician or ophthalmologist for evaluation. If the discharge is clear but the eye is incredibly painful, take her to the pediatrician or ophthalmologist. If the eye is itchy or mildly irritated and has a clear discharge, care for it as below and wait a couple of days to see if it begins to improve. Viral conjunctivitis is like a common cold of the eye. It may look bad, but it clears on its own rapidly after passing to the other eye and everyone your child knows! (Or at least it can seem that way. See below how to lessen the spread.)
Treatment is generally uncomplicated. Antibiotics treat bacterial pink eye. Allergy medications treat allergy-induced pink eye. Viral pink eye normally goes away on its own, and antibiotics are not necessary.
What can you do immediately to lessen the symptoms?
A clean, cool, moist towel can help soothe irritation and pain. This can also be used to remove the crusty discharge that clings to the eye in the morning. The moist towel should soften the dried discharge. Then you can use a cotton ball or q-tip to clean the edges of the eyelid. One MAJOR point to remember: always fully wash and sanitize your own hands after cleaning your child’s eye or touching the washcloth that touched her eye – DON’T touch your eyes until you’ve washed your hands. Pink eye can be extremely contagious.
Can your child still go to school?
Unfortunately, not if your child has viral conjunctivitis. Since viral pink eye is extremely contagious, schools require a doctor’s note before your child can resume classes.
What can I do to prevent my child from getting pink eye again?
One of the best ways to reduce the likelihood that your child will contract pink eye is to reinforce hand-washing and to teach them to keep their hands away from their face and eyes. As a parent, I know this is easier said than done! Cutting down on sharing of towels, pillows and other near-face items also helps prevent contamination.
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