Conjunctivitis(Pinkeye)

Commonly known as pinkeye, conjunctivitis is an inflammation of the conjunctiva, the clear membrane that covers the white part of the eye and lines the inner surface of the eyelids. It is a fairly common condition and usually causes no danger to the eye or your child's vision. It can be caused by bacteria, viruses, allergies such as hay fever, and irritants in the environment. With antibiotic treatment, it typically goes away without complications.

What are the symptoms of pinkeye?

Children with pinkeye complain of a scratchy feeling or pain in their eyes and may have a lot of watery or pus discharge. The infection turns the whites of the eyes pink or red. When the child wakes up after a sleep, pus or discharge often makes the eyelids stick together.

Treatments

Bacterial causes of pink eye require an antibiotic, either topical drops or ointments or an oral antibiotic if your child has another bacterial infection (like an ear infection).

Allergic conjunctivitis can be treated with typical allergy medications, and topical drops.

Viral causes of pink eye do not usually require treatment.

Pink eye can also be caused by irritants, like smoke and dust.

Whatever the cause, you should usually wipe away any eye discharge with a warm moist cloth and wash your hands frequently in case it is contagious. Over the counter can also often help with the redness and irritation in older children.

How is pinkeye transmitted?

child with the infection touches the discharge from his eye and then touches another child.

An uninfected child touches the eye of an infected child and then touches his or her own eyes.

An adult wipes an infected child's eyes and then touches his or her or another person's eyes.

Applying Eye Medications

The other big problem when faced with a child that has pink eye, is how to you get your kids to sit still so that you can get the eye drops in?

The usual recommendation is to sit your child down, tilt his head back, gentely pull the lower eye lid down and place the eye drops or ointment into his eye.

Another method, especially if the above method isn't successful, involves tilting your child's head back, having him close his eyes and then placing the drops on the inner corner of his eyes and then have him open his eyes. The drops should get all over his eyes with this method.

An eye ointment can usually be used for newborns and infants. Older kids often don't like the blurry vision that can accompany using an eye ointment.