Pink eye or conjunctivitis can be due to a number of causes from bacterial and viral eye infections to various inflammations of the front surface of the eye such as allergies and dry eye disease.

Proper diagnosis is the key to proper treatment. Make sure you come into our office, so that Dr. Penny can determine the underlying cause.

For infections:

• Take your medications as prescribed for the full course of treatment. Don’t touch the tip of your bottle to your eye
• Ladies- NO eye make-up! You can re-infect your eyes and build up a tolerance to the medication
• For bacterial infections- warm compresses for 20 minutes
• For viral infections- cold compresses for 10 minutes
• Wash your hands frequently, and sterilize anything you touch regularly such as door handles, phones etc. If your child has an infection, you also need to sterilize the toys. Try putting them in the bathtub with some Lysol or Mr. Clean in the water.
• Separate towels and washcloths from the rest of the family and change your pillowcase nightly to help break the cycle.

If you don’t start to respond within 48 hours, you may need to come back again to the office.