Pink eye, or what is known as conjunctivitis in medical jargon, is a very common symptom consisting of reddened eyes, with or without pus drainage. There are actually many different causes of pink eye, and if you develop pink eye, you should consider going to an urgent care center, emergency room or your doctor’s office if you can be seen quickly. However, most cases of pink eye are harmless, such as allergic pink eye, and will go away in about a week on their own.
Children who have pink eye may report feeling although something is in their eye, although nothing is seen on physical examination, they may report more frequent tears, itchiness, and swollen eyelids may also be present. Because there are many different causes of pink eye, which include bacterial infections, allergic reactions and viral causes, the type of eye drops for pink eye will depend on the diagnosis of your physician. If your physician suspects that you may have a bacterial cause for your pink eye, then you will be given prescription eye drops for the bacteria.

Children who have itchiness associated with their red eye, and a history of allergies, might very well be diagnosed with allergic conjunctivitis. Their physician may prescribe either a pill for seasonal allergies or eyes drops for allergic conjunctivitis if you or your child is diagnosed with allergic conjunctivitis. There are many over the counter eye drops for allergic conjunctivitis that you could try for your red eye, especially if you have been diagnosed with allergic conjunctivitis and currently have the same symptoms.

However, self-diagnosing the cause of your conjunctivitis could be dangerous, especially if your conjunctivitis worsens and does not improve, or if your vision changes. You should immediately seek professional evaluation in by a physician in this case. Because bacterial conjunctivitis can progress quickly and rarely may lead to vision loss, it is prudent to seek medical evaluation, especially in those who have a history of eye disease.

Never put any medication in your eye which may contain steroids, or any medication that is not intended for treatment of conjunctivitis. Steroids actually inhibit the body’s defenses in the eye, and may cause a viral or bacterial infection to rapidly become worse and could lead to vision loss fairly rapidly.