FAQ Regarding Pink Eye

What is Pink Eye?

You might become very jittery at the very mention of pink eye. As a matter of fact, you don’t have to. Pink eye, also known as conjunctivitis, is caused by reddening and swelling of men’s conjunctiva, the mucous membrane that lines the eyelid and eye surface. When it gets irritated or infected, the once clear lining turns red and swollen. Pink eye is common and not serious, lasting 7 to 10 days untreated and then going away.

What causes Pink eye?
As mentioned above, infections arisen from viruses or bacteria are often the main causes. Pink eye is also caused by dry eyes from lack of tears or exposure to wind and sun. When exposed to chemicals, fumes, or smoke, you will also get pink eye (chemical conjunctivitis). And if you are susceptible to allergies, the possibility of your getting pink eye is very high.

What types of pink eyes are there? What symptoms will you get once infected?

As we can tell from above mentioned causes of pink eye, pink eye always falls into viral, bacterial, and allergic ones, each with its own symptoms. Viral and bacterial pink eye are contagious and can infect others very easily, while allergic pink eye is non-contagious, free from any preventive measures to stop spreading.

Viral pink eye
First thing first, viral pink eye is often caused by virus, to be more specific, adenovirus, a common respiratory virus causing a sore throat or upper respiratory infection. Once you have viral pink eye, you will probably suffer from the following symptoms:
1. Swollen eyelids
2. Reddening of the white of the pupil.
3. Itchy or burning feeling in the eyelids.
4. Eyes tend to shed tears.

Viral pink eye symptoms usually last 5 to 7 days, but when it deteriorates, you need to consult with some experts to get medical treatment. Before that, you had better attend to personal hygiene in case that you spread it to others.

Bacterial pink eye
Your eyes will get infected when assaulted by bacteria in the eye. Common infections that will trigger the eruption of pink eye symptoms include staph infection, haemophilus influenzae type b, cat scratch disease and gonorrhea.

Symptoms of bacterial pink eye involves redness in the white of the eye, mild pain, swollen upper eyelid and gray or yellow drainage from the eye causing eyelids to stick together. If you want to get rid of these agonizing symptoms as soon as possible, you might as well obtain your prescription antibiotic treatment from doctors to alleviate their bad impact.

Allergic pink eye
If you are allergic to some substances, the probability of your getting pink eye is very high. Allergic pink eye or conjunctivitis can cause itching, redness and excessive tearing in both eyes. Your noses can also not escape the aftermath of these symptoms. It may be stuffy, itchy and runny.

Who is the primary victim of pink eye?

Generally speaking, almost every one at any age may fall victim to pink eye. But adolescents are the primary sufferer of pink eye symptoms. Owing to their special environment (often clustering together in classrooms or public setting) and also to their vulnerable immune system (susceptible to colds and other respiratory tract infections), children are more prone to get pink eye than adults. So taking extra precautions seems necessary and indispensable.

And those who have irregular sexual intercourse may also get pink eye, for during their exposure to infected secretions, they may be infected with bacteria associated with STDs.

How to prevent and treat pink eye?

Treatment
There is multiple ways to treat pink eye, contingent upon what type of conjunctivitis you are getting, be it viral, bacterial or allergic. When you are infected with bacterial pink eye, some antibiotic eye ointment or drops might stand you in good stead, but they don’t appear to work out quite well for viral conjunctivitis. For that matter, you’d better pay extra attention to hygiene, for the main cause of viral pink eye is ascribable to poor hygiene. You have to wait till it clears up gradually in a few days. If as ill luck would have it that you are one victim of allergic conjunctivitis, the best thing you can avail of is some artificial tears that help dilute irritating allergens. Antihistamine allergy pills or eye drops also may help control pink eye symptoms. Anyway, in order to make your eyes better, you can always place warm compresses on your eyes or drop some lubricating eye drops to ease the discomfort.

Precaution

Precaution is very important when it comes to eradicating pink eye from the very beginning. Both bacterial and viral conjunctivitis are highly contagious and can transmit by air easily to others. In this case, you should watch out more for hygiene problems, wash your hands oftener, and avoid using contaminated hand towels. Do not rub your eyes with unclean hands. If you are a contact lenses wearer, make a point of cleaning them thoroughly to avoid bacterial infection.

Keep in mind that pink eye is not a monster. A little attention on precaution and treatment will rule out the possibility of further exacerbation.