Pink eye symptoms include redness, oozing pus or watery discharge, itching, burning, and sensitivity to light. It can be highly contagious and should be treated by a doctor with soothing drops or antibiotics.
Symptoms of pink eye or conjunctivitis are pretty hard to miss because most people with the condition feel discomfort in the affected eye. Treatment for pink eye is important as some forms of it can be very contagious. Other times, children experience pink eye symptoms but are actually harboring ear infections. This can especially occur in infants, toddlers, and younger school-age children.
Common signs of conjunctivitis include redness in one or both eyes. Often, when conjunctivitis starts, it starts in only one eye, so it’s not unusual for one eye to look extremely bloodshot while the other doesn’t. However, if you ignored the redness in one, the infection may have spread to the other eye so that both eyes are extremely red and bloodshot.
Another common symptom of pink eye is the eye oozing pus or watery discharge. You may particularly notice this in the morning. Some people wake up to find that the eyelashes of the upper and lower eyelids are stuck together due to this discharge. If you notice it upon waking, use a little water to soften the dry wink effect before opening your eyes.
The affected eye may itch, burn, or scratch, and the eye may also hurt when exposed to bright light. It’s not unusual for an infected eye to always be painful, or you may feel uncomfortable opening or closing your eye. Some people will also get colds or congestion, or simply the nose may feel as congested as the eye is. Other people feel like they’re having an allergy attack. Unlike allergies, symptoms don’t go away within hours or days, and they won’t get better if you take an antihistamine.
It takes about seven days or so for viral pink eye to go away, and your doctor may prescribe some soothing drops to help promote greater comfort. Conjunctivitis caused by bacteria should be treated with antibiotic drops or oral antibiotics. Check with your doctor about how to protect others around you when you have pink eye. Both viral and bacterial forms of this condition can be highly contagious, spreading easily to the healthy eye and to other people’s eyes.
If you notice pink eye symptoms, see your doctor. From symptoms alone, you usually can’t tell whether the pink eye you have is viral or bacterial. A doctor can best take this determination and offer the best treatment methods and advice.
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