Preventing and Treating Pinkeye
Your child's eyes are runny and red. He complains of burning and has a discharge forming around his eye. Your child, most likely, has conjunctivitis – also known as pinkeye.
Pinkeye involves an inflammation of the conjunctiva -- the thin, clear tissue that lies over the white part of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids.
While pinkeye may cause alarm because it makes the eyes extremely red and spreads rapidly, it's a common condition and usually results in no long-term eye or vision damage.
How is Pinkeye Spread?
A child can contract pinkeye by touching an infected person, or something an infected person has touched. Pinkeye spreads quickly from one eye to another through contact as well.
Both bacteria and viruses can cause pinkeye. The disease spreads easily from person to person, but is not a serious health risk if diagnosed promptly. Pediatric doctors usually recommend keeping kids diagnosed with contagious conjunctivitis out of school, day care, or summer camp until the condition resolves.
Pinkeye has a number of different causes, including:
- Viruses
- Bacteria (such as gonorrhea or chlamydia)
- Irritants such as shampoos, dirt, smoke and pool chlorine
- Allergies
Babies and Pinkeye
Many babies are born with a narrow or blocked tear duct, a condition, which usually clears up on its own. But sometimes, it leads to conjunctivitis.
Report your newborn's pinkeye immediately to his or her pediatrician. Left untreated, pinkeye has the potential to cause serious health problems in the susceptible newborn.
How do I Know if It's Pinkeye?
Pinkeye symptoms differ based on the cause of the inflammation. In addition, symptoms can vary from child to child.
Eye discomfort represents the most common symptom of pinkeye. A child may complain of a feeling of sand in his or her eye and many kids present with redness of the eye and inner eyelid.
You may also notice discharge from your child's eyes. This may cause the eyelids to stick together after the child wakes up from slumber. Your child may also have swollen eyelids or sensitivity to bright light. In cases of allergic conjunctivitis, itchiness and tearing are common symptoms.
When to Contact the Pediatric Doctor
If your child starts to develop increased swelling, redness, and tenderness in the eyelids and around the eye, along with a fever, call your child's pediatric clinic. These symptoms may indicate that the infection has begun to spread beyond the conjunctiva and thus requires additional treatment.
Your child's doctor will conduct an exam of his or her eyes and may take a sample swab of fluid from the eye to determine the precise cause of the disease. This allows the physician to properly identify and treat the culprit, which can include bacteria or viruses, including a sexually transmitted disease.
Other serious eye conditions can mimic conjunctivitis, so a child, who complains of severe pain, changes in eyesight, or sensitivity to light should see a pediatric physician.
Pinkeye Treatments
The treatment for pinkeye depends on the cause. Pinkeye infections caused by bacteria, including STDs, is treated with antibiotics. Infections caused by viruses, like a common cold, must resolve on their own. For pinkeye caused by an irritating substance, washing your child's eyes for five minutes to clear the substance should offer relief.
Relieving Symptoms of Pinkeye
To relieve the symptoms of pinkeye:
- Protect your eyes from dirt and other irritating substances.
- Avoid the use of makeup.
- Remove contact lenses, if you wear them.
- Artificial tear eye drops may help relieve itching and burning from the irritating substances causing your pinkeye.
Preventing Pinkeye
Viral pinkeye is highly contagious. To prevent pinkeye caused by infections, maintain proper hygiene such as frequent hand washing to minimize transmission. Make certain that your child doesn't share eye drops, tissues, eye makeup, washcloths, towels or pillowcases with others. Wash towels and other linens that your child has used in hot water separately from the rest of the family's laundry to avoid contamination.
If you know your child is prone to allergic conjunctivitis, keep windows and doors closed on days when the pollen is heavy, and dust and vacuum frequently to limit allergy triggers in the home. Irritant conjunctivitis can only be prevented by avoiding the irritating causes.
Questions and Answers
Conjunctivitis, commonly known as pinkeye, is an inflammation of the conjunctiva, the clear membrane that covers the white part of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids. Find here home remdies for pink eye.
Your child complains that something is in his eye, but upon close inspection, you can't see a thing. He continues to rub his eye, which is red and weepy. Your child has conjunctivitis, commonly known as pinkeye.
Conjunctivitis commonly known pink Eye. It is an inflammation of the conjunctiva, the clear membrane that covers the white part of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids.
A fast way to get gout relief is with baking soda which I've found it to be very effective. But now that I have gotten my uric acid levels under control I don't need to use this home remedy anymore.
Gout was once the 'disease of kings' due to their diet, but not any more. Anybody can have gout nowadays. Easy access to relatively cheap, mass-produced food and alcohol has meant that we are all at the mercy of gout through our diet.
We need to keep our omega 6 foods at a minimum and include more omega 3 into our diets. Adding food items such as walnuts, chia seeds, to our salads is a simple and natural way to get our omega.
Most children demonstrate some impulsive/hyperactive behavior or have difficulty remaining on-task. Although typically found in boys, in 3-7% percent of children the inattentive, hyperactive, and/or impulsive behavior is recognized by clinician as being a significant problem that is not typical of normal development.
Tomas, a 34 year of carpenter, went to see his girl friend of six months at the end of a hard day. Noticing a strange car in the driveway, he peered into her window with some curiosity. He saw her having sexual relations with another man. Enraged, Tomas went home and returned with his shotgun.
Most OB/GYN specialists classify pregnancies in women over 35 or those in women with diabetes as high risk. But an increasing number of medical professionals consider pregnancies in obese women as high risk; women with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more are considered obese. Research suggests that maternal obesity may contribute to a number of complications in pregnancy that could seriously harm both the mother and fetus.
United States Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin issued a Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding the last week in January 2011. Benjamin hopes the initiative will educate the public about the numerous benefits of breastfeeding for both mothers and babies as well as generate support in the workplace and home for nursing moms. The program will employ public service announcements, airing on over 1,000 U.S. television stations, to raise community awareness regarding breastfeeding benefits.
Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. Those in the medical community often call chlamydia the silent disease because 75 percent of infected women and 50 percent of infected men experience no symptoms. When symptoms do occur, people usually notice them one to three weeks after exposure to the disease.
Immunizations protect children from serious illness and disease. By making certain that your children receive the proper immunizations at the proper intervals, you can help keep your child from contracting some of the world's deadliest diseases. Your pediatrician or a staff nurse will give your child the immunizations, also called vaccinations, in the form of a shot.
Whether you are planning the perfect summer trip to the beach or a getaway to visit grandparents for the holidays, traveling offers the opportunity for adventurous and exciting times. However, nothing can ruin your family vacation faster than motion sickness. Although motion sickness most commonly affects adults, children between the ages of 5 and 12 also have a high risk of experiencing motion sickness when travelling by car, airplane or boat.
Discuss this Article
