Your eyes are delicate and complex organs that protect themselves against multiple problems, as your eyelids guard against bright lights and retain moisture, eyelashes collect dust and debris, blinking prevents dryness, and tears wash out irritants.
Unfortunately, when bacteria and other particles get into eyes, they can irritate and impair vision. In the case of pink eye (conjunctivitis) they can even infect other people. To protect yourselves and everyone around you, here are the steps you should take when you discover you have pink eye.
Residents of the Pelham Gardens area of the Bronx, New York dealing with pink eye or other vision problems can find help with the dedicated team of doctors at Bronx Eye Associates.
The conjunctiva is the transparent membrane that lines the inner surface of your eyelid. When you get conjunctivitis, it means this part of your eye is inflamed, and that inflammation is what creates the red or pink color associated with it.
Infectious conjunctivitis is the type most people think of with this problem, but it can also derive from allergies and irritation from chemicals, pollution, and chlorine in pools.
The infectious type can be bacterial (staphylococcal or streptococcal) or viral (upper respiratory infections). You can contract both types from contact with other people but the bacterial form also comes from touching your eyes with unclean hands and sharing makeup.
Aside from the discoloration already mentioned, there are many other signs of pink eye, such as overactive tear glands leading to watery eyes, a crusty coating on your eyelids, a sore, gritty feeling in your eye, swelling from irritation or rubbing your eyes, itching, and burning.
It can cause a thick discharge that often builds up overnight, and may affect one eye first and then spread to the other.
While infectious pink eye does often go away on its own, you want to find ways to shorten its duration and lower the risk of others getting it:
Getting prescription eye drops is the most effective way to reduce the amount of time you have to endure this condition, but you still need to ease the irritation and other issues while the drops do their work. You c
