Oh no pinkeye!

[ozarkmom]

My younger ds had pink eye about 3 weeks ago. Now oldest ds has to leave today to go back to college and he has pinkeye. I can't call our doctor because it's Sunday. DS really needs to get back to school beause next week is finals. We still have drops left from his brother's eye infection and I'm wondering if I should just start ds on those and send him back to school.

 

[hpygrll]

I have two boys in daycare - pink eye seems to be a regular occurence. If we notice it starting in one we automatically start the drops that we have left over. Even the pediatrician says it's ok. I would start the drops. After being on them for 24 hours he will no longer be contagious.

Good luck!
Jenny

 

[kimkarli]

Definately start the drops!!!!!!!!

 

[MouseWorshipin]

Most pink-eye is viral, and goes away on its own. Since anti-bacterial drops don't work on viruses, they do no good for most pink-eye. If it is bacterial, the stuff that you find in the morning will be all over both eyes and greenish. If it is on one eye, not tons of it, and yellow, you've got a virus and all the drops in the world won't help.

 

[mickeymousemom]

Also, I think many people don't understand that there are at least a few types of conjunctivitis(pink eye) and most of them are NOT contagious. Many people take themselves or their kids to the pediatrician instead of an ophthalmologist and end up being misdiagnosed. The only real way to tell is with a microscope that the ophthalmologist has. I worked for an ophthalmologist for almost 8 years as an ophthalmology tech and I can''t tell you the number of times we ended up seeing kids of all ages(and some adults) because the family doctor misdiagnosed them....so either they had a typ of pink eye that was not contagious or they had something totally different and were wrongly medicated. Yes, I know pink eye runs rampant in day cares and preschools, and in those cases its surely contagious...I just want people to realize that gooky eye junk and a red eye do not necessarily pink eye make. If it were me, I'd go straight to the ophthalmologist(if insurance allows...this is covered under your medical) or ask for a referral.

Nothing against family doctors and peds, but I've seen too much of this crap come in after patients have used the wrong drops for days and/or they never had pink eye to begin with. We've even had parents bring kids in because the school nurse or family doctor panicked and under no circumstance were they allowed back in school until it cleared...in these cases we had to write a note and explain that the child was not contagious.

Sorry for the rambling...

 

[Tinkerbelle'sMOM]

Oh my, I wouldn't start someone else's drops...if the tip was contaminated and they don't have the same type of infection, then you would be passing one bug to the other. That is a no-no!

Most pink eye is viral. Right now allergies are running wild and we have seen lots of stuff that parents think are pink eye and it isn't. If it is viral it will clear up in 3-5 days, if it is bacterial it will stick around. Also, you can try allergy Visine to see if that clears it up.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Don't you have a prompt care he can go to today at home. Or what about the college health center tomorrow.

 

[mickeymousemom]

Oh my, I wouldn't start someone else's drops...if the tip was contaminated and they don't have the same type of infection, then you would be passing one bug to the other. That is a no-no!

You are SO right...I wasn't thinking about any of that(and yes, if someone called to our office and asked, I would have said exactly what you said above)....see what staying at home for two years will do to ya??

I was also going to post about allergic conjunctivitis, but thru that whole post i was constantly beng distracted by the kids....with allergic conjunctivitis though, more often than not it will be seen in BOTH eyes and not just one. Visine Allergy may be okay for a temporary solution, but I wouldn't use Visine for much of anything actually. If you look at any OTC eye meds, you'll see that Visine is much cheaper than some others out there. This is because the preservatives in it are cheap and harsh. They actually can KEEP your eyes red. We have also seen numerous patients who complain of constant red eye, yet have used Visine for months...one patient had used it for about 20 years several times a week and was in for a routine eye exam, but happened to complain about the constant red eye thing. The doctor told her to STOP the Visine and gave her some samples of a GOOD OTC eye moisturizer...the redness stopped.

So, don't listen to me...Tinkerbelle's mom is right. And I would also take the advice of Carol and try to get him seen today somewhere else...at least he could get drops that were his own and he could then be seen at school later if need be.