My son has a mild case of pink eye, and he is in kindy so I decided to let him stay home from school. W/ 30 other kids it would be difficult to keep an eye on whether he's rubbing at his eye or not. I know you can use eye drops, but he HATES them(they burn). I heard you can use a ring on your finger? I think it's the metal in the ring that is a natural healer? Snowy, or any
others that have medical background? I know i'm on the right track-help and...thanks:flower:

Anxious to hear any responses.
I will tell you that I'm prone to pink eye (allergic conjunctivitis) and have ALWAYS needed the drops to clear it up.

You only need the drops if it's from a bacterial infection, and I wouldn't fool around with that if I were you. If it's a side-effect instead from a virus or an allergy (and you'd probably need a doctor to look at it to be sure, and most of them will just prescribe the drops just in case), the drops won't do any good - but those will usually clear up on their own in a few days, or at least stay pretty mild.

Just from a lay perspective (and three kids), if the eyes are running mostly clear and watery, it's probably from an allergy or reaction to a viral infection. If you're getting the thick mucous that glues the eyelashes together at night, though, it's almost certainly a bacterial infection.

Don't know about your school, but mine won't let them in with obvious pink-eye without a doctor's okay. The bacterial kind is highly contagious for up to about 24 hours after starting the drops.

I think you'll definitely want to check with a doctor to make sure it's not bacterial. If it is, you can insist on oral antibiotics instead of the drops. When I was little, my mother had to go back to the doctor to get an oral medication because she was physically unable to force the drops into my eyes. I was such a sweet little kid. :)

--physicschick

You need to take him to his doctor to be check out, then with the doctor decide the best course of action.

He's only had it one other time, also mild and his ped. nurse just called in the drops. I'm very familiar w/ pink eye, my daughter got it horribly whether she had a respiratory infection or not, when she was little. I'd heard that the metal in a ring can be rubbed over/across an eye w/ the virus, and the metal natural heals it. Of course you wash the ring when you are done , but I just wasn't sure exactly how you do it. I appreciate the advice given-thanks. I will have to ask about the oral dose.

Just from a lay perspective (and three kids), if the eyes are running mostly clear and watery, it's probably from an allergy or reaction to a viral infection. If you're getting the thick mucous that glues the eyelashes together at night, though, it's almost certainly a bacterial infection. Totally random but as a kid I found the mucous that glued the eyelashes together fascinating. Did anyone else or was I just an odd kid?

I read recently in Mothering Magazine that breast milk is great for pink eye. Not sure how you'd get it if you weren't lactating yourself, though. :lol: It is anti everything from what the study said - they have even done studies on the effects of it on certain types of cancer cells and it's killed every one tested so far. Crazy, eh?

not to scare you, but...

I know it seems over the top, but I would not simply assume anything is fine if you are not a doctor. Certainly things may seem to be a run of the mill, easily recognisable thing.... but occasionally it is something dangerous.

When I was in 8th grade, sometime in the fall I had what the school nurse assumed was pink eye (conjuctivitus.) It was a Friday. The school policy was that I had to see a doctor before coming back to school (otherwise my mum probably would not have taken me to the doctor that day, but because of the weekend I had to go then in order to have a chance of attending school Monday.) Lucky for me she did. I was admitted to the hospital with a life threatening sinus infection. The infection was spreading to my brain, and the doctor's told my parents I WOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD if I hadn't been admitted that day. I felt fine, and had a mini vacation I thought... but my parents were scared to death!

the only remedy i know of is breastmilk. my son had pink eye and after 1 day of a few drops every few hours it went away completely. but yeah, if you aren't breastfeeding, it can be difficult to come by :bluesmile

the only remedy i know of is breastmilk. my son had pink eye and after 1 day of a few drops every few hours it went away completely. but yeah, if you aren't breastfeeding, it can be difficult to come by :bluesmile


This is what I was going to suggest also. Do you have any healthy, close friends or relatives who are bf that could express some for you?

olehippy

I second this - when my youngest was still bfding, i used drops in her eyes several times a day, and it cleared it up perfectly! :)

I read recently in Mothering Magazine that breast milk is great for pink eye. Not sure how you'd get it if you weren't lactating yourself, though. :lol: It is anti everything from what the study said - they have even done studies on the effects of it on certain types of cancer cells and it's killed every one tested so far. Crazy, eh?

Too crazy. I saw this post and was going to put the same response in. Wierd.

I don't know about breastmilk, but personally I think sticking a ring in my eye would be a lot more painful than some eyedrops. Check with your doctor, just in case.

The stuff that gums up your eyes (you normally have a little bit of it) is called gowl. The hazy film on the surface of the eye is gound. There are two kinds of gound, which make halos of different sizes. I think that the big halo is caused by white blood cells and the little one by bacteria. It wasn't until my pinkeye case a few years ago that I figured out the difference between gowl and gound.

I would get to a doctor. You need some antibacterial eyedrops if it is bacterial. You don't want to mess with it, the eyes are too precious. Pinkeye is also very contagious, so be sure to be careful. :wink:

Hope the little one feels better quickly! :flower:

Hey! You have to PM me. I want to know how your job hunt is going! :flowers:

It's been years since I've had it but I remember this worked REALLY well: I sliced up a carrot (with a carrot peeler) and put the slices in a bowl and then covered them with water. After a while I used the carrot infused water in a dropper and rinsed my eye out with it. I'd do this a few times a day. Something about the beta carotene in the water... It didn't burn at all if I remember correctly, it was actually very soothing.

Also at the first sign of pink eye just regular "eye drops" like clear eyes seemed to be enough to rinse out the eyes and clear up the infection or whatever it is that causes pink eye.

Teaching your son to not touch his eyes would be REALLY good because pink eye spreads like wildfire.