What is pink eye?
Your eyeball and eyelid are lined with a thin membrane of tissue called the conjunctiva. Pink eye occurs when an infection inflames the conjunctiva. It causes the whites of your eyes to become pink, and your eyelids can become red and swollen. Pink eye also causes symptoms including:
- Watery eyes
- Itchy eyes
- Crusty or sticky eyelids
- Sensitivity to light
You might feel like you have something stuck in your eye or find that your contacts don’t sit on your eyes comfortably. You could also notice that the lymph nodes in front of your ears are swollen.
What causes pink eye?
In most cases, pink eye is caused by a bacterial or viral infection. If you have viral conjunctivitis, you could also develop an upper respiratory infection causing symptoms like coughing, sneezing, and a sore throat.
You can also develop pink eye as a response to an airborne allergen like pollen, dust, and animal dander. Other environmental irritants like smog, cosmetics, and the chlorine in swimming pools can cause inflammation.
Pink eye is usually extremely contagious and quickly spreads when you don’t wash your hands before touching your eyes.
How is pink eye diagnosed?
Benjamin Optical diagnoses pink eye by carefully examining your eyes. Your doctor asks you about your symptoms, general health, and lifestyle. They study your eyes and eyelid and can take a sample of any discharge from your eye to check for a bacterial infection.
How is pink eye treated?
Benjamin Optical provides customized treatments of pink eye depending on the cause of your infection. While mild cases of pink eye can resolve on their own, you’ll often need medicated eye drops to help your body fight off the infection and reduce the inflammation in your conjunctiva.
You can avoid reinfection by replacing your contact lenses as well as their case and solution. You should also get rid of any cosmetics like mascara, eyeliner, and other eye products that you used before your symptoms showed up. You should also thoroughly clean your eyeglasses and glasses case.
If you’re concerned about pink eye, call Benjamin Optical or schedule an appointment online today.
