🔴 How to Get Rid of Pink Eye | 3 Must Know Facts About Pink Eye and Conjunctivitis

so how do you get rid of pink eye? well in
this video I’m gonna share with you three must know facts about pink eye and
conjunctivitis Plus stay tuned toward the end for some
extra bonus tips and ways you can prevent this nasty contagious disease
from spreading let’s take a look hey everyone and
welcome I am dr. Joseph Allen here at doctor eye health the channel helps to
learn about the eyes vision and finding the best vision product so if we knew
here to the channel consider subscribing also remember at any point throughout
the video I always include additional information and links in the description
below in case I forget to mention anything so pink eye is actually a very
common condition that most people have at least one point in their lifetime
usually as a child but even as an adult in fact pinkeye is so contagious it
often spreads through classrooms and workplaces kind of like a brush fire now
the first thing you need to know is that pinkeye actually doesn’t exist in the
medical world we call it a conjunctivitis and that describes
inflammation of the conjunctiva which is the clear membranous tissue that covers
the white part of the eye and the inside of your eyelids during the
conjunctivitis the blood vessels will dilate and become bigger making the eye
appear red and then these blood vessels actually leak fluid which causes the
tissues to swell conjunctivitis can actually cause by many different reasons
including bacterial infections viral infections allergic reactions and many
others some of the most severe cases of conjunctivitis include causes from
gonorrhea chlamydia or the herpes simplex virus now the second thing you
need to know about pink eye are the symptoms because oftentimes just by
symptoms alone we can actually categorize and figure out what type of
pinkeye you might actually have know a bacterial conjunctivitis has some really
classic telltale signs of course the eyes can be red pink you’re gonna have
irritated and kind of that swelling of the eye but you often will have pus that
kind of green mucus coming from the eye in fact you’ll actually get that very
classic pink eye crust that ends up kind of drying out on the eyelid you know the
kind that you wake up and your eyelid is crusted shut and you kind of have to
like clean the eyelid just to even open it yeah that’s probably bacterial now
compare that to the symptoms of a viral conjunctivitis which if you didn’t know
viral conjunctivitis is by far the most common cause
all cases of pink eye and it’s actually caused by the same virus that causes the
common cold if you just learn something smash that like button
but viral conjunctivitis often presents again with that red pink eye that feels a
little swollen like something might be stuck in there but often instead of kind
of that mucous discharge you actually get just watery tearing eyes throughout
the whole day and that’s really frustrating because those tears that are
coming on all day you try to wipe those away and that’s actually one of the most
contagious forms of pinkeye that are out there hence why it’s tends to spread
through school and work so fast however allergic conjunctivitis is often
not just one eye it’s actually usually both eyes and it’s associated with more
that itching burning sensation of the eyes and oftentimes presents with more
things like you know sneezing and coughing and a running nose now vision
is usually not severely effected in cases of pink eye unless it converts to
something called a keratitis and that actually includes inflammation
and possible infection of the cornea which is the clear window surface to the
eye most cases of keratitis usually present during infections from people
who abuse contact lenses or from people who have a nasty type of virus infection
called ekc which stands for epidemic keratoconjunctivitis which is a very
nasty variant form of just a viral infection but thankfully now we actually
have a tool in the clinic that actually lets us test for those specific virulent
strains of viruses that can cause pinkeye and know it kind of looks like a
pregnancy test but really we just take a sample of the tears run it for about ten
minutes and boom there we know if you have that nasty type of virus tip number
three how do you get rid of pinkeye well the reality is that if you have a
pinkeye or maybe one of your family members does it’s actually best to take
them in to see the eye doctor because your eye doctor has both the tools and
the training to appropriately make the right diagnosis and prescribe the
appropriate treatment in cases of bacterial conjunctivitis we often do
prescribe an antibiotic because well it’s a bacterial infection and
antibiotics work great in cases of viral conjunctivitis there’s really not much
we can do prescribing antibiotics doesn’t really help because viruses
don’t respond to antibiotics so really we just treat the symptoms which means
using cold compresses artificial tears they make you more comfortable some
doctors do prescribe steroid eyedrops in these cases however that’s debated in
med because steroids although they help
relieve the symptoms of the eye they actually can prolong the infectious
period of that virus so yeah sometimes it’s not the best idea thankfully there
are some offices that offer an office space treatment or like a betadine wash
to help relieve the symptoms and maybe shorten the infectious period that’s
something that not every clinical work does but yeah you can always look into
that in cases of allergic conjunctivitis we often prescribe antihistamine
eyedrops along with maybe some oral antihistamine medication or maybe some
other type of things like cold compresses as well I have done a whole
other video on allergic conjunctivitis and eyedrops for allergies if you’d like
to check that out I’ll hook that up here in the YouTube card above as well as in
the description below again some types of pinkeye are really nasty like
gonorrhea chlamydia and the herpes simplex virus actually can cause
permanent scarring on the eye and that can lead to permanent vision loss so
please if you’re having some type of pinkeye it’s best not to chance it make
sure you see your eye doctor get the appropriate diagnosis and the best
treatment for you even if it’s just to be safe you only get two eyes so please
take care of them now a few extra bonus tips for you because he stayed toward
the end pinkeye is extremely contagious so please make sure you wash your hands
frequently along with maybe wiping things down that are commonly used
around the house with either bleach or some sorta antibacterial wipes that
means including like doorknobs children’s toys any sort of cupboard
handles I actually make sure I wash the keyboard my cell phone how often have
you cleaned your cell phone I even cleaned my pens after I see a patient
with pinkeye in the clinic also don’t share towels at home make sure you wash
your pillow cases because the seepage from your eye could end up getting on
the pillowcase and that can just spread you know to the other eye and if your
makeup wear make sure that you throw your makeup away because that could be
actually contaminating into your makeup and then you and again just give it to
yourself again and if you’re a contact lens where don’t wear your contacts if
you have any sort of suspected infection or red eye and then once everything is
resolved when you go back to contacts make sure you put in a fresh pair
contacts are known to harbor some of the nastiest bacteria and viruses that cause
high infections so eye health question today when is the last time you had a
pinkeye was a bacterial or viral go ahead and comment in the section below
I’d love to hear from you or other one thanks
watching if you like the video give me a big thumbs up subscribe for new if you’d
like to see another cool video from dr. eye health feel free to click or tap the
screen appear to the side or if you like to see another cool video go ahead and
click or tap the screen down over here again this is dr. Joe Allen here from
doctor eye health the channel helps you with the eyes vision finding the best vision
products keep an eye on it will talk to you soon