Question about Pink Eye.

[kel5944]

One of my eyes has become seriously irritated and pink in the last 2 days. The upper lid has swollen and it is a very visible difference in size in comparison to my good eye. Do the eye lids swell with pink eye? I looked up conjunctivitus on google images and it comes up with some sick pictures. I have never had it or known anyone that has had it to ask. I havent been playing in my tank lately so I am not worried about toxins. Thanks for your input.

[Sk8r]

It could be that. If it is, limit exposure to bright lights, wear sunglasses, being careful of cross-contamination, don't touch the affected eye---especially don't touch it and then touch the healthy one---and I'd advise dropping by a clinic. They can run a quick test, dying your eye and looking at it under a special lamp that will turn up any scratch or lesion. It costs, but no sense letting something nasty go untreated. It's going to drive you nuts for a week if it's pinkeye, and they surely must have an ointment that can relieve the discomfort. My own experience with it involved breaking my arm and having ether accidentally dripped into the afflicted eye, so I am a bit alarmist, perhaps, but get it treated.

[UH_OH_5_OH]

Ask Chitwood !

[Sugar Magnolia]

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sty/DS00257

Just got one of these and am being treated with antibiotic drops and doing hot compresses several times a day.

[joeychitwood]

Good morning. Traditional "pink eye" is a bacterial infection of the clear membrane overlying the white part of the eye globe. Matter and pus exude from the membrane.

If the lids swell significantly, the problem may be a stye or cellulitis of the lid. A stye is an obstructed gland on the lid margin. Drainage of the pus is the treatment. Moist warm packs can help bring the gland infection to a point. Cellulitis requires oral and sometimes IV antibiotics.

It would probably be a good idea to get checked, especially if the lids continue to swell.

[Ocicat]

Does it itch like crazy? That was the main symptom I had when I got it. The description does sound like pink eye.

I thought it weird that it's highly contagious but usually you only get it in one eye...

[55Reef]

I'm just getting over Pinkeye in both eyes. I went to the Doc.
He perscribed some drops. After 3 weeks it is still not completely cleared up.

When My co-workers found out they told my to stay home until it's better. It's very contagious.

This may sound odd. But could "pinkeye" come from our tanks?
My Dr. asked if I had been in the ocean recently.

[vonodie1]

OMG, Dr. Joey mentioned a stye. Oh, I had one of those on a couple of different occasions under my eyelid of the only eye that I can see out of. It hurt like heck and swelled up like crazy. My eye was pink, but not from pink eye; from the irritation and dryness feeling the stye gave me. My eye doc brought another doc in to look at it (I always feel like a guinea pig at the eye doc for some reason every time I see this doc he always wants to have others look in for some education) and then asked me if I was or planned to become pregnant (I said no) then he gave me a prescript for some erythromyocin or something like that to put into my eye and told me to put warm wash cloth on it several times a day and to come back in a week to see him.

I had pink eye in the 6th grade and it left some mucous stuff on the upper and bottom eye lids. (like in the morning when I woke up the eye was matted shut).

[Coral Dilema]

If treated properly with antibiotics, pink eye is no longer contageous after 24 hours, according to my sons pediatrition anyway. He gets it at least once a year and usually an ear infection to go with it. When he was teething he kept one prettymuch all of the time.

[Wolverine]

Originally posted by Coral Dilema
If treated properly with antibiotics, pink eye is no longer contageous after 24 hours, according to my sons pediatrition anyway. He gets it at least once a year and usually an ear infection to go with it. When he was teething he kept one prettymuch all of the time.

That's really true. Most pinkeye is viral, so antibiotics make no difference. There's a very severe form called epidemic keratoconjunctivitis that is extremely contagious (the virus can live for days on a dry surface). Children are more likely to get bacterial conjunctivitis than adults. The problem is that there is currently little evidence that treating bacterial conjunctivitis in children makes any difference in either the time course or the final outcome; there's a fair amount of debate over whether it should be done at all.

Significant pink eye can cause eyelid swelling, but, as mentioned, it could also be a chalazion or a hordeolum (both of which are often labelled as "stye", which is a generic term).

Is the eye itself red/pink, or primarily the lid?
Do you have any pics you can post?

If you have sensitivity to light, get it checked out. There have been a few cases here and on some of the other BB I frequent where people have had what they thought was pink eye but turned out to be iritis, which is inflammation inside the eye, and not just on the surface. That's a much more serious condition. One good way to tell is to shine light in the unaffected eye, and see if it hurts the bad eye.

Dave

[crp]

I'm no doctor, but when I get pink eye, I throw warm tea bags on them. usually clears them up pretty fast and makes them feel better.