Chronic Pink Eye! Help!

Hand Hygiene! We preach the importance of this in hospitals and it really is the best way to prevent infection/re-infection. Wash hands frequently, before putting hands to the face or mouth, after putting hands on the face, after using the restroom, after coughing or sneezing, etc. This will reduce your chances for reinfection.

Also, walk around your home with lysol or clorox wipes and try to imagine every place you put your hands in a given day - door knobs, drawer pulls, computer keyboard & mouse, light switches, telephone, cell phone, purse or bag handles, etc and disinfect them. Also, disinfect your child's toys with the same cleaners or wash plush things in the washing machine. Use fresh pillow cases & sheets at night (get cheap ones at Walmart if you don't want to have to wash them every day).

If it keeps flaring up, check to see if its allergies. I have eye allergies bad, which makes it look like pink eye. I have the eye irration, redness and sometime icky stuff, but becuase I have been dealing with it so long, I can tell if its pink eye or just allergies. Also, you could try taking Clartin Reditabs or Zyrtec, just to see if it will help you. Those medicines can't be given to the 18 month old though.

Be sure you are medicating both eyes...not just the one that's giving you both trouble. And, continue to treat it a good while after it *seems* to be normal again. Keep your hands away from your eyes and wash them really well after using the medication. That's really all I can suggest.

We just started daycare in Mid May and have gone through TWO back to back cases of this. It started out with a drop of goop one day upon awakening, then more the next day, then crusty eye booger strips on the third day and by day four we had the "eyes glued shut" thing. TWICE it happened within a couple of weeks exactly the SAME WAY!!

It looked like it was flaring up again last week. This would have been THREE TIMES in one month. I was about to pull my hair out. I had a script for drops but I am worried about putting the same stuff in there over and over for recurring infections. I felt like there was something resistant or just not sensitive to the medicines we have tried.

I was getting SO frustrated. I have a friend that is an ayurvedic practitioner and while I was scared to go with his recommendations, I gave them a try. It's still a work in progress, but here goes:

1. We started vitamin C-my daughter is 18 mos and tiny, she's just under 20 pounds. He recommended 250 MG of vitamin C per day. For me, he recommended 2500 MG of vitamin C per day. We have both been taking it with no adverse effects.

2. I bought Silver Wings brand colloidal silver drops from Sprouts, the 250 ppm concentration in the dropper bottle. I placed one drop in each eye 3 times per day for three days (we were completely clear by day 3) and then 1 time per day for 3 more days. I did this for myself as well as my daughter. It doesn't sting, it feels just like putting water in your eyes but it worked for us and we seem to be doing great for now. FINALLY.

I didn't like the idea of using the silver after the stories of agryria, etc, but I was about to lose my mind with the eye infections. My plan was to do the silver and if it didn't work after day 6 I would go back to the Dr.

I hope this helps!! Good luck!

We have used 2 different remedies over the years and both have worked. The first worked best if the pink-eye was less than 72 hrs. old. Wash your eyes out with a saline solution every hour and put Stye cream (available at drug stores) on the edges of the lids twice a day. The other was to buy "Pink Eye Remedy" made by Similasan (also available at the drug store.) Follow the directions and keep using it for several days. It's a homeopathic remedy so it works differently than the pharmaceuticals and prescriptions. But it WORKS.

You may want to check with you GP and see if allgeries/sinus issues is aggravating or even causing it. You may need to treat both together to solve the issue. Also if you wear glasses be sure and was them on a reg. basis with soap and water (no bleach as it will damage the frames and possibly the lenses).

Best wishes to you both I know how frustrated you must be.