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Your Guide To The Best Eye Drops For Pink Eye (Conjunctivitis)
Pink eye treatment varies depending on the type of conjunctivitis. Eye drops, ointments or oral medications can all be used depending on the cause.
Allergic ConjunctivitisAllergens like pollen, dust, pet dander and other environmental triggers can cause allergic conjunctivitis—a non-contagious form of pink eye that causes watery eyes, itching and burning. Your medical provider may prescribe one or a combination of medications to combat your symptoms.
The most common medications for allergic conjunctivitis include:
Home remedies for relief from allergic conjunctivitis include:
Infectious conjunctivitis refers to pink eye caused by a virus or bacteria—both can pass easily from person to person. However, treatment of infectious conjunctivitis doesn't always require medication.
For bacterial conjunctivitis, your doctor may prescribe antibiotic eye drops or ointment to kill the infection-causing bacteria. Antibiotic eye drops that may be prescribed include:
Antibiotic ointments that may be prescribed for bacterial conjunctivitis include:
Antibiotics, though, won't help viral pink eye because the infection is caused by a virus. "Pink eye often occurs in tandem with an upper respiratory infection and often will get better without any treatment once the respiratory condition improves," says Robert Gold, M.D., president of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus and senior partner of Eye Physicians of Central Florida in Orlando.
The infection has to run its course, but your doctor may suggest lubricating eye drops or ointment to soothe irritation and make you more comfortable. "Over-the-counter artificial tears can make the eyes feel more comfortable," explains Dr. Gold.
Antibiotic eye drops do not work to cure viral conjunctivitis. But "if there is evidence of a bacterial infection often associated with yellow or green discharge (drainage)," explains Dr. Gold, "antibiotic eye drops may be prescribed by your primary care doctor, ophthalmologist or optometrist."
The following home remedies may help relieve symptoms of viral or bacterial pink eye:
Chemical conjunctivitis is an eye inflammation due to exposure to a chemical irritant such as chlorine or smoke. Treatment for chemical conjunctivitis typically involves flushing the eyes and using lubricating eye drops to soothe the discomfort.
"Chemical injury to the ocular surface requires immediate attention by an eye doctor," says Saleha Munir, O.D., an optometrist at the University of Maryland Medical Center and clinical assistant professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
According to Dr. Munir, those who present with chemical conjunctivitis should:
Antibiotic drops may be prescribed for chemical conjunctivitis when there's a risk for "super-infection," explains Dr. Munir, which is a secondary infection caused by bacteria.
Itchy Eyes And Conjunctivitis Might Be The Latest COVID-19 Symptoms
Experts are seeing a new symptom emerge from the latest COVID-19 subvariant: conjunctivitis, also known as "pink eye."
As the symptoms of COVID-19 changed over time with each new emerging variant, common complaints became suspicious. Just as a runny nose can no longer be immediately dismissed as "just a cold" or allergies, now red and itchy eyes, especially in babies and young children, may not be caused by cold viruses — instead, it could be a symptom of XBB.1.16, an omicron subvariant now being closely monitored across the world.
XBB.1.16 More Likely to Cause Fever and Pink EyeThe new subvariant, dubbed "arcturus," has been reported in 29 countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Although the earlier subvariant XBB.1.5 is still responsible for the majority of COVID-19 cases in the United States, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), XBB.1.16 infections are rising quickly, with the percentage of cases nearly doubling from 3.9 to 7.2 percent in the last week.
Although the new variant is very similar to XBB.1.5, it has one additional mutation in the spike protein which makes it more contagious, says William Schaffner, MD, professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Arcturus also has two somewhat distinctive clinical features, says Dr. Schaffner. "It is more likely than the other omicron variants to produce fever and it is producing conjunctivitis (pink eye), especially in children. So far, the pink eye appears to last several days to a week, similar to the conventional viral pink eye," he says.
It's Doubtful That Pink Eye Will Be a Major Way That COVID-19 SpreadsSchaffner doubts that pink eye presents a major new way of spreading the virus. "But because the virus can get on the fingertips and is so contagious, there likely is some more person-to-person spread, particularly among children," he says.
Doctors in India First Spotted Pink Eye in Young Children and Babies with COVID-19Arcturus was first discovered in January and is spreading notably in India, says Schaffner. Healthcare providers there began to see conjunctivitis as a COVID-19 symptom in early April.
"For the last 2 days, have started getting pediatric COVID cases once again after a gap of 6 [months]! An infantile phenotype seems emerging — treated infants w/ high fever, cold & cough, & non-purulent, itchy conjunctivitis w/ sticky eyes, not seen in earlier waves," read an April 6 tweet by Vipin Vashishtha, MD, a pediatrician at Mangla Hospital in Bijnor, India, and former head of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Immunization.
Other Respiratory Viruses Have Eye SymptomsThis new symptom of COVID-19 isn't surprising, "because many respiratory viruses include eye symptoms in their spectrum of illness," says Amesh Adalja, MD, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore.
In fact, most cases of pink eye are caused by adenovirus, but also can be caused by other viruses, including herpes simplex virus and varicella-zoster virus, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Adenoviruses are a group of viruses that typically cause respiratory illnesses, such as the common cold, conjunctivitis, croup, bronchitis, and pneumonia, according to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
Treatment and Prevention of COVID-19 and Pink EyeThe treatment for COVID-related conjunctivitis is symptomatic, says Schaffner. That means prescribed eye drops or ointment will improve eye symptoms without addressing the basic cause of the disease.
To prevent the spread of XBB.1.16, all the usual COVID-19 precautions should be taken, and it's also important to avoid people with pink eye and to emphasize frequent handwashing, says Schaffner.
COVID-19 testing still detects this variant quite well, and so people who think they may have been infected should be tested, says Paul Pottinger, MD, professor in the division of allergy and infectious diseases at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.
For adults and children who are not yet fully vaccinated and boosted, the new subvariant is "another good reason to get that taken care of," says Dr. Pottinger.
Pinkeye Cases Rise In Allergy Season. It Might Be A Covid Symptom, Too.
Pinkeye — an inflamed, itchy and painful eye — is common during allergy season. But now some doctors are concerned the ailment may also be associated with a new coronavirus subvariant.
Health experts say they have not conclusively linked the condition, formally called conjunctivitis, to the subvariant Arcturus. But anecdotal reports suggest the subvariant may produce fever and conjunctivitis, mainly among children. "It's occurring in the setting where they've documented community spread of this virus," said William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
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