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Usually viral and self-healing — antibiotic drops are rarely needed.
Also known as: conjunctivitis · pink eye
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
Inflammation of the conjunctiva — red, watery, itchy or sticky eye. Causes: viral (common, very contagious), bacterial (pus), allergic or irritation. Usually harmless and self-limiting; see a doctor for severe pain, reduced vision, light sensitivity or a one-sided pus-filled eye. Hand hygiene and your own towel slow the spread.
A circumscribed, tender lump exactly on the lid edge is not a conjunctival problem. It heals with moist warmth — and does not get squeezed.
Severe pain, worsening vision, marked light sensitivity, one-sided with a narrowed pupil: that is not an ordinary conjunctivitis and belongs with the eye doctor the same day.
The viral form is very catching for days, above all via the hands. Keep towel and pillowcase separate, wash hands often, do not rub the eye.
A red eye with a lens in is a matter for the eye doctor until proven otherwise: infection of the cornea under the lens moves fast. Replace the old lens and the case.
Itching on both sides with clear, watery tearing speaks for an allergy; yellowish discharge with stuck lids in the morning more for bacteria; a watery eye after a cold for a viral form. These three routes are treated differently.
Cortisone eye drops from the medicine cabinet can do great damage in a herpes infection of the cornea. They belong in the eye only after an examination.
The viral form lasts one to two weeks, is highly infectious and needs no antibiotic. The bacterial form clears in about six out of ten people even without drops within a week; drops shorten it by one to two days. Lids stuck together in the morning point rather to bacteria, watery tearing with a sore throat rather to a virus. The viral form stays infectious for up to about two weeks.
Antibiotic drops work only against bacteria — in the viral form, which makes up the larger share, they change nothing and irritate the eye further. Even in the bacterial form about six out of ten people heal within a week without drops; the drops shorten it by one to two days. Cortisone drops belong in medical hands: with a herpes infection of the eye they worsen the course considerably.
Pour hot water over a black tea bag, let it steep, take it out and let it cool to lukewarm — never apply it hot.
The viral picture: first one eye, after one to two days the second, watery tearing, a swollen lymph node in front of the ear. It is very catching and lasts one to two weeks.
The bacterial picture: thick, yellowish discharge that keeps running during the day, and lids that stick together in the morning. This too heals by itself in many.
The allergic picture: strong itching, swollen lids, clear tearing, with sneezing and a running nose — and it comes at the same time every year.
Severe pain instead of scratching, worse vision, marked light sensitivity, a deep redness right around the iris, an unequal pupil. Then it is about the cornea or the iris — and that is urgent.
Both eyes, strong itching, watery discharge and the nose too: that is the allergic form. It is treated differently from the infectious one.
Not needed with the usual form. It belongs alongside when the lid is swollen and hot and there is fever — then it is about the eye socket and not about the conjunctiva.
These two pigments gather exactly at the place of sharpest vision and filter short-wave light there. Kale, spinach, chard, broccoli and egg yolk are the sources.
The retina holds particularly much zinc; it is needed to turn light into a signal. High doses over months lower copper, though — so the two are considered together.
The outer segments of the seeing cells consist largely of a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid, and the tear film needs it too.
The seeing pigment is built from vitamin A. A lack shows first as poor vision at dusk and as a dry surface of the eye.
The by far commonest form goes back by itself, in about one to two weeks. What helps is cool, moist, clean — and separate towels, because it is easily passed on. No preparation shortens that course.
Popular, and exactly here lies the difficulty: chamomile belongs to the daisy family, and the conjunctiva reacts to it particularly easily with mugwort or chamomile allergy. On an irritated eye of all places chamomile is therefore not a good choice — boiled water, cooled, does the same without that risk.
Recommended for everything inflammatory. On the conjunctiva neither acts in an amount one notices — the course depends on whether it is an irritation, an allergy or an organism, and those three need three different answers.
Effects on inflammation and triglycerides established; cardiovascular prevention is mixed. Watch quality and freshness.
A red, watering eye with a feeling of pressure that does not settle can come from the thyroid and not from an infection. With the eye involvement of Graves’ disease the conjunctiva stays irritated for weeks.
Cortisone eye drops do not belong in self-treatment: with a herpes infection of the eye they worsen the course, and over weeks they raise eye pressure. Neither is visible until it is too late.
Treatment follows the cause — virus, bacteria or allergy. In the allergic form histamine-rich food can add to the symptoms in the pollen season.
Eyebright and warm compresses are the traditional use for irritated eyes.
Camomile compresses are much recommended — on the eye, though, they often irritate and can act allergenically.
Traditional eye plant; as a compress, never as drops, and never with purulent inflammation.
Again as a warning: tea tree oil is used against lid-margin mites in diluted ready-made products by the eye doctor — mixed at home it does not belong near the eye. The cornea does not forgive that.