
Medication
- Keep your child home from school or daycare until they are no longer contagious.
- Distract your child whenever he or she wants to touch or rub the infected eye.
- Wash any discharge from your child’s eye several times a day using a fresh cotton ball or paper towel.
- Wash your child’s sheets, pillowcases and towels more frequently.
Self-care
Treatment. Pink eye treatment is usually focused on symptom relief. Your doctor may recommend using artificial tears, cleaning your eyelids with a wet cloth, and applying cold or warm compresses several times daily. If you wear contact lenses, you'll be advised to stop wearing them until treatment is complete.
How to tell if your baby has pink eye?
To reduce the symptoms of allergic pink eye you can:
- Take allergy medicine or use allergy eye drops.
- Put a cool, damp washcloth over your eyes for a few minutes.
- Use over-the-counter lubricating eye drops (artificial tears).
How to cure pink eye?
“Antibiotic treatment may be appropriate if your symptoms are severe, you have a weakened immune system, or your pink eye does not get better within a week,” he adds. Viral and bacterial pink eye is very contagious. If you or your child contracts these types of pink eye, Dr. Messoline offers the following advice to help prevent its spread:
What is the best treatment for pink eye?
When do you need antibiotics for pink eye?

What can I give my child for pink eye?
Bacterial pink eye: Your child's pediatrician or pediatric ophthalmologist may prescribe an antibiotic ointment or drops. Always take the full course of antibiotics prescribed by your doctor even if the symptoms go away.
What gets rid of pink eye fast?
If you're having bacterial pink eye symptoms, the fastest way to treat them is to see your doctor. Your doctor can prescribe antibiotic eye drops. According to a review from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, using antibiotic eyedrops can shorten the duration of pink eye.
Can I use eye drops on my child?
Mostly yes, if it's just to wet the eyes or treat specific eye conditions. That said, there hasn't been a lot of research to figure out if medicated eye drops are safe and really work for kids. Ask your child's doctor to suggest a dosage, and follow their instructions exactly. Report any side effects right away.
How do you treat pink eye at home?
Lifestyle and home remediesApply a compress to your eyes. To make a compress, soak a clean, lint-free cloth in water and wring it out before applying it gently to your closed eyelids. ... Try eyedrops. Over-the-counter eyedrops called artificial tears may relieve symptoms. ... Stop wearing contact lenses.
Can pink eye be treated at home?
Mild cases can clear on their own with no medical intervention within a few days for both viral and bacterial pink eye. Allergic pink eye often clears as allergic reactions are controlled. While pink eye heals, people may want to use the following: cold or hot compresses to reduce swelling.
What antibiotic eye drops are best?
As best as we can determine, the four best drugs to combat acute bacterial infection in adults are: bacitracin/polymyxin B/neomycin; tobramycin; 0.6% besifloxacin; and 1.5% levofloxacin.
Does my kid have pink eye?
Itchy or burning eyes If you notice your child is rubbing their eyes repeatedly or they're complaining that their eyes burn, your child may have pink eye. To relieve these symptoms, place a cool, damp washcloth on their eyes to help stop the itching and burning sensations.
Can I use artificial tears for kids?
If your child needs drops more than 4 times a day, use artificial tears without preservatives. They may irritate the eyes less. Have your child use a lubricating eye ointment or eye gel at bedtime. These are thicker and last longer, so your child may have less burning, dryness, and itching when your child wakes up.