Home Remedies for Pink Eye

By Jaya Patel

 

Pink eye symptoms include redness, itching, dry eyes and discharge. There are three types of pink eye - viral, allergic, and bacterial. Viral pink eye is the most common of the three and caused by the same virus as the common cold and as with the common cold there is no exact treatment for it.

Viral pink eye is highly contagious and can be spread on contact so staying away from those that have it and keeping your hands clean are very important in not contracting it. Your eyes may have excessive tearing and slight discharge of mucus. Bacterial pink eye symptoms are more severe as there is a large significant discharge of puss, heavy crusting, and can affect both eyes. Allergic pink eye normally occurs due to persistent allergies. Occasionally extreme irritation from chemicals and fumes can also make you susceptible to the condition.Pink eye can also show up as a result of your immune system being compromised from various long-term conditions such as lyme disease and vascular diseases.

The most common cause is contracting the viral version through someone else. This is frequent amongst children as they pick it up from other kids in school and daycare. You can also get it from excessive exposure to chlorinated water from swimming in a pool or not keeping your contact lens clean or sanitized. If you do wear contacts and you get pink eye, you should stop wearing the lenses until your eye has completely healed.

Most of the time, pink eye is an occasional occurrence and goes away after a few days. if you get chronic pink eye or if it lasts for more than a week, then you must work with a doctor to diagnose other things going on in your body.

The natural remedies work best for viral pink eye (which is the most common). The correct therapy can drastically reduce and eliminate the condition from a week to 48 hours and sometimes within a day. Please remember that as with other natural remedies, different therapies have different results on individuals and the effectiveness of these remedies is highly dependent on your prior health history, other existing conditions in your body, your emotional well-being, and your genetic makeup.

Here rare some tips and natural remedies for pink eye:

1. Please leave your eye alone, I know this sounds too obvious to even mention but you can literally prolong your condition two to three times if you cannot resist the urge to keep touching or rubbing the infected area.

2. Keep your hands clean. Another obvious advice but it needs to be mentioned. You will do your family members and others around you a big favor by not spreading those germs.

3. Stay away from too many over the counter creams and ointments, they really don't help that much and may end up even irritating your eye even more.

4. Eat a diet rich in antioxidants such as lots of fresh vegetables and fruits to support your natural healing. Juicing some vegetables is a great. I like to take the "Emergen-C" packet every day when I feel that I'm getting something (this is great in general and doesn't have to be just for pink eye). You can get these packets for both adults or children and are great supplement when you get sick.

5. An Ayurvedic remedy is a coriander eye wash. Coriander, fennel and cardamom are cooling herbs that are beneficial whenever your body experiences irritation or inflammation. Add 1 teaspoon of whole coriander seeds to a small clean bowl. Add boiling water to it, cover, and let it seep for 15 min. Strain into another bowl. Use a sterile cotton ball to soak in this remedy, lay down and apply to your eyes for 15 min. Repeat 3-4 times a day.

6. Chamomile and elderberry blossom teas are very helpful in easing the discomfort and to help it heal naturally. Make the tea, let it cool, and apply with clean cotton ball. You can also apply the tea bag directly to the eye.

7. Aloe Vera juice can be very comforting, soothing, and healing. Witch Hazel has similar soothing effects.

8. A drop of castor oil in the eye is very effective for some people.

9. A couple of drops of raw unfiltered honey is therapeutic as it provides immediate enzymes and vitamins to the effected area of the eye.

10. Grated potato compress has been found to be very healing. Potato is a natural astringent and helps to disinfect.

If you found this article helpful and/or if you have any comments and suggestions, please take a moment to post here and let me know your thoughts.

Jaya Patel has a health and wellness online store. She is a blogger for all things healthy and non-toxic. She is dedicated to empowering others to achieve holistic health for them and their families through their food choices, cleaning products and personal care products. Examples of topics she writes about are home remedies for various ailments, super foods that pack the most nutritional punch, natural and alternative therapies, non-toxic and truly natural products for your home, skin and hair.

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