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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Causes Of Itchy Eyes

By Renee Foo   

 

In a nutshell, itchy eyes develop as a symptom of some other medical reasons. We need to understand and determine whether the itchiness in the eyes is a result of allergies or illness or diseases. There are many causes of itchy eyes. The following is an attempt to list the major and common causes of itchy eyes but this is no way a complete listing due to the many possibilities of rendering one with this itchiness in the eyes.

Allergy

Under the allergies section discussed, there are mainly 4 broad categories of these allergens that are capable of causing an allergy. To recap this again, they are the external outdoors, in-door household, food and medication as well as animal.

Allergies are often triggered by external environmental substances. Itchy eyes can develop if one comes into contact with dirt and dust (external environment/ in-door household), pollen from plants and flowers (external environment/ in-door household), animal dander from cats and dogs (external environment/ in-door household), and lastly food and medication.

Common Cold

Common cold affects people across all age groups. This is by far the most potent and dangerous illness to strike the human's immune system. It adopts a very agile structure in that it is able to mutate its form neutralizing the anti-bodies developed to suppress it. Common cold is a viral infection. When contracted, itchy eyes usually develop together with other symptoms such as running nose, sneezing, cough, headache, itchy throat, tiredness, congestion and fever. Common cold normally last 2 weeks and itchy eyes can last as long as this infection before it is clear up.

Pinkeye or Conjunctivitis

Itchy eyes may develop as a symptom of pinkeye. Unlike the other symptoms resulting from allergies or common cold, pinkeye is a highly contagious disease. This is even more potent among the young people. Pinkeye is usually a bacterial or viral infection. It may also be due to allergies. The name given as a result of allergy is called Allergic Conjunctivitis. This will cause the eyes to be itchy, red and watery.

Conjunctivitis can damage the cornea and impair the vision in some extreme cases if condition is left untreated.

Dry Eyes

Dry eyes refer to a condition resulting from the eye's lachrymal glands deficiency. The lachrymal glands are not able to produce adequate tears, thus making the eyes dry. This dryness in the eyes without the tears to moist the eyes normally result in much discomfort.

The irritated eyes are likely to develop redness, get itchy due to this dryness and in swelling are possible. Similar to allergies, the external factors such as dry weather and smoke can aggravate dry eyes condition. Artificial eye-drops are commonly available over the shelf for self medication to treat dry eyes.

Blepharitis

Blepharitis refers to a condition of a persistent inflammation of the eyelids. This condition may be due to a bacterial infection in the skin around the eyelids. While this may be a minor condition that does not mean that it will not cause a problem.

The resulting itchiness in the eyes can be very irritating.

Millions of people suffer from eyes diseases. Eyes are one of the most important organs of the human body, and it is vital that these eyes are well taken care of.

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Spotlight on Conjunctivitis, AKA Pink Eye

By Des Taylor

 

When the transparent membrane (conjunctiva) that lines the eyelid and part of the eyeball becomes inflamed or infected it is commonly referred to as pink eye (conjunctivitis). As a result of the inflammation small blood vessels in the conjunctive become inflamed resulting in a pink or red cast in the whites of the eyes.

Symptoms

Pink eye can make you feel like there is something in one or both eyes and when you wake up in the morning your eyes may be hard to open because of discharge that formed overnight.
Other symptoms include:

· One or both eyes itch
· There is redness in one or both eyes
· It feels like sand is in your eye
· Excessive tearing or weeping from your eye
· A discharge from your eye as you sleep

Causes

There are several different categories of conjunctivitis. They include viral, bacterial, allergic and conjunctivitis caused by an irritant. Both viral and bacterial are very contagious and easily passed from one person to another through physical contact. Viral and bacterial conjunctivitis is more common in children than adults. Allergic conjunctivitis is caused by indoor and outdoor allergens and irritant induced conjunctivitis can be caused by a foreign object or chemicals in the eye.

Treatment

Bacterial conjunctivitis is treated with eye drops or eye ointment prescribed by your doctor. You must use the prescription for the prescribed length of time which is usually several days. There is no treatment for viral conjunctivitis. It usually runs its course in a few days. In the case of viral conjunctivitis caused by the herpes simplex virus, your doctor may prescribe an antiviral medication.

If you are suffering from allergic conjunctivitis, your doctor may prescribe eye drops, steroids, antihistamines or anti-inflammatory medications. In addition, some allergies are controlled with over-the-counter medicines. If you are treating the symptoms yourself and your condition worsens, speak to a health professional.

Healthy eyes are important to your overall well-being. Conjunctivitis left untreated can lead to inflammation of the cornea, which can affect your vision. The key is early intervention when symptoms begin to show. Children with bacterial conjunctivitis are normally asked to stay home from school for a few days. Call your child's school to see what their policy states.

You can avoid contracting pink eye by washing your hands frequently, limiting contact with infected persons and avoiding allergy triggers. If you suspect that you or a family member has conjunctivitis it is best to be evaluated by your family doctor to receive the appropriate treatment and limit its spread.

Des Taylor is Senior Vice President of Merchandising of Eyeglass World, a nationwide eyeglasses superstore. With over 60 superstores across the country, Eyeglass World is one of the industry's leading eyewear chains. Each Eyeglass World location has a lab in-store which allows them to fill prescription eyeglasses in the same day in most cases. Learn more about prescription glasses at http://www.eyeglassworld.com/eyeglasses/

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