Pink, when associatedwith breast cancer, symbolizes awareness and support.
Pink, when associated with the eye, usually means infection and
discomfort.
When it comes to your eyes, pink is not a good thing.”Pink eye” is
the common term for conjunctivitis. There are many types of conjunctivitis:
bacterial, viral, and allergic are the most common.
Obviously, the most common symptom of conjunctivitis is the eyes turn pink, it
can also cause the eyes to water, burn and/or secrete a discharge.
Bacterial conjunctivitis is usually the worst looking. There is a lot ofgreen or yellow mucus and can look pretty gross. Treatment calls for warm
compresses and antibiotic eye drops and usually resolves in 4 – 7 days. It is
rare, but occasionally bacterial conjunctivitis can cause serious damage.
Viral conjunctivitis doesn’t look as bad as bacterial, there is usually a
watery discharge instead of the thick mucus, but it can take a lot longer to
resolve, on some occasions even lasting months. For this type of
conjunctivitis, cool compresses are best, along with artificial tears. Some
cases of viral conjunctivitis are treated with steroids.
Allergic conjunctivitis looks similar to viral, but is not contagious and
follicles (little bumps) are seen when the lids are inverted. Fortunately,
there are many new prescription drops that are very effective and don’t sting,
most over the counter drops are effective, but they sting.
Because it can be difficult to tell one type of conjunctivitis from another, it
is best to see your eye care professional for appropriate medical treatment, to
get the healing started, or as the musician Pink would say, “Get the Party
Started”.