# I got pink eye! How do I get rid of it?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-pink-eye-how-do-i-get-rid-of-it/251198>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 19, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-pink-eye-how-do-i-get-rid-of-it/251198 "2004-06-19T15:23:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-pink-eye-how-do-i-get-rid-of-it/251198/21 "2004-06-23T02:53:17Z")

</div>

Keep in mind…

“Pink Eye” is a description of what the eye looks like.

“Conjunctivitis” is a description of one particular symptom (namely, swelling of the conjunctiva (which is the transparent membrane of the eyeball)).

Neither ‘pink eye’ nor ‘conjunctivitis’ describes the full suite of what symptoms there might be. And, most importantly, it doesn’t describe the cause of the illness at all. Not at all.

Pink eye and conjunctivitis can be caused by a viral infection (for which antibiotics are mostly useless), a bacterial infection, allergic reaction, irritation from a foreign substance (smoke, sand, dirty contacts, etc…).

Now, if there’s a huge build up of mucus (‘eye buggers’), then you do likely have an infection.

Peace.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-pink-eye-how-do-i-get-rid-of-it/251198/23 "2018-08-24T08:52:52Z")

</div>

> [@webeyeclinic](#):
>
> There are many [https://www.webeyeclinic.com/Articles/86/Pink-Eye/Causes-of-Pink-Eye](https://www.webeyeclinic.com/Articles/86/Pink-Eye/Causes-of-Pink-Eye)causes of pink eye. The most common causes are dry eyes, allergic and infection. Other causes are uveitis and glaucoma. Home remedies can help you with dry and allergies but other causes you should visit your eye doctor

While your answer is informative, the question was asked in 2004. The link you provided is not spam but it _is_ the same as your username.

Any reason? Because this sort of thing is usually spam.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-pink-eye-how-do-i-get-rid-of-it/251198/25 "2018-08-24T08:55:42Z")

</div>

> [@webeyeclinic](#):
>
> There are many causes of pink eyes. The most common causes are dry eyes , allergic conjunctivitis and infection. There are other serious causes such as uveitis and glaucoma. \<a href=“[https://www.webeyeclinic.com/Articles/182/Pink-Eye/Home-Remedies-For-Pink-Eye](https://www.webeyeclinic.com/Articles/182/Pink-Eye/Home-Remedies-For-Pink-Eye)”\>home remedies for pink eyes\</a\> can be very helpful for dry eyes and allergic causes but for other causes you should visit your eye doctor

Reported.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-pink-eye-how-do-i-get-rid-of-it/251198.md?page=1)