What to Know About Conjunctivitis or Pink Eye

You know it when you see it. Conjunctivitis (more commonly known by the more colorful moniker pink eye) happens when the conjunctiva — the thin, clear tissue lining the inner surface of the eyelid and covering the white part of your eye — becomes inflamed. Eyes become reddish and itchy, with swollen, crusty lids, and sometimes a watery or sticky discharge.

Pink eye is usually caused by a virus, and can be very contagious. You can catch it when someone with an upper respiratory infection sneezes or coughs in your direction, or when a virus hitches a ride on your mucous membranes and travels from your nose to your eye.

Less common: bacterial conjunctivitis, an infection caused by bacteria living on your own skin. Contamination — say, touching your eyes with dirty hands, sharing a towel with the wrong person, or applying eye makeup past its expiration date — can bring on a nasty bout.

Treatment

A 2017 University of Michigan study found that about 60 percent of patients are prescribed antibiotic eye drops, even though they are usually unnecessary. Of those patients, 20 percent have prescriptions filled for antibiotic-steroid eye drops that could potentially prolong or even worsen the infection. What's behind the blunder: “Pink eye is often diagnosed and treated by a primary care physician or urgent care provider, rather than an ophthalmologist,” says Michelle Andreoli, a Wheaton, Illinois-based ophthalmologist and spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “They may not be able to differentiate between conjunctivitis that's bacterial or viral, and prescribe a topical antibiotic. However, viral conjunctivitis doesn't respond to antibiotics.”

The good news is that in most cases of viral conjunctivitis, without any treatment, in a week or two your body recovers from whatever infection it had. A mild case of bacterial conjunctivitis may also get better without antibiotics, though medicated eye drops may be prescribed in some cases.