Can pink eye go away on its own?

[bensgirl1222]

Last Thursday ODS had some goop coming out of his eye. It was greenish and would bead up at the corner of his eye. I honestly thought it was allergies bc he gets really bad allergies this time of year. By Sat his eye turned a little bloodshot along with more goop. I started to think he had pink eye but I remembered having pink eye and my eye was glued shut when I woke up and DS hasn't had that problem. So yesterday he complains his ear hurts. Take him to urgent care and yea he has an EI. Ask the doctor about his eye and she said he also has pink eye. Well, we couldn't get a script for the eye drops bc it was late and the pharm had to order it. Well, today his eye seems better and I haven't seen any eye boogies. Can pink eye go away on its own? Or was this maybe something else and the doctor jumped the gun? Should I still give him the drops?

ETA- he's on amoxicillin for his ear so could that be helping his eye heal?

[Chimichanga]

When ODD was in DC, they thought she had pink eye (goop, red colored, etc) but it turned out it was an EI. The pressure just sort of "presented" itself in a way that looks like pink eye. But, if you had it diagnosed.... not sure.

did the doc do tests or was it just based on visual?

[bensgirl1222]

Based on visual. No tests. And she didn't even say anything until I pointed it out.

[Pookie]

If it's viral conjuctivitis versus bacterial conjuctivitis, it will go away on it's own.

[littlebear]

From netdoctor

For bacterial conjunctivitis, research evidence shows that while 64 per cent of cases will clear on their own within five days, antibiotic eye medication does lead to increased cure rates and earlier remission. There is no effective treatment for viral conjunctivitis.

So unless the doctor did some type of test to know that it's bacterial, then there's no way of knowing if the antibiotics should be prescribed. It also doesn't look like it helps much for bacterial cases anyway.

[bensgirl1222]

Thanks! I'm just going to let it ride and see how it looks tomorrow.

[gardenmommy]

Just an FYI for the future..DS got pink eye a few weeks ago the day before we were to fly out on a week vacation. I called the Ped for a prescription for eye drops and they said that they no longer like to write scrips for pink eye because it is so hard to tell if it is viral or bacterial and the meds only work on bacterial. They also think most kids take too many antibiotics and since pink eye can clear itself easily they hesitate to prescribe meds for it. They suggested I pick up an over the counter pink eye drop which helps to flush the eye and relieve any irritation and they said is very very similar to a prescription.

[mcgwigan]

When I was at my Eye Dr with my 4yo that had pink eye a the time I asked if it would generally resolve on it's own within a couple days and he said yes it would. In the instance above where the child had it due to an EI, I'd think that after a few days of riding it out you'd wind up at the Dr's to have it checked out anyway. My younger DS actually had pinkeye as a result of an EI a little while ago -it cleared up when his EI was treated.

[bensgirl1222]

Thanks! It ended up clearing up on its own. We treated the EI. Good to know they go away on their own.

[jodylovesscotty]

I think your antibiotic treated the pink eye as well. Once my daughter had both EI and Pink Eye and they said she only needed one medicine. It cleared them both up.