Red, mattery eyes

[mamaof5boys]

My unvaxed 3 yr old has had gasteroenteritis for the past couple of days, plus my older kiddos have all had an upper respiratory virus the last several weeks.  Today my LOs eyes are very red, goopy and puffy.  They started to get red a couple of days ago, today it is substantially worse.  This happened to one of my kiddos last year and I remember the doctor saying they don't mess around with infections in the eyes and gave us gentamiacin drop to use for 3 days.

I feel very concerned for my sweet little angel who says his eyes hurt.  What would you do?  I could go ahead and give him drops.  Is this something that needs to be treated before Monday?  Thanks!!

[mamaof5boys]

Anyone??? It's not conjunctivitis....

[2xy]

May I ask why you say it's not conjunctivitis?

[elisheva]

I have a ds who actually gets snot coming out of his eyes when he's really stuffy - our doc confirmed for me that the eyes are, in fact, an extension of the respiratory system and it was snot and not pink eye.

[mamaof5boys]

Originally Posted by 2xy 

May I ask why you say it's not conjunctivitis?

Well, I guess it could be... It just doesn't look like the conjunctivitis I've seen before. It seems like with my kiddos they have had it in one eye only. My concern was something like a bacterial infection. How long do you let something like this go on to see if it resolves on it's own? His brother now is presenting with slight red in one of his eyes so I'm wondering if it is something contagious....

Thanks for the feedback!

[2xy]

Conjunctivitis just means that the conjunctiva is inflamed. It doesn't mean bacteria aren't present. Conjunctivitis can be viral or bacterial in origin. And conjunctivitis is highly contagious, so it's likely the other kids will get it if it's not treated.

Viral pinkeye usually has a watery discharge. Snotty eyes usually mean bacteria, so yeah, your son should probably see a doctor. Aside from that, hand-washing and not sharing sheets, towels, or pillows is important.