Every year there are approximately 3 million cases of pink eye in the United States, making it a fairly common condition. While pink eye isn’t necessarily dangerous, it can disrupt your life as you deal with an eye that’s itchy, irritated, and often, painful.
Here at Express Lane Urgent Care, we believe in providing our Turlock, California, area patients with the tools they need to avoid medical problems like pink eye. To that end, we’ve pulled together the following tips to prevent pink eye from making a most unwelcome appearance.
Pink eye, which is also known as conjunctivitis, is a bacterial or viral infection that gets into your eye, creating inflammation on the inside of your eyelids and on the surface of your eye. These infections are highly contagious and easily transferred, so do your best to keep your hands clean whenever you’re out in public or around someone with pink eye.
Just like the flu, the infection can transfer from your hands to your eyes easily, so a good hand-washing or sanitizing regimen can effectively kill harmful bacteria or viruses.
While keeping your hands clean can go a long way, avoid rubbing your eyes with your hands all the same. If you have an itch, use a clean cloth to cover your hands to rub at your eye, avoiding direct contact.
You should avoid sharing towels, eye drop dispensers, and especially eye makeup products with others. These items are breeding grounds for the pink eye-causing bacteria and viruses, so steer clear of using anything near your eyes that’s been shared with others.
If you wear glasses, be sure to clean them often to remove any foreign matter from the surface areas, including the lenses and frames. As well, be sure to thoroughly clean your contact lenses according to instructions, including their cases.
When pollen is flying around in the air, and you have known allergic rhinitis, you may be more prone to allergic conjunctivitis. During high pollen count days, protect your eyes with glasses and arm yourself with a good antihistamine and eye drops.
If you or someone in your family has had pink eye, be sure to throw out or thoroughly clean anything that may have come into contact with the infection, especially eye makeup applicators, eye drop dispensers, and contact lens cases. Bacteria and viruses can still thrive in these environments and reinfect you after your first round of conjunctivitis.
If, despite your best efforts, you still succumb to pink eye, rest assured that we can quickly and easily treat the problem, allowing you to see clearly again.
If you have more questions about preventing pink eye, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (209) 664-1550 or you can come in during business hours.
