Ugh, is this pink eye or not?

omurray

DS (4 yrs) has an ear infection and a bit of a cold.  He also has very bloodshot eyes with occasional gooey globs in the corners.  We woke him up in the night to give him motrin for the ear infection last night and his eyes were pretty gooey, but they aren't too bad during the day.  His eyes do not hurt or itch or bother him at all.  Everything I'm reading characterizes pink eye as painful and itchy, neither of which is true for DS.  DH thinks its just that his eyes are irritated by the cold virus.  Could be, but I hate to wait it out if its bacterial.  And, of course we were just at the Dr yesterday, but I didn't have them look at his eyes cause they were much better yesterday.  Thoughts? 

Hooray2005

Our pedi errs on the side of treating as if it's bacterial, because if it is, it can get worse quickly (especially if it's both eyes affected).

Here's a great link to help you decide if you need to call the pedi (love Seattle Children's Hospital's pages, can look up all sorts of symptoms):

https://www.seattlechildrens.org/medical-conditions/symptom-index/eye-pus

https://www.seattlechildrens.org/kids-health/page.aspx?id=59749

omurray

Hooray2005:

Our pedi errs on the side of treating as if it's bacterial, because if it is, it can get worse quickly (especially if it's both eyes affected).

Here's a great link to help you decide if you need to call the pedi (love Seattle Children's Hospital's pages, can look up all sorts of symptoms):

https://www.seattlechildrens.org/medical-conditions/symptom-index/eye-pus

https://www.seattlechildrens.org/kids-health/page.aspx?id=59749

This is an excellent resource - thanks so much!!

Hooray2005

Oh, and I meant to add that it's quite possible that your little guy now has the cold in his eye (hence the redness) - likely rubbed his nose, then his eye, then bingo - red    (we were just at the pedi for this last week for both boys - DSs' eyes weren't itchy/painful either).  Our pedi treated it as bacterial, and prescribed eye drops for 5 days for both boys - it cleared up the same day, so it's likely worth a call to see if they'll simply call in a prescription for you (especially since you were just there yesterday).    Good luck

 

Hooray2005

omurray:

Hooray2005:

Our pedi errs on the side of treating as if it's bacterial, because if it is, it can get worse quickly (especially if it's both eyes affected).

Here's a great link to help you decide if you need to call the pedi (love Seattle Children's Hospital's pages, can look up all sorts of symptoms):

https://www.seattlechildrens.org/medical-conditions/symptom-index/eye-pus

https://www.seattlechildrens.org/kids-health/page.aspx?id=59749

This is an excellent resource - thanks so much!!

You're welcome - glad it's helpful to you (I LOVE their website and simply google "Seattle Children's" and then the symptom I'm concerned about and their website almost always pops up at the top of the search results).

CubbyMama

E suddenly got gooey eyes out of nowhere last night, and she woke up with crusty stuff all over her forehead from rubbing them and smearing it around during the night. =P  I took her in today and found out she has a double ear infection that has gotten into her eyes, so now she has antibiotics plus eye drops.  Wheee, fun!  Hope your little dude feels better--I think it might be worth it to at least call in about the eyes and maybe they won't make you come back.  GL!

omurray

Cubby - that is so interesting.  DS has an ear infection too.  I called the Pedi on call today and she told me they are seeing a lot of this eye irritation with viruses right now.  She told me she doesn't think an antibiotic will help since she believes its viral, although I need to keep an eye on it.  So interesting how there are so many different opinions.  I guess we'll see how it goes.  It started in DS's left eye, but today that eye is clearer and the right eye is the bad one.  Hmmmm.  I hope K feels better soon.  Keep me posted - I'll be interested to hear if that antibiotic knocks it out fast.