Joined: 28 Dec 2005 Posts: 1 Location: Philadelphia
Pink Eye Posted: 12-28-05 22:40pm
My 15 year old son awoke 4 days ago with a
red right eye that was irritated and
tearing. Two days later, the left eye
became red. He went to see his primary
care physician who told him he had an
“infection in his eyes” and prescribed
a topical antibiotic drop four times a
day. After two days, his eyelids were
more swollen, red and irritated. I went
back to his pcp because he was not getting
better. He changed his antibiotic drops
but wanted to make sure something more
serious wasn’t going on. My son was
referred to a local ophthalmologist who
suspected viral conjunctivitis but said it
was a little unusual to see so much
discharge. He asked me if I wanted to
have a new test performed on his tears
that could help confirm the diagnosis. I
thought it was best to know. The
ophthalmologist lowered his eyelid and
collected some tears on what looked like a
pregnancy test. About ten minutes later,
the test was positive and confirmed the
diagnosis of viral conjunctivitis. It
was nice to have a definitive answer but I
wish it had been done sooner. As it
turns out, my son was probably allergic to
the first antibiotic and this was likely
making his condition worse. He was kept
out of school for a full week and we used
over the counter artificial tears until
the redness improved. Unfortunately, my
daughter and husband both caught the same
virus but at least they did not waste time
trying antibiotic drops and I didn’t
bother returning to my pcp.
Why don't all family docs use such a test
for pink eye when they do the same thing
for strep throat?
