Pink Eye: Vital parenting information from Eyewitness News

When you're sitting at a desk at school, it's easy to accidentally touch the area around your eye... and when you do, sometime's you pass the commonly spread infection of pink eye.

If your son or daughter hasn't come home from day care or school with a case of pink eye, consider yourselves lucky. It's very common, and extremely contageous.

Dr. Joe Matusic, MD, Pediatrician
All you have to do is touch another child. Everyone does this once a minute (wipes eye). I've got it on my hands, I touch a door knob, another child or anything, and they touch their eye and bingo.

Pink eye happens when the thin membrane covering the inner eye lid, and the white part of the eye, get's inflamed. Traditionally pink eye is thought of as a bacterial conjunctivitis. And the regular version of the problem is what you see circulating and daycare's or schools. You generally see this;

Dr. Joe Matusic, MD, Pediatrician
You've got an infection in the eye and it doesn't have to be pink. You can actually have yellow or green discharge. And that's considered pink eye. You can have a pink eye without the discharge. And that's considered pink eye.

Usually see the infection in the morning when the child wakes up. They don't feel it. You see it. Your doctor can prescribe drops to clear up the eyes... and the treatment at home you can use is a simple compress.

Use a freshly laundered wash cloth, and warm water... leave it on for a minute or two. Then wipe out the residue from the around the eye. With this, you're trying to flush out the infection. Repeat this about every hour while your child's awake. And each time, use a fresh cloth. However, Dr. Matusic says any symptoms of itching may actually indicate allergies not pink eye.

Dr. Joe Matusic, MD, Pediatrician
Eye itching and rubbing and it's a clear tearing, that usually an allergy. Often you can use over the counter drops like Zaditor or Visine A.

You'll want to make sure your child doesn't go back to school or daycare too soon, and spread this infection around. You're in a contageous period until there's no pink in the eye and no discharge. It could be anywhere from 1-7 days. Unfortunatelly there's no standard. And some antibiotic drops can take a few days to work.