My son has been battling pink eye since Thanksgiving. We have been to the dr 3 times and I have a call into them now. He gets it red, swollen,goopy, itchy. We do the drops as the rx is written. It clears up for about a 5 days and it is back full force. Start the drops again this time continue 2 days longer than told to. Clears up bam back again. We have a different rx for the last time and I started that again this morning. No one else in the family gets it just him. We are all good about washing hands and not sharing drinks. Frustrated and waiting to for the dr to call back.

It sems to be going around, and I am questioning whether or not it really is pink eye now. It is being passed around in our family butit seems to only be the boys who have it, oddly enough. My friend's son has it too (from online and states away). I was told that if it didn't clear up within 24 hours then it was probably not pink eye. But at the same time I have toddlers with it so they are probably just re-infecting each other, I just don't know.

We are vigilant as possible to wash hands and use hand sanitizer all the time. But again I have toddlers with it, so you know, they touch every thing.

I'm definitely not an expert, but I've had pink eye, and got it from a child. They pass it to each other so easily. And Slingnmom is right, a prescription usually starts clearing up the problem right away.

However, you can re-infect yourself with a hand towel, face towel, wash cloth, clothes, etc. Washing EVERYTHING he touches is important while he's infected.

Your son's constant problem, though, may indicate a different issue. If the treatments aren't sticking, be sure the doctor is trying to find the root of the problem.

Slingnmom, it's interesting that you mentioned that boys around you seem more susceptible. Males blink more times per minute than females. I'm not sure why or how it affects the eye. And it may have absolutely nothing to do with the problem, but your observation is interesting. I'm going to Google some things.

Let us know how it goes, croppingmom.

Best wishes,

Nikki

Is there an official name for this eye condition? I told a friend i'd post on here on his behalf, but thought i'd have a little look around first to see if i could find something similar.

Well my friend is male and is 53, works in an office environment and has never had eye problems before. Towards the end of 2006 he began to get watery, red, itchy eyes. He went to a place which specialises in ears and eyes and they said what he had was simply a viral eye thing and only time would heal it. He recovered about 90% just prior to Christmas but has it back again now. Is this similar to what your kids have been experiencing? My friend is back on the eye drops now but would love to know what is causing it.

Thanks in advance and hope all your kids get better soon.

You can tell if Pink eye or Conjunctivitis is bacterial by taking a closer look at the "goo" in the corner of the eyes. If it is yellow it's due to bacteria. If it isnt it may be caused by a virus. Pink Eye is assosiated with alot of conditions such as:

Arthritis
Autoimmune diseases such as lupus, sjogrens, IBD and so on
Allergies
STD's

as well as viral and bacterial ingfections.

Hope this helps some..

Good luck!

Thanks for that info Pia :)