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• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Treatments and Therapies

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Summary

Conjunctivitis is the medical name for pink eye. It involves inflammation of the outer layer of the eye and inside of the eyelid. It can cause swelling, itching, burning, discharge, and redness. Causes include:

• Bacterial or viral infection
• Allergies
• Substances that cause irritation
• Contact lens products, eye drops, or eye ointments

Pink eye usually does not affect vision. Infectious pink eye can easily spread from one person to another. The infection will clear in most cases without medical care, but bacterial pink eye needs treatment with antibiotic eye drops or ointment.

NIH: National Eye Institute

Start Here

• Conjunctivitis (Pink Eye) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Pink Eye (National Eye Institute) Also in Spanish
• Pink Eye (Conjunctivitis) (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• What Are Dilating Eye Drops? (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus)

Treatments and Therapies

• Choosing Wisely When It Comes to Eye Care: Antibiotics for Pink Eye (American Academy of Ophthalmology)

Specifics

• What Are Eye Allergies? (American Academy of Ophthalmology)

Images

• Pink Eye (Conjunctivitis) (VisualDX)

Statistics and Research

• Eye Health Data and Statistics (National Eye Institute) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Conjunctivitis (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Conjunctivitis: A review.
• Article: Genetic association and causal effects between inflammatory bowel disease and conjunctivitis.
• Article: Parental perspectives and concerns regarding exotropia surgery and comparison with clinicians'...
• Pink Eye -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• American Optometric Association
• National Eye Institute

Children

• Pink Eye in Newborns (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Pinkeye (Conjunctivitis) (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Teenagers

• Pinkeye (Conjunctivitis) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Allergic conjunctivitis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Conjunctivitis or pink eye (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Vernal conjunctivitis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish