Expert: Dr Anand Shroff, MD, FICS - 7/1/2009

Question
I developed what looks like pink eye in my left eye. I am familiar with pink eye considering I have allergies and usually get this when allergies get bad, but it only takes about one to three days for this to go away with eye drops or ointment. In this case I have a redness in the white part of the eye with no mucus build up, swelling, or pain which is usually accompanied by pink eye. I just literally have red eye. I dont know if it is pink eye this time around considering it has been almost a week now and the red has not gone away. I did go see a medical doctor after four days of having red eye and he gave me eye drops and some antibiotics (z-pack) and said it was indeed pink eye. He said if I dont see any changes or if it gets worse to see my eye doctor. He did check to see if I had some damage or infection to the eye itself by using some drops and a florescent light and I assume everything was fine, but I dont understand why my eye is still red even after 3 days of medication. I do wear contacts, but took them out and have worn my glasses since I noticed my eye turning red. I dont have no other symptoms of the eye other than it is red. I can only remember a week before it was red I was sick with sore throat, body aches, cold chills, slight ear pain in left ear (same side as red eye)and felt stuffed up and had to spit out alot of yelloe/green mucus. I assumed I either had the flu or possibly a respiratory infection, but I developed the red eye after these symptoms went away. do I have something more serious going on with my eye than pink eye? my vision is fine other than the fact I have to wear glasses to see better. I do not feel pain in the eye or have build up or any other pink eye symptom. I am worried I may have something wrong that is causing my eye to stay red. any suggestions?

Answer
Dear Erica,

If the redness is like a local patch, this is probably a superficial bruising of the eye which may have happened inadvertently when rubbing your eyes. This takes over 10-12 days to fade away.

If it is general pinkish eye, it should get better, unless the antibiotic eye drops need an additional medication to support it like a mild steroid eye drop (only prescriptive).
However, not knowing what of the two it is, I would request you to observe for a few more days and if not better re visit the eye doctor. Please do not use contacts till then.

Best
Dr Shroff