If your eye is swollen and red, you may haveconjunctivitis, commonly known aspink eye.
When the cause of the condition is bacterial, a healthcare provider may prescribe antibiotics to speed up recovery.
Pink eye comes up whenever the clearconjunctivathat covers thesclera(the white part of the eye) is inflamed.
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The blood vessels are swollen, making the eye appear pink.
Usually, it’s possible for you to count on pink eye to clear up on its own.
However, treatment is sometimes used to speed up recovery.
In the case of bacterial conjunctivitis, antibiotic drops or ointmentnot oral antibioticsmay be prescribed.
Antibiotics can help speed bacterial conjunctivitis recovery.
Your immune system can often fight off pink eye in a week to 10 days.
The most appropriate antibiotic will depend somewhat on the bacteria causing the infection.
Your healthcare provider will decide what is best suited for your particular case.
Typically, your provider won’t prescribe oral antibiotics.
Most bacterial infections respond to topical antibiotic drops or ointments.
But your healthcare provider may give you an oral prescription in cases of infections such asgonorrheaorchlamydia.
Which Types of Pink Eye Can Be Treated With Antibiotics?
Onlybacterial conjunctivitiscan benefit from antibiotic treatment.
However, you could also take other steps to help soothe your eyes and promote healing.
Steps to consider include:
How Long Does Pink Eye Last?
Still, it may take as long as two weeks for this to completely dissipate.
But for some this may take as much as two or even three weeks to resolve.
Antibiotics won’t do anything to help with viral conjunctivitis.
If you have a bacterial infection, you may be prescribed a topical antibiotic drop or some ointment.
If you have viral pink eye, antibiotics won’t help.
But for some viruses, a specific antiviral medication can speed recovery.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Conjunctivitis (pink eye): treatment.
University of Wisconsin – Madison.Pink eye.
