Toddlers eye - what is this?

[Moonshine160]

My 17 month old DS has been crying nearly all afternoon and constantly rubbing his eye.
We first noticed it this morning that it looked a bit red and puffy but thought he was just still tired. The childminder mentioned when I picked him up that he was constantly rubbing his eye. it’s red around it but the actual eye itself seems fine. Could it be conjunctivitis? I took him to the pharmacy and they said they didn’t know so to take him to GP tomorrow but he’s so upset and in discomfort with it, is there anything that could help? I’ve had a good look and I can’t see anything in the eye like an eyelash or anything. Pic attached

It doesn’t look all that much like conjunctivitis to me, but it’s not a great photo of the affected area.

However, with the eye, the things to watch out for is something called orbital cellulitis which is an infection in the tissues surrounding the eye. The orbit does look a bit inflamed, and orbital cellulitis is serious. So in that case I would consider getting him looked at by the GP (surgery should still be open) or the eye hospital if that’s an option.

Hi, thanks for the response. Here is another pic although still not great. His eye doesn’t looks particularly swollen, just red and sore. However I will make sure he’s seen by the GP tomorrow morning

Again, with conjunctivitis you would expect the white part of the eye to be quite red (hence it is often called pinkeye), and the eye to be quite gunky. So it doesn’t look so much like that. The orbit also doesn’t look very swollen but if it did become swollen I would treat that as an emergency. If it’s still bothering him tomorrow then I agree GP.