Conjunctivitis 5 year old

[ramanw2]

My 5 year old had quite a gunky eye yesterday. Woken up with it stuck together etc, so assuming it's conjunctivitis. It has gone quite bloodshot and puffy.

Pharmacist said he couldn't do anything because it's puffy and I need to ring docs.

Rang docs and they were really difficult about me making an appointment. Said to ring back tomorrow as only emergency appointments today. Eventually he agreed that they would ring me back.

Worried in being over the top booking an appointment? Would you have done the same?

It’s one of the symptoms of the new covid variant, is he ok otherwise?

Totally fine otherwise. Jumping around the house as normal!

My 2 year old had something similar, except for the puffiness around the eye. She was seen by a pharmacist and we were told that it looks like conjunctivitis and that it will most likely clear up on its own.
However, if the pharmacist recommended a doctor's appointment I would follow their advice.
Good luck OP!

Go to a different pharmacist, you need this Optex infected eye drops. It works a treat. Keep,it in the fridge

We managed to clear my DC in afew days with cooled boiled water and cotton wool!

One swipe and bin, another ball, wipe and bin etc. do this afew times a day.

I had conjunctivitis recently and used a pure chamomile tea bag infused in boiling water and then once cooled, use the water to cleanse it with cotton wool as the poster above describes.

Chamomile is mildly antiseptic.

It helped clear and soothe mine

Although I also used Chloramphenicol 1% eye ointment - over the counter from pharmacy (for what it's worth, as v out of date advice as she's been retired 20 years) but that product was used by my DM who is a retired consultant paediatrician on newborn babies, so it is presumably safe for small children. Although a pharmacy may be recommending you go to see a doctor for any eye issue in a small child - but I had asked my DH to get mine, so the pharmacist didn't even see my eye, just sold it to him.

Your child's eye looks very similar to how mine did.

I hope they are getting better soon.

I think mine may well have been linked to Covid.