Is this conjuctivitis?

[ilikeyoursleeves]

DS age 1 has had sticky eyelashes for the past few days and this morning woke up with crusty eyelashes and goo in the corner of his eye, the white of his eyeball was also a bit red. My MIL got some over the counter eyedrops from the pharmacy today for conjuctivitis but do you think I need to take him to the dr's too?

I was going to start the drops tomorrow as it says only to take them during waking hours.

Thanks!

You can't get eyedrops for conjunctivitis for age 2 and under over the counter so check what MIL has got. You will need chloramphenicol (sp).

They often get sticky eyes with a cold, but if whites of eyes are going red too it does sound like it could be conjunctivitis. Does the gunk return within half an hour after you clean the eyes? Is he itching them?

The pharmacist told her about the age limit on the drops and assured her that it's fine for 1 year olds to take, it's just they haven't amended teh packaging. Apparantly babies a few months old can take these drops too.

He's not itching his eyes but the gunk is there most of the time despite me wiping with damp cotton wool. It's only one eye too.

My 19 month old has sticky eyes, he's not itching them at all, but I've been wiping each eye with a separate tissue dipped in cooled boiled, slightly salted water. I remembered my midwife advised this when he had them as a newborn. It works a treat, they are much better already. Don't think its conjunctivitus unless itchy, plus its very contagious, isn't it?

Yes very contagious, I was wondering why it hadn't spread to his other eye! Could the drops to any harm if it's NOT conjunctivitis? Should I try cool salted water first?

DS (1 yo) had conjunctivitis recently and it sounds v similar to your DS' symptoms. I left it almost a week before taking him to the GP's as I was convinced it was blocked tear ducts which DD had when she was a baby. I can't tell you how guilty I felt when I found it was conjunctivitis and I'd let him live with it for a week . Interestingly, in all that time it didn't spread to his other eye but it did take a good few days to clear up once I started using the prescribed drops because it had got such a hold. I'm not sure the over-counter drops would be as effective as prescription ones. So I would say take DS to the docs tomorrow but then I'm scarred from recent experience ...