Can you make up your own saline solution at home for oozing eyes

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Posted a little earlier re. DD2 having suspected conjunctivitus and whether a chemist would help me or whether I needed to try and get a GP appointment.

Am not going to be able to get to chemist and/or doctor until tomorrow morning. Someone suggested saline solution for eyes but is that something you can do at home or is it something that you have to buy from chemists in order to ensure it's sterile/correctly made up?

TIA.

personally i wouldnt put anything home made into the eyes.
You can use cooled boiled water to clean around the eyes though, you know wipe it over the lids to remove the stickyness.
You ned medicated stuff to get rid of the infection though, so GPs the way to go tomorrow.
sorry im not more helpful.

MW advised putting a pint of water and a tablespoon of salt with cotton wool balls into a microwave for 5mins and to wipe dcs eyes with a separate piece of cotton wool for each eye once the water was cool enough.

My pharmacist advised cooled boiled water with a little salt in it.

To be used with cotton wool I should add.

Am using cooled boiled water but wondered whether should be adding salt ... but wasn't sure how much to do or whether it was okay to do it, hence my post here.

1 pint of water to a tablepoon of salt you say Heated. Did you try that, was it okay on your DC?

I just do a little bowl with a shake of salt. Sorry, I've never known correct ratio so I've always erred on the side of less salt.

STOP! DO NOT USE HOME MADE SALINE!

My GP told me to use home made saline

It worked too...

OK just made my point on both threads!
The risk of making it too salty is massive, which will cause osmosis on the eye and suck all the moisture out.
Saline solutions is 1 PINT OF COOLED BOILED WATER TO 1 TEASPOON (5ML) SALT.
The midwife who said 1 tablespoon is dangerously wrong.

Also, do not use cotton wool as fibres can come off onto the eye.

Use clean tissue instead, and wipe from the corner of the eye, down and outwards. Use different tissue for each wipe and eye, and wash childs hands after every treatment to stop reinfection.

Repeat every 1-2 hours.

Oh, forgot to add, if the eye is red and bloodshot, it could be bacterical conjuct, but if the whites are still bright, it could be viral. Chances are gp wont give you anything, and it should clear up using method above after 2-3 days.

I was terrified of using too much salt so probably had the weakest saline solution ever...

Sorry about the two threads - have no idea how that happened as didn't create two threads - is very weird

Have stuck to the cool boiled water (good) but have been using cotton wool (bad you say).

You don't think I should even use the 1 pint to 1 tspn ratio you suggest then Monkeyfacegrace?

Her eyes are now red so suspect bacterial conjuctivitius but that could be because I've had to wipe her eyes around every 20 minutes or else she says that it makes her vision blurry because the custardy/snotty looking discharge builds up a bit. I might have inadvertently have irritated her eyes with the wiping ... but I suspect not.

You can use the ratio that I said, but tbh it wont do much. Id stick to plain water and tissue. I had it last week, and my eyes were really red too, I wouldnt have thought your over-wiping would have caused it.
Not sure how old your dd is, but remember to keep her bath towel seperate, and bin all her eye make up products that could carry the germs.

She's almost 6 Monkeyfacegrace and we're keeping everything seperate and being REALLY careful about wiping and keeping clean and keeping everything separate etc.

Thank you for your posts - you are a very authorative sounding and calming influence!!

Amazing how fast it comes on ... one minutes she was just sneezing and blowing her nose and the next minute I see a bit of 'snot' in her eyes and then it's building up, to be wiped away, about every 20-20 minutes. Poor little thing has just had a geezer of a nose bleed that took ages to stop too ... she's just fallen asleep, probably feeling (quite literally)drained!

Aw bless her, she sounds like shes a bit run down.
How is she feeling today?

Perky but rather weirdly pale looking!!! I'm assuming that it's good news that her eyes are red but clear of the custardy snot stuff today?

Went to the GP and have got her anti-biotic drops. Know it's a bit hit and miss as to whether they really do work/speed up the whole process or not but we thought it was worth it as we HAVE to make sure that she's sorted and happy for her birthday and party on Saturday if we can.

GP says that she has to continue the drops two days AFTER the infection has gone and so I'm going to find out from her school whether they're okay with her being at school for those two days ... and whether the school nurse will administer the middle of the day drops or whether I have to go there and do it.

I have no idea what to expect though, does it generally clear up after a couple of days or is it one of those things that goes on a bit ... or have I just asked the equivalent of 'how long is a piece of string?'

Try this- it really works.

For a start, try the saline solution on your own eye- you should get a feel for if the mix is right. Plain water makes your eyeball feel like its being ripped out.

Dip a cotton hanky in warm saline solution and wrap it round a warm teaspoon. Place the teaspoon over the affected eye (curve outwards) with your DC's eye shut and have her lie back and relax- 10 mins per eye twice a day. Its cured my bleforitus, conjunctivitus, stye and scratched cornea. Its totally harmless and really quite relaxing. When t.he hanky cools, dip it back in the water to warm it. Use a different hanky and solution per eye.

Oh, and it also works on my dog

Well if it's good enough for you dog ... ...