Eye with Discharge

The presence of yellow or green discharge or pus in your child's eye. There may be dried pus on eyelids or eyelashes. The eyelashes are especially likely to be matted together following sleep. The white part of the eye may or may not have some redness or pinkness. The eyelids are usually puffy due to irritation from the infection. Although some viruses can produce eye pus most are bacterial. This is usually caused by bacteria, a common complication of a cold. With treatment, the yellow discharge should clear up in 3 days. The red eyes may persist for several more days.

Reason to Have Your Child Seen

We would want your child to be seen immediately if your child is weak or very ill appearing. Depending upon the situation we may want you to call 911. Reasons to seek medical assistance:

• Outer lid is very red
• Eye is very swollen
• Cloudy sopt on the clear part of the eye
• Blurred vision reported
• Newborn starts to look or act sick
• Less than 2 weeks of age with severe pus and redness
• Fever greater than 105° F (40.5° C) if child is over 12 weeks of age
• Fever greater than 100.4 F (38° C) if child is under 12 weeks of age
• Less than 1 month old
• Symptoms of an earache
• Recurrent ear infection in child
• A lot of yellow or green nasal discharge present
• Bleeding on white of the eye
• Fever lasts more than 3 days
• Recurrent eye infections

Home Care Advice for Probable Bacterial Eye Infection

Remove Pus: Remove all dried pus and liquid pus from the eye with warm wtaer and wet cotton balls.

Contact Lenses: Children with contact lenses need to switch to glasses temporarily to prevent damage. Disinfect the contacts before wearing them again or discard if disposable.

Eye Drops: Use as directed.

Contagiousness: Your child can return to day care or school after using eye drops for 24 hours, if the pus is minimal.

If you have any concerns about your baby's health, please call. This Website is meant to be a guideline, not a substitute for the care of a competent health care provider. Please do not give any medicines without talking to your doctor first. We are happy to help you in any way we can. 

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