Child Health Advice: Eye
These guidelines (topics) are intended to help you determine how sick your child is and if you need to call your child's doctor. Their second purpose is to help you treat your child at home when it is safe to do so.
IMPORTANT! Your doctor's advice and your good judgment should always take precedence over information in these guidelines.
- Eye Allergy
- Itchy eyes with frequent rubbing. Increased tearing (watery eyes). Red or pink eyes.
- Foreign Body
- The most common objects that get in the eye are an eyelash or a piece of dried mucus (sleep).
- Eye Injury
- The main concern is that the vision was not damaged. Older children can tell us if their vision is blurred or out of focus.
- Eye, Pus or Drainage (Pink Eye / Conjunctivitis)
- Yellow or green discharge or pus in the eye. Dried pus on the eyelids and eyelashes. The eyelashes are especially likely to be matted together following sleep.
- Red Eye (Without Pus)
- Viral infection (part of a cold). Other common causes: eye allergies from pollens or eye irritation from chlorinated pool water, smoke, smog, sunscreen, etc.
- Tear Duct, Blocked
- Blocked tear duct previously diagnosed by a physician. A continuously watery eye (excessive tearing). Tears fill the eye and occasionally run down the face, even without crying.