Easy method for resolving pinkeye by harnessing the power of probiotics. No meds needed!
Pinkeye, also called conjunctivitis or madras eye, is an extremely contagious bacterial or viral infection. The illness involves the outermost layer of the eye and the inside surface of the eyelid.
It is a common seasonal condition when pollen counts are high, allergies are running rampant, and immunity for most people is very low from moderate to severe vitamin D deficiency. This problem is compounded from being inside all winter out of the vitamin D producing rays of the sun.
Symptoms of Pinkeye
Symptoms of pinkeye include redness, itching, tearing, swelling, and/or mucous production that can firmly cement the eyelids together while sleeping. I remember getting pinkeye as a child and feeling a bit of panic upon waking in the morning and being unable to open one or both eyes!
If this happens to you or a loved one in your home, a warm, wet washcloth compress gently applied to the infected eye (do not rub) quickly dissolves the mucous allowing the eyes to open.
Conjunctivitis is Extremely Contagious
Pinkeye can spread rapidly through a household, which is why action is needed immediately to stop the infection. Most people will quickly run to the doctor’s office at the first sign of redness and irritation.
A prescription for antibiotic eye drops or ointment is the usual conventional remedy. Relief is mercifully quick once the drops are applied. Before the wonderful sensation of relief can be experienced, however, the inconvenience of booking a doctor’s appointment, waiting to be examined, driving to the pharmacy, and getting the prescription filled must be endured.
Additional hassles involve missing work and/or school for the parent and child. Add to this the expense of the visit and filling the prescription which combined could easily total $50 or even more.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to just fix this simple infection at home with none of the intervening steps?
Simple Home Remedy
You’ll be happy to know that pinkeye is one of the simplest and easiest infections to cure at home with no trip to the doctor required. Even better, what you need to fix the problem may already be sitting in your refrigerator. The remedy I’m speaking of harnesses the power of beneficial bacteria to eliminate the infection.
While doctors prescribe ANTI-biotics to kill the pathogens, PRO-biotics work just as well for a minor infection such as pinkeye by crowding them out.
Harness the Power of Probiotics
What you need to remedy pinkeye is a probiotic-rich, non-acidic liquid. For babies and children, the most effective liquid that fits this description is human breastmilk.Â
If the Mom in your household happens to be breastfeeding, a drop or two of breastmilk expressed into a cup and then applied with a clean eyedropper to the infected eye will rapidly and magically eliminate the infection. First milk or colostrum works even faster (note that colostrum supplements do not work).
Reapplication may be necessary every hour for a few hours, but in almost every case, the infection will be gone well before you could have even gotten an appointment to see the doctor. This remedy works well for newborn babies also, so no need for the eyedrops that are used immediately after birth if you plan to breastfeed.
Probiotic Options
If there is no one breastfeeding in your home, the next best thing would be a few drops of raw cow or goat milk applied to each eye.
I recommend treating both eyes even if only one is showing signs of infection, by the way.
Pinkeye is so contagious, that treating only the infected eye will usually result in having to treat the other eye within a short time anyway, so might as well do both from the beginning.
Raw cow or goat milk is loaded with immunity-boosting probiotics, just like human breastmilk. These beneficial bacteria work immediately on contact to crowd out and eliminate the pathogens at the source of the infection.
The probiotic strains in fresh, unprocessed dairy are especially suited for clearing a pinkeye infection.
Reapplication every hour or so should eliminate the infection quickly, perhaps not quite as fast as breastmilk, but still faster by a long shot than getting to the doctor and filling a prescription.
Note that pasteurized or organic store milk also does not work because they contain no probiotics.
Other Sources of Beneficial Microbes
No fresh from the cow dairy easily available where you live?
You can also mix the contents of a probiotic capsule in a few ounces of water and drip a few drops into the eye.
I recommend this baby probiotic brand as it the strain found in breastmilk and has no other additives.
This has been known to work as well.
Frequent Pinkeye May Indicate Nutritional Deficiency
Are you or any members of your family suffering from pinkeye symptoms on a frequent basis? If so, consider adding a cod liver oil supplement to your daily regimen.
This is the brand my family has used since 2015.
Deficiency in vitamin A, one of the most critical vitamins for optimal eye health, can result in frequent pinkeye infections. Incidentally, it also contributes to other illnesses such as croup and night blindness.Â
Unprocessed cod liver oil that is tested free of impurities is the best source of natural Vitamin A.
If the cod liver oil is processed (most brands are), then the Vitamin A is most likely synthetic.
This is because it has been destroyed by heat or chemical processing. Synthetic vitamin A does not have the same benefits for the eyes.
Multivitamins have the same problem. They contain only synthetic vitamin A or beta carotene. Note that beta carotene is not true vitamin A.
It is a precursor that the body must convert to true vitamin A. Many people simply do not make this conversion very well especially if they have any sort of digestive problems.
How Long Until Improvement?
The pinkeye home remedy described in this article should resolve the infection rapidly.
Usually, symptoms improve within hours. After a few applications, the eye should be fine within 24 hours.
If not, the infection may be viral in nature or related to some other underlying condition. Seeing a doctor is recommended at that point.
![little boy with conjunctivitis madras eye using probiotics to heal](https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/pinkeye-the-fastest-and-easiest-home-remedy-512x1024.jpg)
Works for Pets Too!
Keep in mind that this pinkeye home remedy doesn’t just work for children and adults.
Believe it or not, this home remedy is also safe to use on pets who have any sort of eye-related bacterial issues.
I’ve personally used it on guinea pigs and cats over the years with great success.
When we were kids, our Mom worked with the City in the CPS division and she would rub her gold wedding ring inside of their eyelid. It got rid of pink eye and none of my siblings or myself caught pink eye from her.
I have had this eye redness for a longer time. I some times try to use eye drops and it helps but does not take away all the redness. When ever i sleep and wake up, i see this redness. In simple terms, my eyes are mostly red and it does not bring out my handsomeness on my face. It hurts a lot and some friends always keeps laughing at me. Please can some one help me or recommend some pills, eye drops or so ever for me. I have visited couple of eye clinics and Dr. but nothing better came up.
If everything else has failed try acupuncture. A licensed physician can help you with acupuncture and herbs. You probably have underlying issues that a regular Doctors cannot help you with.
Look for one near you at http://www.acufinder.com put in your zip code and you’ll get a list.
If money is an issue look for a p.o.c.a clinic. Same acupunture but affordable.
Lots of L.A.p. Help with low cost acupunture.
I saw 3 eye doctors before I got this advice and I feel like it is helping! I even had staff and fever blisters in my eye so the specialist put tear duct plugs in my eyes so that I didn’t have such a dry eye problem! The best advise so for was to get flaxseed oil capsules with omega3 and omega 6. He also told me the Sam’s members mark was fine and it has been helping! Try it you have nothing to lose!
My daughter woke up with a pinkeye this morning. Couple days ago, she had sore throat. Yesterday, she went to school and was fine. She also went swimming after that. When she woke up, one of her eyes were covered in goop. She picked at some of the eye boogers. Does that affect the eye? Later on it got worse. I did the drops with the kefir water. I read as some comments at the top that said if you had sore throat before you got pinkeye it was a virus. Is it true? If is, is there a homopathic way to heal it?
My son just recently had pinkeye after having a cold and I used the yogurt kefir water for just half a day on his eyes and then two days later his eyes were clear. He even said that it was feeling better as I put the kefir drops in his eyes. I took him to the eye doctor today and he said that my son has no infection in the eyes at all. That proves that it definitely worked for my son. No need for antibiotics. Natural for children is the way to go.
Is it viral if the pink eye occurs several days after having a soar throat? I had a mild case of sore throat and 4-5 days later pink eye in both eyes. The crazy thing is that 3-4 weeks before, my wife had the same (also right after pink eye). In the past I had pink eye but that was not associated with any colds.
Probably a virus. Everyone in my house (4 of us) has had a similar thing over the last month: sore throat, congestion & runny nose, gunky eyes for anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks. A really nasty bug. I’ll be glad when we’re all through with it!
My son woke up with pink eye Friday morning. Called and got a dr appt (haven’t ever dealt with this before), then googled and found this. Figured if he was willing to let me try something I would give it a shot. All I had was whey from organic yogurt. One drop in his eye and by the time we got to his dr appt a few hours later she was kind of puzzled as to why we had even come in! I was honestly skeptical, but wow.
I’m glad I went to the dr though because she said whether it’s viral or bacterial it usually clears up on its own in a few days. Also that viral is generally clear discharge in the day (goops up at night) but bacterial has the pus-y discharge in the daytime. Sent in a script in case it got really bad over the weekend but it is almost gone, and not even 48 hours later. I am glad to have a dr who is as reluctant to give antibiotics as I am.
In the summer, I used plantain leaf eye rinses. Pick some a couple of leaves from the yard, rinse them, bruise them a bit; pour some boiling water over them; let mixture sit til it cools down; then into an eye cup and rinse the eye. Gone in a day or two. Did that years ago…
Fix your immune system and then you don.t get any infaction. My experience for the last 17 years. Not one infection or illness, not even a cold or the flu, Tganks
How?
Hi Jim. I would be a bit concerned if you simply do not get sick! Getting sick is our natural way of getting rid of collected toxins. If our immune systems are strong then we should get sick far less. Any good naturalistic
doctor would agree that we NEED to get sick ocassionally!
Just saying
Breastmilk if you got it!
If you don’t have mother’s milk (!) perhaps try colostrum in capsule form diluted in distilled water. Has anyone tried that? But Colloidal Silver seems the easiest.
Just last week my daughter came home freaking out because her eye was beginning to swell. (She’s 21) Within an hour it turned bright pink, started oozing and swelled almost shut. I searched your site and found your article. I whipped out my homemade, raw milk kefir, put some in a bottle with dropper and started administering it. We did 3 drops every hour through the night and by morning her eye was almost normal. What remained through out the day was a puffy eyelid which was gone the next day. We were both amazed! Since then we have shared this with anyone who will listen,. LOL! It really works…