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.
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.
So this MIGHT work for pink eye, but what if you mis diagnose, and it ISN’T pink eye??? It could possibly be iritis, acute glaucoma, posterior synechiae, or other VERY serious eye problems that need to be treated RIGHT away, and with an ophthalmologist monitoring you. Common people misdiagnose all the time, and don’t go to the doctor because everyone always thinks its just pink eye. It’s very ignorant to try to treat yourself without having the proper diagnosis from a physician.
i don’t like your attitude. if you acted like that with me in the dr’s office I can promise you i would never be back. It is very ignorant to behave as though everyone but yourself and your esteemed colleagues are doddering morons.
If breast is still n it clear stage will it work
Silly question but where can you buy the raw cow milk? We have 1%,2% and whole milk here and I’m currently dealing with pink eye
This scares me…
Most cases of pink eye or conjunctivitis are viral, and so most the time it will eventually resolve on its own without any intervention. If it bacterial conjunctivitis, trying honey in your eye or just using peobiotics is risky. If the infection is not treated properly, and you can lose your sight or damage it severely. Do me a favor, if it doesn’t resolve or improve in 3-4 days, go to your provider and get a prescription antibiotic eye drop that is 4 dollars at walmart.
I keep seeing this pop up on pinterest and I chose to ignore it for a while. I am a fan of many homeopathic remedies, the problem with this remedy is simply that there are too many causes of red eye to think that there is one cure. Frankly, it is dangerous to self diagnose “pink eye”. The body’s immune response is different based on whether the etiology is allergic, bacterial, or viral and breast milk is not a cure all. There are also many things that can cause “pink eye” that can be very dangerous if left untreated. Although I am 1 year shy of becoming an optometrist, I can tell you that if my sister called to tell me that my niece had “pink eye” I would never allow her to seek this as a sole treatment.
Just so you know, conjunctivitis is not always viral. There is also bacterial conjunctivitis that can be cured with antibiotics. Anything unsterile should not be put in the eye.
if its itchy and the crust is more like crystals may be just allergic conjunctivitis. the breast milk sound like a good idea but make sure that you have no allergies to raw cow or goats milk also there is a reason why we pasteurize milk. I think it is important to keep your whole body healthy to keep your eyes healthy. I like the info about vitamin A and other supplements. Often I see those who started out with itchy allergy eyes that they did not treat, turn into bacterial conjunctivitis from rubbing them with dirty fingers. Prevention is key! Treat the itch and help to prevent the infection. If you get pink eye every year around the same time, chances are that it is allergy related. If you use an antibiotic and it doesn’t work, chances are that it is allergic or viral conjunctivitis. If both eyes start off red, itchy or crusty, chances are its due to allergies. try patanase or pataday or visine or Zyrtec and increase ingestion of honey from your area.
There is GOOD and Bad bacteria in milk, but the GOOD bacteria wins out over the bad. It can even destroy bad bacteria that is introduced into the milk within hours. When you pasteurize milk, you kill ALL the bacteria and the milk is really worthless and can actually allow any new bad bacteria that gets in the milk to grow rampant. It is actually best to have RAW milk to GET the good bacteria AND goat’s milk is the closest thing to breastmilk. Breastmilk is actually good for a LOT of things. My kids would have a stopped up nose and instead of saline, I would squirt breastmilk and their nose. It would clear up within minutes. I did the same thing with their eye ducts. Yes, they CAN clear up with time, but the breastmilk was soothing and their eyes cleared up within a day or so. Breastmilk is a natural pain killer as well. What else can I say about it. Ah yes, my son got a nasty bump on his head from crawling. It was beginning to be a goose egg. I began to nurse him and right before my eyes the bump went down and seemed non-existent. I watched it disappear! BTW, if breastmilk was going to HURT you, we would be clammering for a wash cloth every time our babies missed the mark and squirted themselves in the face and eyes or even nose. Science has its place, but quit relying so much on science and let God have a little…. no a LOT of credit for the home remedies he has provided us NATURALLY!
One thing about cod liver oil supplements- to get them from Organic fish sources (or Clean) ..since our waters are SO Polluted – oils in animals is where many of the ingested toxins reside..