What is “pink eye”?
Dr. Rodger Silverstein is an ophthalmologist practicing in Clifton, NJ. Dr. Silverstein specializes in eye and vision care. As an ophthalmologist, Dr. Silverstein can practice medicine as well as surgery. Ophthalmologists can perform surgeries because they have their medical degrees along with at least eight years of additional... more
“Pink eye” is not truly a diagnosis, it is a description; and a rather vague one at that. Like “chest pain” or “back stiffness”, pink eye describes a finding but no information as to etiology or therapy. In my experience, “pink eye” is a term relegated to the school nurse. The question becomes why is your eye pink? What caused it? Does it need therapy, and if so , what type of therapy?
All therapeutic regimens are predicated on a diagnosis....otherwise treatment is no more than a shotgun blast in the night, a gamble that one of the pellets might hit its mark. We need to explore what makes an eye turn “pink” and try to investigate other signs and symptoms that accompany it to make a working diagnosis. Unfortunately “pinkness” is a sign that is a component of many ophthalmic diseases processes, including but not limited to infection, uveitis, acute glaucoma, foreign bodies, chemical burns....clearly each of these diagnoses would require specific and different therapeutic approaches.
Not to mention that each diagnosis could be broken up into numerous subsets. For example, an infection could be viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic, and so on. Careful diagnosis is key and more complex and involved than most patients understand. It is for that reason that an ophthalmologist should be seen. We have undergone years of training, including 4 years of medical school, internship in a medical hospital, 3-4 years of ophthalmology residency, and countless exams insuring competency.
“Pink eye” like “shortness of breath” is merely a sign and that a medical doctor should be on the case to make a proper diagnosis and institute precise and appropriate therapy.
