Can you use dexamethasone for pink eye?

Pink eye is not only painful, but highly contagious. As soon as you are showing symptoms, which can include a crusty covering over the eye as well as a pink hue to the area around the eye, you will want to go seek the help of a doctor.

Dexamethasone for pink eye has been prescribed for years. It is a corticosteroid that is capable of reducing inflammation, which is essentially what pink eye is. The medicine is a synthetic version of the chemical that is produced by your adrenal glands and can suppress the immune system. Essentially, this means it is going to block the inflammation so the situation doesn’t get any worse.

In many instances, it’s not just dexamethasone that your doctor is going to prescribe. Often, it will be another medicine that also includes an antibiotic. This will allow the inflammation to improve faster and clear up the conjunctivitis.

Pink eye can be very painful and last a while if you don’t take care of it with medication. If you don’t get the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medicine in your system quickly, it is likely that the pink eye will spread from one eye to the other – and pink eye in both eyes at the same time is not something you want to experience.

When dexamethasone for pink eye is prescribed, with or without an antibiotic, it can take different forms. This includes:

– Ophthalmic drops

– Ointment

The drops would be one or two drops in the affected eye directly into the conjunctval sac. This will take place every four to six hours – and it is likely to continue for two to three days. The ointment would require spreading it onto the sac and you can use a q-tip to do this.

When using a dropper, you want to make sure the dropper does not touch the eye or the eyelid. The reason is because the infection can transfer to the dropper. The next time you go to apply the medication, you could be spreading the infection again.

There are not a lot of drug interactions to worry about with dexamethasone for pink eye, so it is likely something that your doctor is going to prescribe without much concern. However, it is not known as to whether the medication can make its way into breast milk, so if you are breast feeding, it could pose a danger.

There are not many side effects associated with the drops or ointment, either. There may be swelling or itching. More severe side events include delayed healing of the wound or optical nerve damage, though these are in a very small number of cases.

Overall, dexamethasone is a popular medication for dealing with pink eye.

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