Pink Eye
Natural Remedies

10 Natural Pink Eye Remedies for Fast Relief

The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
ACV, Green Tea Bags, Honey
Posted by Severe Pink Eye Sufferer (Winkler, Manitoba, Canada) on 12/07/2015
★★★★★

I have been in extreme pain due to pink eye for the fourth day. The eyes themselves as well as the lids and skin around the eye are extremely affected. I started on the first day with antibiotic eye drops from the pharmacy. I used these for about a day and a half. It got even worse with these drops, it was so bad that the seeping from my eyes was orange in colour. My eyeballs were dark red... I realized that this was not working and so I bought Visine 8 symptom eye relief drops as well as a Visine antihistamine drop. I used these for the next two days with no relief except that my eyes stopped with the orange/reddish mucus seeping. But the lids and the skin around my eye were still burning with pain and I had huge sacks of liquid forming under my eyes.

I tried cool wash cloths, warm wash cloths and putting a aloe skin softener on but all of these gave me very brief periods of relief.

This morning my eyes were almost completely swollen closed and stuck shut. I was crying because of the pain. I called to speak to a pharmacist but he was not available so that's when I googled home remedies for pink eye. Holy cow am I glad I did!!!

1. First I took a cotton pad and dipped it into Apple Cider Vinegar and pressed them onto the eye so that the ACV ran into my eye. I could feel relief immediately But not for all the symptoms I was having.

2. Then I put green tea bags (which I had boiled in a cup of water and then put them in the freezer to cool) onto each eye and let the liquid run into my eyes. I did this until the tea bags weren't cold anymore. I found this to be a big relief as well.

3. Then I dipped Qtips into liquid honey and put that onto my eyelids and lashes and the skin around my eyes. This helped a lot too. It is now about 2 1/2 hours later and I can feel the sand in the eye and the burning just starting to come back. I will now repeat all three things.

I cannot even express how much this has all helped!! Unbelievable!!!! From going completely crazy in pain to almost pain free in 3 simple steps!! Thanks to everyone who posted on each of these 3 remedies!! I will continue with these remedies and post again in a day or two with the results.

Honey
Posted by Michemax (Trinidad) on 07/30/2013
★★★★★

Try washing your eye with a honey wash for pink eye. Simply add a few drops (you can add more if you want it stronger) of honey to a little warm water, stir and using the cup of your hand, blink your eye over and over in the honey wash. Repeat 3 or 4 times. Do this at least 3 or 4 times during the day. Your eye will clear up.

I often use this as I get infections from when I use my contact lens.


Black Tea Bag
Posted by Mikethedruid (Providence, Rhode Island, Usa) on 10/04/2012
★★★★★

For several days my left eye had been irritated and discharging a sticky mucus which coated the lashes, and only made the irritation worse. I had tried just rinsing the eye well with warm water, which provided temporary relief, but did not cure the problem. Then I remembered something that the man who taught me the old ways had taught me about medicine, and tried using strong tea as an eyewash. The easiest way, he had told me, was to brew yourself a cup of tea using a cheap regular black or brown tea. When the cup is brewed, take out the teabag, but do not squeeze the water out. While you enjoy your tea, let the teabag cool down until it is just barely warm, then place the teabag on the afflicted eye, and gently squeeze it whill slightly blinking the eye so that the tea gets right onto the eyeball itself, as well as the lids. Wipe the excess that runs down your face with a paper towel or cloth. Do this every time it feels at all irritated, and in a day or two the problem will clear up. I did exactly that, and it works very well. It is a cheap, painless, and effective cure.


Boric Acid
Posted by Rob (Kentucky) on 10/08/2024
★★★★★

PINK EYE. Boric Acid Compress

This form of acute ophthalmia is similar to the one just described. It is very communicable and most probably transmits infection by a specific organism.

Weeks was the first to describe a definite micro-organism causing this disease. The Weeks bacillus is short and has rounded ends. It stains very easily with methylene blue. It is intensely contagious and spreads rapidly, especially in schools. Children under fifteen years are especially susceptible.

The diplo-bacillus of Morax was described by him in June, 1896, in the Annal de l'Institut Pasteur. The inflammation is frequently due to the presence of the diplo-bacilli. The inflammation usually begins in one eye and infects the other a few days later. Its course may be either chronic or acute. Gauze saturated with warm boric acid solution should be applied over the eye, and warmth continued by the external application of an electric pad or hot water bottle. Some cases respond better to cold applications, but these are exceptional.

From the Book: Diseases of Infancy and Childhood for Practitioners and Students in Medicine Vol 2, page 985,1928 by Louis Fischer MD


Green Tea Bags
Posted by Brad (San Rafael, Ca) on 04/26/2010
★★★★★

True enough, green tea bags do work if you've got watery, pussy, red, swollen eyes. Yea!

Here's what I did, and it worked exceptionally: brew a nice cup of hot green tea using TWO bags.........let it cool some but keep it hot, but not scalding.......go into the bathroom or use the kitchen sink when ready.

Now, take a bag in each hand and start to slowly rub the bag full of the hot brew on your closed eyes. Obviously a key part of this is that the water not be too hot BUT it should be fairly hot. When you feel it, it's going to give comfort to your bleary eyes, believe me. You are going to love the effect of the heat, and I believe that's part of the cure too - the heat. When the bags cool off some keep dipping into the hot tea again and again. Touch them to your eyes, hold them on your eyes, let them seep into your eyes.

Occasionally tilt your head to the side and run some of the liquid smack INTO your eyes. Roll your eyeball around.

That's it. It will take 24-48 hours to get rid of the pink eye, but you'll get almost instant relief. Keep doing the procedure every 2-4 hours if possible. Enjoy. This cure might be a little less humiliating than the one where you urinate into your own eye....if you're going to try that one don't let mama catch you.

Activated Charcoal
Posted by Mama To Many (Middle, Tennessee, Usa) on 06/27/2013
★★★★★

Dear Holly, I use a coffee filter to strain my charcoal water. I put 1 t. charcoal in 1/4 cup of filtered water and strain it through a filter. It is gray and may have very tiny particles that are okay. I think cheesecloth would let through particles that are too large. They probably wouldn't be harmful, just irritating.

Also, for the poultice... Your eye is closed. Then paper towel or flannel. Then moistened charcoal. Then the plastic wrap to keep the moisture in. But you probably don't need the plastic wrap unless you are doing this overnight.

For conjunctivitis, we have always just done the filtered charcoal water 3-4 times a day. Children are usually cured in a day and adults in a couple of days. But do it a couple of a times a day for a few days after and always do both eyes to prevent reinfection.

~Mama to Many~


Sea Salt
Posted by Lucille (SOUTH PASADENA , CA) on 05/26/2008
★★★★★

I tried all the remedies for pink eye: chamomille tea, green tea, boric acid in the contact lens solution, and finally what worked was the sea salt. I dissolved about 2 teaspoons of sea salt in about 1/2 cup of water and used an eye cup to rinse it around. I did this several times in a day, and it went away. Cured!


Sea Salt
Posted by Nan (Canada) on 04/30/2023
★★★★★

Sea Salt for Pink Eye

I concur with the below "salt" posters. By the end of the second day of dipping a clean facecloth in a cup of salt mixed in water and then gently dabbing the corner of my eye 3-4 times a day, the redness, gooey secretion, and itching was 90% gone. Gone completely by the end of the third day.

I was afraid to use salt in my eye, so I started with a 1/2 teaspoon in 1 cup of water and worked my way up to 1 or 1 1/2 teaspoon. I used fine pink Himalayan salt with no iodine. (I'm not sure if using iodine in the salt is okay, too. It probably is okay, but you might want to dab injust a little the first couple of times you try it.)

*I didn't have distilled water on hand, so I used bottled water and boiled it first, then waited until it cooled down somewhat before using.

Coconut Oil
Posted by Art (California ) on 01/31/2018 2519 posts

In reply to Sandy (San Francisco),

I tried coconut oil for dry eyes and for me it caused more irritation than the dry eye condition. I had better luck with oral black currant seed oil and borage oil.

Studies confirm that Hyaluronic Acid in the form of drops is also effective for dry eyes.

Castor oil is helpful also, but it tended to blur my vision a little when first applied, as did coconut oil.

As far as microbes, colloidal silver is frequently mentioned on EC and the web as being useful for that, but I have never tried it for that purpose. I would think if I was going to go for a moisturizer effect with an antimicrobial effect, I might consider colloidal silver with hyaluronic acid for myself, but I like to experiment!

Art


Colloidal Silver
Posted by Cindy (Tx, US) on 02/18/2015
★★★★★

I use colloidal silver, a couple of drops in the eye and it clears up pink eye within hours, not days. My dog looked like her eye was going to pop out and I put 2 drops in her eye and within hours it was back to normal. This is the fastest working thing I have ever seen. Me and my children always have a bottle on hand. It is miraculous to me.

Colloidal Silver
Posted by Ann (Austin, Texas) on 12/20/2014 1 posts
★★★★★

I use colloidal silver for conjunctivitis. Use two drops in each eye and blink a little to get it all over the eyelash roots. Twice a day till all is clear.


Colloidal Silver
Posted by Mama To Many (Tennessee) on 04/26/2015

Dear Turtle,

By now your eyes have probably self-rinsed.

Chamomile Tea is soothing to the eyes and also helpful for pinkeye. You could us it on the days off of silver. I pour very hot water over the tea bags and let them cool to body temperature. Then Gently squeeze out the excess water and place one tea bag over each eye. This I do twice a day but it could be done more often.

~Mama to Many~


Colloidal Silver
Posted by Dave (Fountain Inn, Sc) on 12/08/2012
★★★★★

Not in any way criticizing any other suggestions listed above but I've easily dealt with pink eye by using a few drops of colloidal silver onto eye ball itself. Twice a day for two days. Gone.

Colloidal Silver
Posted by Dave (Fountain Inn, Sc) on 08/22/2016

Loretta;

I use colloidal silver at about the 50 ppm level. I use twice daily for pink eye and administer three drops or so in both eyes and repeat the next day....two days. If a bad case, I might go to 3 times a day for two days. I do not administer cs in eyes for more than two days at a time. CS can take off some of the cells so I must be very cautious with eyes.


Coffee
Posted by Lady Jane (Zion, Illinois) on 04/18/2012
★★★★★

My husband used coffee on our cat when he had an infected eye. It worked!! The next day you couldn't tell anything was wrong with him. He continued for the next three or four days to make sure. My husband's eye was bothering him for a couple of days. I think it's pink eye. He put coffee on it last night and this morning is doing great, eye reddness is clearing. He will continue doing this for a few more days. Made a beliver out of me. Lady Jane


Coffee
Posted by Pedro (Ponce, Pr) on 02/21/2012
★★★★★

My grandma used coffee on me for pink eye and I use it with my kids also. It works. Dark warm coffee, that's all.


Boric Acid
Posted by Susan (Stroudsburg, Pa) on 04/04/2011
★★★★★

Boric Acid mix worked best. Itchy, pasty, red eyes... I tried the Black Tea first, but that only relieved itchiness, which was a relief. After it did not clear up the problem, I searched to purchace boric acid as recamended, but could only find a wallgreen Steril Eye wash that contained an isotonic solution of purifed water, boric acid, sodium chloride, etc. This took three days of periodic eye washing throughout the day to completely clear it up. It definately worked to start clearing from day one. I'm wondering if I had found boric Acid to mix my own if it would have worked quicker. Defiantely worth doing.

Boric Acid
Posted by Rob (Kentucky) on 10/16/2024
★★★★★

Boric Acid Eye Wash Solution: Rob's Improved Formula

  • Boric acid – 1/8 (weaker)– one teaspoon (stronger), Boric acid readily dissolves in hot water.
  • Sodium chloride USP – one teaspoon (I use neti-pot salt that comes in packets)
  • Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) – 1/4 teaspoon, It acts as a buffer so the formula won't sting or burn the eyes and also alkaline the formula.
  • Povidone-iodine – see below
  • Water – one cup (8oz) boiled and cooled

Some people have gotten results using just one or two ingredients to resolve their eye issue's. This formula is for more difficult cases where the infection can be caused by fungus (like candida, keratitis, endophthalmitis) bacteria (like chlamydial, gonorrhoeae, stapphlococcus, streptococcus) virus (like herpes simplex type 1, adenovirus, zoster virus) parasites (like amoeba, acanthamoebia, demox mites, toxoplasma, ets..)

It gets pretty gross when you think how micoorganisms are transmitted. Like, from mother to the baby during childbirth or due to the contact of infected semen or vaginal fluids with the eyes. These infections can be spread from eye to eye by fingers, watery vaginal discharges from women and men not washing their hands afterwards, shared towels or cloths, coughing and sneezing, touching surfaces like door knobs or gas pumps and eye-seeking flies. Always wash your hands throughly several times daily.

How to use: Allow solution to cool to luke warm and apply either with an eye cup wash or by soaking a cotton ball saturated with the boric acid solution washing the eye carefully and allowing the solution into the eye. Relief and healing is very quick, often within the day of application. Use 3 times a day for pink eye. It is very soothing. I have never taken my kids to the doctor for pink eye. This clears it up so fast.

Note: If using eye cups to rinse out eyes, I like to use one drop or more of Povidone iodine 10% (increase to tolerance) in the eye cup solution, which is about 1oz.


Sea Salt
Posted by Mel (Katy, Texas) on 07/03/2009
★★★★★

Sea salt solution cleared and cured my pink eye in 3 days. It did sting but I knew it would. I did this once in the morning and one in the evening. I mixed 1 tablespoon of sea salt to 1 cup of water in a water bottle. Mix well and tilt your head over the sink and squeeze a couple of times times in each eye.

Castor Oil and Eucalyptus Oil
Posted by Rob (Kentucky) on 06/30/2024
★★★★★

Castor oil and Eucalyptus oil (topically) for Eye Mucus

I learned a new trick today, I've been struggling with eye mucus now for over a week. Yesterday it got really annoying, causing my eye's vision to blur when blinking and the mucus from behind the eye lid would deposit over my eye lens. And, my eye's felt like they were weepy. So, some type of infection.

So, lastnite I decided to try something completely outside the box. I mixed up castor oil with eucalyptus oil.

Here is the formula:

  • 4-5 drops castor oil
  • 1 drop eucalyptus essential oil
  • small bowl to mix in

I applied it over my eye lids (with eyes closed) as close to my eye lids as I could get both upper and lower eye lids. Did this before bed so my eyes were closed while I'm asleep. I woke up this morning with no eye mucus, no weeping eyes. Huh…?!

Give it a try, you will be surprised.

Castor Oil and Eucalyptus Oil
Posted by Marty (FL) on 07/01/2024
★★★★★

Yes, that works. Also, sometimes, when I get goo in my eyes, I put a drop of castor oil directly in my eye straight from the bottle.

Of course it needs to be organic and not touching anything else.

I've been doing this for over a year maybe once a month or when needed


Lemon Juice with Salt
Posted by Robert (Kentucky) on 11/08/2022

The antibacterial and antiseptic properties of lemon are well known, and widely accessible. For conjunctivitis, mix lemon juice with a small amount of water and then apply it with a washcloth or in the form of a compress. Citric acid can be very powerful, however, so be careful not to put lemon juice directly in the eye; placing it around the affected tissue will be sufficient.

Dr. William Apt, a leading eye specialist in the mid-1900s, who recommended the Lemon Juice Eye Bath. Apparently, he stumbled upon this secret from a 105 year old man, who told Dr. Apt to “put three or four drops of lemon juice in an eye cup with purified water and wash the eyes with it daily for about 20-30 seconds with each eye.” I started doing the lemon juice eye bath. Lemon juice contain many nutrients, including rich vitamin C that is key important to eyes. Taking lemon eye bath can also help cure cataracts & early stages of pinguecula. Besides, if you suffer dry eyes and eye strain, you can ask help from lemon juice. Besides, taking more vitamin C can also treat macular degeneration etc.

How to use: put three or four drops of lemon juice in an eye cup with purified water and wash the eyes with it daily for about 20-30 seconds with each eye.

Some people claim that lemon juice has helped their pink eye symptoms. Lemon helps prevent the growth and multiplication of pathogenic bacteria that cause infections and diseases. The antibacterial and antiseptic properties of lemon are well known, and widely accessible. Dilute half a teaspoon of lemon juice with a teaspoon of water. Mix well and soak a cotton pad in it. Place the cotton pads over closed eyelids and leave them on for about 20 minutes. Remove the cotton pads and rinse your eyes with plain water. You must do this at least once daily.

Romanian Folklore Remedy:

Lemon Juice Eyewash
1 drop lemon juice, 1 ounce warm water
Mix 1 drop of lemon juice in 1 ounce of warm water and use it as an eyewash. It's particularly effective when your eyes have been exposed to dust, cigarette smoke, harsh lights and chemical compounds in the air.

Alleviation and prevention of severe allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis following long-term lemon juice use: a case report https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769484/


Lemon Juice
Posted by Rob (Kentucky) on 08/22/2021
★★★★★

I have been struggling with eye goop and mucus behind my eyelids. The forest fires in California have made the air quality here terrible along with seasonal allergies.

Victorian era women believed diluted lemon juice eye drops kept their eyes clean and bright and clear of infection.

This has helped a lot in a very short time.

* Put 5 - 10 drops of fresh lemon juice (start with 5 drops - adjust to tolerance) and ½ oz distilled saline water or boiled water that is cooled.

* Mix them well.

* Make use of an eye-dropper and put several drops into your eyes. Repeat several times daily. Make a new batch daily.


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